- Clinic model. Scope, patients, services in the building, and how many physicians are on site together.
- Budget and financial model. Categories first, then figures for this project. See cost categories.
- Site search. Tour against the room list. Reject space that cannot hold the model, even if the rent looks friendly.
- Lease. Business terms, then legal review. Rent should not start while you are still unable to practise, unless you have chosen that risk with your eyes open.
- Design and permits. Drawings that match the room list. Permits are on the municipal clock, which you do not control.
- Build-out. Construction, inspections, and long-lead equipment. Field changes get written down.
- EMR, licensing, and billing enrolment. These run beside the build, not after it. They are provincial. Coordination is described on the EMR and licensing page. The college still decides the licence.
- Hiring. Physicians and the opening team, timed so people are not on payroll months before the doors can open, and not hired the week you need them.
- Training, supplies, and a lighter first schedule. The building can be finished and the clinic still unready.
- Opening. One milestone, not the end of the plan.
- Stabilization. Fix the handoffs the first real clinics expose. This is operations work.
- Only then a second location. See growth and a second location.
The checklist is the same idea as a list you can work through. The opening guide explains why the order is what it is.
Questions physicians ask
How long does it take to open?
Plan for the slowest of the lease, the permits and build, and licensing and billing enrolment. Those three start and finish on different dates, and the pace changes by city. We work the sequence with you.
What should start before a site is chosen?
The clinic model and a first version of the budget. Touring space without a room list, or signing because a unit is available, is how the timeline gets shorter on paper and longer in construction.