Physicians work hard during a launch. Effort does not repair a lease that started rent during construction, or a restoration clause that assumes you will strip the space back to base building at your cost. Read this with your lawyer. Then, if you want the business side negotiated against the operating model, use lease and build-out.
- Signing before the model exists. If you cannot list the rooms, you cannot tell whether the suite works. Availability is not a reason.
- Confusing rentable area with usable clinical area. Corridors, washrooms, and a reception desk that can see the door consume space that will not be an exam room.
- Ignoring HVAC, after-hours air, and clinical plumbing. Who pays, and is the base building even capable of the use?
- No fixturing period. Rent that starts while you cannot see patients is a working-capital decision. Make it on purpose. The financial model should show it.
- A restoration clause you have not priced. Returning a fitted clinic to base building can be a large end-of-term cost. Know whether it applies.
- No assignment language. If the professional corporation does not exist yet, or if you may later add owners, the lease should not assume a named individual is the tenant forever.
- A personal guarantee accepted in the abstract. Know what it covers, and for how long, before you treat it as a standard line.
- Permitted use written too narrowly or too vaguely. The clause has to allow the specialty you actually intend, including the services you listed in the model.
- Parking, signage, and accessibility left as the landlord's problem. Patients have to reach the door. Confirm it.
- Older buildings and unknown existing conditions. Hazardous materials, undersized electrical service, and wet mechanical rooms show up after demolition. Ask before you inherit them.
- No renewal option. A clinic that works can still be forced to move, and a move is close to a second startup.
- Using a retail form for a medical use. Have it read as a medical lease, not as a shop.
The sequence these mistakes interrupt is the opening timeline.
Questions physicians ask
Should I sign a letter of intent before the model is done?
Know the room list and the budget first. An early letter can freeze terms you have not priced. Have your lawyer read anything you sign. We help you set the business terms before that review.
Is a retail lease form close enough for a clinic?
Often it is the wrong starting point. Medical use brings plumbing, air, privacy, accessibility, and a permitted-use clause that has to match the specialty. Assume it needs a medical read, not a light edit.