Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle embraces Mother Nature.

You'd like to give your team everything they want in a veterinary facility, but how can you afford it? Veterinary accountant Gary Glassman, CPA, offers tools to help you make smart money decisions and end up with a viable project.

Visiting bad practices is a key step to determining your priorities as you plan your new facility.

Your canine patients can transform your practice from calm to chaotic with one yip—and drive your team members from pleasant to harried. Consider these tips to tackle noise during your new construction or renovation.

You can accomplish a lot with a little investment. Here are some creative ways to spiff things up.

Five years ago Dr. Neil Shaw and his 14 associates worked from a 1,500-square-foot facility. They had so little exam space they were forced to consult with clients over a picnic table or across the seat of a client’s car. Dr. Shaw knew he needed more room, so he built an 11,575-square-foot facility to house 75 staff members in 1999—a facility that won a 2000 Merit Award from Veterinary Economics.

Not many people find the opportunity to purchase an area landmark. But when a restaurant went on the market in Salem, Ore., Dr. Tom Van Meter snatched it up; the 1-acre lot featured a 40-foot fir known locally as the holiday tree. "I fell in love with the site," says Dr. Van Meter. "The location offered lots of parking, space to expand, and 30 mature trees, which give the area a park-like feel." In a little more than a year, Dr. Van Meter turned Chelsea’s Restaurant into a high-tech veterinary facility that won a merit award in the 2002 Veterinary Economics Hospital Design Competition.

Q. I’ve worked as an associate at an equine clinic for several years. Now I’m ready to start my own mobile practice, but I signed a noncompete agreement with the clinic I currently work for. Can I still practice in this area, or do I need to move to another location? What other legal issues do I need to consider?