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Requirements and costs for opening a Veterinary Outpatient Clinic
[Important note: this article has been automatically translated from the original Italian language.]
What characteristics differentiate the types of veterinary facilities.
Regulations identify different types of activities:
- Veterinary practice – facility where the veterinary doctor, general or specialist, carries out his or her professional activities in a private and personal form.
This facility is not subject to a health permit. - Veterinary outpatient clinic – a facility having its own, autonomous individuality and organization in which professional services are provided, withaccess to animals, by one or more veterinary physicians, general or specialist, without hospitalization ofanimals other than on a daily basis.
- Veterinary clinic–veterinary facility having its own, autonomous individuality and organization in which professional services are provided by more than one general or specialist veterinary physician and in which animals are hospitalized in addition todaily stays .
- Veterinary hospital – veterinary facility having its own, autonomous individuality and organization in which professional services are provided by several general or specialist veterinary physicians and in which the hospitalization ofanimals in addition to daily hospitalization, the service of first aid over a twenty-four-hour period with continuous presence in the facility of at least one veterinary doctor, the diagnostic services laboratory.
- Veterinary Analytical Laboratory – veterinary facility where physical, chemical, immunological, virological, microbiological, cytological and histological instrumental diagnostic investigations of animal biological fluids and/or materials can be performed on behalf of third parties and with veterinary request, with issuance of related reports.
No clinical or surgical activities on animals are allowed in the veterinary testing laboratory. (1)
How to open a veterinary clinic (or other type of facility)? Bureaucratic and authorization process
First of all you will need to have premises available, so if you do not own any you will have to rent them.
Sanitary permits are issued by the municipality after inspection by the ASL of territorial competence, which checks the minimum technical requirements required by current regulations. (1;2)
In order to carry out the necessary work, a professional (architect or surveyor) should be engaged to prepare a plan to be submitted to thetechnical office of the municipality where the premises are located.
The technical office normally issues a CILA(Comunicazione Inizio Lavori Asseverata: this is used for ordinary maintenance work and, in general, when work is done on partitions and nonstructural parts of the building).
Now the work can start.
The relative costs depend on the extent of the work itself and the materials to be used.
It is also necessary to appoint a construction manager.
So, at this stage, the costs (excluding labor and materials) are those of the professional who has to draw up the design and construction management (plus some stamps).
Once the work is finished, you will need to submit the end of the work to the technical department (usually the professional you contracted is in charge of this).
Before the inspection of ASL colleagues, it will be necessary to furnish and equip the premises, which should be suitable for the performance of the profession.
After inspection by ASL colleagues, the health permit will be issued by the municipality.
How much does it cost to open a veterinary practice so far?
The first answer that comes is: it depends.
This is true, but let us try to make a rough estimate. (Results may vary greatly then with respect to individual realities).
- Architect and construction manager could cost about €2,500;
- Miscellaneous stamps about 150 €;
- interior works are around 250 €/sqm (this is the part that can vary the most, because it depends not only on the square footage but also on the type of materials used);
- professionals such as electricians and/or plumbers–we can assume about €10,000.
Important to remember is that the facilities will have to be up to standard.(3)
So for an 80sqm structure we will have a total of €32,650
However, in order to have health permits, the premises must be equipped to work.
Furniture costs
Now two choices can be made:
- Buy piece by piece by selecting the most affordable deals on the market
- Rely on so-called pre-packaged“packages.”
Several suppliers in the market offer turnkey solutions for furniture and equipment for a veterinary clinic.
Almost all of them are “fairly” complete, but in the evaluations much attention should be paid to what is not included in the offer.
The minimum value of these turnkey solutions are between 20,000 € of 30,000 €, but they often lack equipment such as radiology or the furniture.
So in our account book we need to add:
- Structure: € 32,650.00
- Equipment: € 30,000.00
- Furniture: € 5,000.00
——————————- - Total €67,650.00
Funding to open a Veterinary Outpatient Clinic
The figure may seem large, and it is, but one must remember that there are funding sources for these things.
The banking system usually requires collateral especially if you do not have a history with them, so reliability ratings (the famous bank rating) are low.
This means that the interest charged will be higher and the amount they can finance will be low.
Companies that provide equipment normally work with rental or leasing agencies, and they already suggest this solution.
In this case, interest rates may be higher.
Then there is ENPAV (6), which can provide loans of up to €50,000 at subsidized rates (-0.5 percent compared to the official ECB rate(5)).
The problem is the approval and disbursement times normally longer than those of the classical banking system.
Lastly remains the channel called FFF (Fans, Family and Friends) much used in the embryonic stages of startups (pre-seed startups).
However, it is necessary to carefully consider the choice of financing channel in order to optimize the tax benefit in later years.
So, what to do?
A winner is a dreamer who has never given up (N. Mandela)
Information sources
- https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2003/12/23/03A13288/sg
- https://www.anmvioggi.it/archivio_pdf/allegato_delibera.pdf
- https://www.anmvi.it/pubblicazioni/manuali-pratici/614-l-impianto-elettrico-nelle-strutture-veterinarie.html
- https://fnovi.it/sites/default/files/Linee indirizzo strutture medico veterinarie .pdf
- https://www.euribor-rates.eu/it/tasso-interesse-bce/
- https://www.enpav.it/enpav-plus/86-prestiti-enpav
Enrico Carrera
Med Vet & MBA. Analizza e gestisce i processi di creazione del valore finanziario all’interno delle attività veterinarie.
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