Private practice setup · step 6 of 7
Fit-out and project management
Once the lease is signed the rent runs whether or not you are treating patients. From that point the programme is the commercial priority, and somebody has to own it who is not also running a clinic list.
What this involves
- Own the programme across the workstreams that block each other: landlord consents, contractor procurement, equipment lead times, CQC registration and recruitment.
- Procure and manage the fit-out contractor, including scope, tender, and holding them to the programme rather than discovering slippage at the end.
- Track equipment lead times, which are frequently the critical path item and are routinely ordered too late because the funding was not in place when the order needed placing.
- Manage landlord works approval and the consents attached to it.
- Run the reporting so you see the programme, the spend against budget, and the decisions you actually need to make, without attending weekly site meetings.
The mistake that costs the most
Assuming the contractor manages the programme. A contractor manages their own works. Nobody except you is accountable for the fact that the equipment has a sixteen-week lead time, the registered manager has not been appointed, and the landlord has not approved the drawings. Those dependencies sit between suppliers, which is precisely where programmes fail.
Why this workstream matters
Every week of slippage after lease completion is a week of rent against no income. On a typical clinic that is the most expensive avoidable cost in the whole project.
Common questions
Can I project manage the fit-out myself alongside clinical work?
Some do, and it is possible where the scope is small. The difficulty is that the critical path runs through decisions needing same-day responses during working hours, which is exactly when you are unavailable. The cost of a two-week delay in rent alone usually exceeds what the management would have cost.
What usually causes delay in a clinic fit-out?
Equipment lead times ordered late because funding completed late, landlord consents and works approvals, and CQC registration started after the build rather than alongside it. All three are dependencies between different parties, which is why they are missed.
Reviewed 22 August 2026. Nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice, and regulatory requirements change. We work alongside your solicitor and accountant rather than in place of them.
The rest of the programme
These overlap heavily. Running them in sequence rather than in parallel is what adds months to an opening date.
See the full practice setup overview, or our CQC and Ofsted registration support and Provider Selection Regime guide.
Where are you up to?
A director replies, and the first conversation is about sequencing rather than fees.
Fit-out and project management
What is your specialty, do you have premises or partners in mind, and what stage are you at?