15 October, 2026
Dr Dominique Ferreira had built two practices before. Her third, in Silverdale, was the first she opened in New Zealand.
What it took to open Orthodontic Studio
Dr Dominique Ferreira had built two practices before. Her third, in Silverdale, was the first she opened in New Zealand.
The first conversation with a fit-out specialist was in November 2025. The first patient walked through the door on 21 July 2026. In between came the part most clinicians find hardest to plan for, turning an empty tenancy into a working practice and paying for it.
Dr Ferreira had done this twice in Johannesburg, so she knew the shape of the job. New Zealand still had its own lessons. “Everything is a lot more detailed here, which is a good thing,” she says. “You know what you are consenting to. There are no grey areas.”
What Speirs Finance funded
A fit-out contractor put her on to Sean Coutts, Head of Healthcare at Speirs Finance. Equipment finance she already knew. “I know equipment, because all over the world you can do equipment,” she says. What she had not expected was how much of the rest could be funded alongside it.
“I had no idea what could be financed. As Sean was explaining it, I kept saying, really? You will finance that? And you will do this?”
Dr Dominique Ferreira, Orthodontic Studio
Speirs Finance funded the fit-out and the equipment as two separate facilities, covering the engineering, electrical, plumbing and IT work that turns a tenancy into a practice. The application was approved in three days.
For Dr Ferreira, that didn't require putting her home on the line. Speirs Finance assesses each application on the strength of the business, structuring lending in a way designed to reduce reliance on personal assets. Deferred payment terms then give a new practice room to start earning before repayments begin.
“We fund the whole project, not just the machine in the middle of the room. Because we know this sector, we can look at a business on its own merits and structure the funding to reduce pressure on personal assets, rather than defaulting to the family home as security.”
Sean Coutts, Head of Healthcare, Speirs Finance
Why the fixed price mattered
One condition of the finance was that the fit-out be contracted at a fixed price rather than an open estimate. At the time it was simply a condition of the loan. Then the cost of everything started moving.
“Speirs Finance had encouraged it. They were not going to finance us without a fixed contract. Then everything got more expensive. But we had signed a fixed contract.”
Dr Dominique Ferreira, Orthodontic Studio
The fixed price set the terms with her contractor from the start, too. “The fit-out team must know this is not a blank cheque. This is what it is, and work from this.”
A letter her suppliers could rely on
Equipment is only funded once it has arrived, been installed and insured. That leaves a gap between ordering and paying, which can cost a new practice its best prices. Sean closed it by writing to her suppliers, confirming payment would follow on delivery.
The letter was worth money to her. It let Dr Ferreira commit to an X-ray machine during a November sale, months before it landed in the country, and secure new-practice pricing on her consumables. “That letter was security and reassurance to the supplier that they would be paid,” she says. “I got everything at really good discounted prices because it was a new practice.”
Costs she could see before she committed
Loan amount, repayment dates, interest, rent, staff. Sean kept a running schedule of what would be released and when, and it went into her cash flow forecast before construction started.
“We had all of that before we even laid a brick. You need to be sure what it is going to cost you before you commit to anything.”
Dr Dominique Ferreira, Orthodontic Studio
What holds people back, she thinks, is not the money but the prospect of committing without knowing. “Everyone is scared of opening. I was one of them. But if you know beforehand, you can factor it in, move forward, and not be stressed about it.”
She was also surprised to find she could settle early without penalty. “You can settle at any point. You are not bound by the term. You did not feel like you were signing your life away.”
What happened after the approval
Sean stayed involved well past the paperwork. Detailed questions about terms and rates got answers rather than a brochure, and when he did not have an answer to hand he went and found one. “Simple conversations,” as Dr Ferreira puts it. “We are worried about this. What is your rate. How does this work.”
Sean's background in the medical sector helped, and so did his approach to working with Dominique
“It is not like you are talking to the bank manager. The personal connection is important, and that reassurance that it is going to be fine, and these are the terms.”
Dr Dominique Ferreira, Orthodontic Studio
Where she is now
The cash flow forecast was built on six consultations in the first month. There were 15, and the momentum has held. Orthodontic Studio now employs three staff.
For anyone weighing up the same move, her advice is to get the plan, the cash flow projection and the design done before signing a lease, and to make the lease subject to council consent and the architectural drawings, so a delay does not eat into the rent-free period.
She is already looking at where a second practice might go. “I could easily open another now,” she says.
Planning a practice fit-out or an equipment upgrade? Talk to the Speirs Finance healthcare team.