How to Start a Living Facility for the Elderly

Make your senior living facility a place the elderly can call home

Getting into niche living facility projects can be a daunting task. Whether you're planning to build or remodel a residence for the elderly, special considerations must be attended to if the building is to meet the standards of government regulatory groups while appealing to prospective residents and their families. To make certain your living facility strikes a perfect balance, research your project carefully, then hire the most experienced people available to help you bring your project home.

Things You'll Need

• Mortgage loan or investors
• Acreage
• Architect
• Contractors
• Permits and licenses
• Interior-design consultant

Instructions

1. Learn about "social capital" as described in the writings of political scientist Robert Putnam and communitarian Ichiro Kawachi. Their studies on communal living will give you great insights into how to design and run your residence so the elderly enjoy every aspect of the last stage of their lives with plenty of people around them.

2. Consult contractors who have already designed and built senior residences. Seek out owners, consultants, builders and government agencies experienced in senior living domiciles. Bring your project before your community zoning board to make certain the neighborhood you've chosen allows multiple-family construction projects.

3. Solicit financial institutions to obtain mortgage funds for the property and/or construction. The amount of the loan you seek will be contingent upon the size of the facility, area property valuations and the number of amenities you're planning to add. If a loan isn't possible, find investors willing to give you the start-up funds in return for a percentage of the business or an agreed-upon return on their investment.

4. Put the living facility out for bid among architects who specialize in senior residence facilities and from construction companies already familiar with such critical issues as the legal number of living units per net acre, yard setback limits and building height maximums. They'll know enough to include plans for Title 24 handicap parking and other senior living requirements.

5. Oversee the building or refurbishing of the building to make certain it stays on budget and within the time frame you've been promised. Investors expect this, and your presence can help keep things on track. Bring in licensing and permit granting authorities as the project winds down to sleuth out problems before they occur. Start drafting policies and guidelines for residents, including minimum age restrictions (usually 55).

6. Hire a consultant to help you flesh out the interior build-out. Wheelchair access to hallways and bathrooms, high-impact lighting, easy-to-negotiate common areas with few obstacles for those with sight, hearing and mobility issues and soft soothing color palettes add to the ambiance of the well-appointed residence for the elderly. Observe all of these suggestions, and you'll create a living facility that will attract plenty of residents.

Tips & Warnings

• You can't be too fastidious about legalities. Whether it's expanded exterior walkway dimensions, stringent ground slope limits for common areas (around 10 to 15 percent so seniors don't fall) or laws requiring senior residences to be built in close proximity to food stores and transportation, you'll save your nerves and your budget by hiring senior housing experts for your project. They're worth their weight in gold.

References

• Architects and builders
• Senior construction standards
• Senior residence design