Room to move

Standing in front of the new premises of her practice, Dental Logic, on the day it opened, Dr Claudia Yung admits she smiled with a sense of satisfaction, as her long-held dream had finally come true. But she also recalls letting out a big sigh of relief.

“It was both an exhilarating and overwhelming moment,” Dr Yung says. “It had been a long road to that point—about 18 months in total—but expanding the business in this way had been my dream for years. So many things had happened along the way, and there were times when I did wonder if it would all come together, which of course it did.”

Getting started

The opening of Dental Logic in the outer Melbourne suburb of Lilydale was a dream that had been 20 years in the making. It was back in 2004 that Dr Yung, who graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1997, bought her first practice from a retiring dentist.

At that time, the practice was just one chair with one practitioner—Dr Yung! “It had always been my dream to have my own business, and I remember back then feeling I was on my way,” she says. 

Within a few years, the Lilydale practice evolved from being a solo practice to a multidisciplinary dental centre providing a full range of dental services that employed another dentist, a dental prosthetist and an oral health hygienist.

In 2007 the practice moved when Dr Yung bought new premises within the same area. The new location accommodated three dental chairs as the team and its range of services continued to grow. 

Thinking big

When the chaos of COVID-19 hit in 2020, Dr Yung admits she began looking at her business in a new way. “The building we were in was very old, and so I began considering renovating or expanding our premises, but it was just too hard as there was so much to do,” she says. “That was when I started looking at new locations and, as I did, I wanted to expand again, this time from three clinical rooms to five.

When she found the new building on Main Street in 2022, Dr Yung decided this was to be Dental Logic’s new home, but the site presented significant challenges. The first was the building required substantial extensions to accommodate Dr Yung’s plans for a bigger practice. The other challenge was financing the purchase along with the amount the extensions, the fit-out and the entire move would cost.

Having owned the previous building and her own home, buying property was nothing new to Dr Yung. Needing to secure a substantial loan to do so, however, meant venturing into unfamiliar territory. “I remember years ago I went to my local bank about a loan, and it was so hard as they really didn’t understand what we do as dentists,” she says. “But I knew if I was to take on a project and a loan as big as this, I needed to be working with people who know our profession, talk the same business language we do in dentistry, and who also have a good relationship with finance companies. Buying commercial property is always different and I needed guidance I could trust and rely on.”

Money Matters

Having previously dealt with Avant Finance—back when it was known as Kooyong Group—on other financial matters, in 2022 Dr Yung reached out again to initially determine if her new plans were even feasible. This time, with not only the purchase of a building, but also an extensive renovation as part of her proposal, Dr Yung was presenting a far more complex and involved business scenario. 

It was during her dealings with Avant Finance that Stevie Von Thees was appointed as Dr Yung’s relationship director. “I initially needed to determine a number of things before moving ahead with this,” Dr Yung says. “My questions were about whether I really could afford this, if I could handle the repayments, and the kind of interest rates and loan terms that were available. I also wanted a line of credit to give the business some flexibility.”

It was when Avant Finance presented her with a comprehensive guide of what the costs were, the repayments, all the options available and the finer details of the deal that Dr Yung admits her anxiety about the project lessened. 

“It was seeing the big picture from people who knew what they were talking about that gave me the peace of mind that my plans were indeed achievable. Once I felt comfortable, we got moving.”

After the building was purchased in March 2023, construction work commenced on the extensions and then later on, the fit-out. “That was when things got complicated as there were so many details to take care of, and at that stage I was asking Stevie many questions about the various builders’ quotes and what we needed to cover.

“What made this work was that Stevie was a very good guide, and I needed all the guidance she offered,” Dr Yung says. “Stevie also was great at following up on details as this was a long process, but she stayed on top of it and helped me sort out the loan issues that came up.”

When the all-new, state-of-the-art Dental Logic opened its doors in September 2024, Dr Yung admits she had a great sense of pride in all the work that had gone into creating the new facility, adding that business has been strong ever since.

“What made the relationship with Stevie and Avant Finance work was the standard of service and the trust I knew I could place in them,” she says. “Getting good advice before starting anything, and then working out the stages of how to do it, is what proved to be the key.”

While Dr Yung is enjoying these early months of her all-new practice, she confesses she still has bigger plans in her sights. “It would be good to have more rooms, so that I am able to set up properly for sedation and maybe general anaesthetics, and this building now has the capacity to do that. 

“And if I do go down that road, I would definitely work with Avant Finance again to make it happen. But for the time being, we’re just enjoying what we’ve created.”

The first aspect that struck Stevie Von Thees of Avant Finance about Dr Claudia Yung was her remarkable financial acumen as a dental practitioner. "In the realm of business, Claudia is truly exceptional,” Von Thees remarked.

What further distinguished Dr Yung was her recognition that, despite her considerable success, embarking on a project as substantial as her new practice in Lilydale necessitated the guidance of
experienced advisers.

Among these components were aligning her financing with her tax strategies, ensuring the practice's cash flow was properly managed, and updating her business plan—all while navigating negotiations with sellers and overseeing renovations. Kent Desarmia of Desarmia Projects was an integral member of the advisory team we recommended for this construction project. "Our firm has the primary aim of simplifying the process from inception to completion. Claudia’s trust in our team allowed for a seamless execution of the project.” 

Stevie Von Thees - Relationship Director, Avant Finance