Garage remade into working dental lab

When Alex Shaffer, owner of Hayden Lake Crown and Bridgeworks, heads off to work each day, he doesn’t go far. In 2005, he converted his attached garage in Hayden into a state-of-the-art dental lab.

After 26 years in the industry, he felt ready to go out on his own. However, he found the task of transforming his empty garage to a working lab “completely daunting.”

Shaffer’s xperiences as an Ironman competitor and volunteer firefighter may not have given him handyman skills, but they did enable him to break the project down into manageable bites.

“It’s easy to complicate things,” he said. “I stuck to basic principles to get the job done.”

Shaffer added Sheetrock and insulated and then painted the garage himself. A neighbor helped install a heater.

After adding fluorescent lighting, Shaffer was ready to focus on what really mattered: high quality equipment for his dental lab. With two furnaces, a crucible, a large workbench and special lamps, his new work environment is tailored to meet his needs.

Even though he felt ready to go out on his own, Shaffer said, “It’s a leap of faith for anybody to go into business.” But working from home has definite advantages.

“There’s no commute, and I get to listen to the kind of music I want to,” he said. “As far as overhead goes, it’s a gift.”

Making gold and porcelain crowns and bridgework involves meticulous and detailed artistry. Because of this, Shaffer has found a drawback to having work nearby: “You can find yourself working too much.”

From the kitchen the smell of baking bread wafts into the lab. When Shaffer visits dental offices, he bakes a loaf of homemade bread and takes it with a stick of fresh butter with him, as gifts for the office staff.

Launching a new business can be a studied risk, and Shaffer appreciates the love and support of his wife, Carlyn.

“My wife is my number one investor,” he said. “You need to treat your investors well.”