# Should you finish in house or send your jobs to a lab?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-optometry-success-podcast-7697299/should-you-finish-in-house-or-send-your-jobs-to-a-lab
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-optometry-success-podcast-7697299/should-you-finish-in-house-or-send-your-jobs-to-a-lab.md
Podcast: [The Optometry Success Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-optometry-success-podcast-7697299)
Published: 2026-07-22T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://b8846a06-cd6c-43f8-bcd6-1015f24b042a.libsyn.com/should-you-finish-in-house-or-send-your-jobs-to-a-lab
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/b8846a06-cd6c-43f8-bcd6-1015f24b042a/TOSP_edging_in_house.mp3?dest-id=5262880
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-optometry-success-podcast-7697299/episodes/should-you-finish-in-house-or-send-your-jobs-to-a-lab
Duration seconds: 1320

## Resource

Should your practice finish jobs in-house, or send them out to a lab? In this episode of The Optometry Success Podcast , we dig into a deceptively simple question that can have a major impact on profitability, efficiency, patient experience, and owner stress. We talk through the decision matrix behind in-house finishing, including the obvious costs — lenses, equipment, and staffing — as well as the softer costs that are easy to overlook: square footage, utilities, training, quality control, staff turnover, and the operational risk of relying on one or two key people to keep the system running. We also explore why this decision is not one-size-fits-all. For some practices, an in-house lab can be a profitable, high-quality, efficient part of the business. For others, outsourcing to a lab may reduce complexity, lower risk, and free the owner from one more system that has to be managed internally. Have a question for us to address in a future episode? Submit it here ! Resources: Learn more about Partners in Profit 20/20 Money Episode: Edging In-House vs. Outsourcing: The Economics, Trade-offs, and Data an Optometric Practice Needs to Measure with Drs. Jennifer Stewart & Sam Hornberger Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's new book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/Fq1Ro Subscribe on Spotify: https://shorturl.at/jCtsk

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## Transcript

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