We all know, that relocating your office space takes a lot of effort and planning. If you try to keep everything in your mind while relocating an office it may be overwhelming and exhausting regardless of the size of the move. Thus to ensure a smooth workplace relocation, you may consider plan of action and certain preparation ahead of time.
Office relocation requires a dizzying array of real and symbolic moving components. As you need to relocate everything, but you also have to consider employee happiness, commute shifting, manage workflows during relocation, reorganizing the new office, adjustment periods, and even more.
So to ease this whole process, before getting started with your move, consider the following office moving checklist to help your business remain functional and seamlessly run throughout the whole moving project.
Notify your current landlord of the termination date and finalize the lease for your new location accordingly. Try to choose a date or period that gives you ample time to relocate everything into the new location and fully empty and clean out the former office space. This will help you to keep the moving cost at a reasonable level and prevent overlapping rental payments.
Give your staff notice ahead of time before starting the relocation process, since this may affect commuting times. A business relocation may not only have an impact on their daily commuting times but will also affect childcare or other personal arrangements that the employee requires time to plan for.
For small businesses or family-owned businesses, you can also assign roles to your employees for the move. Make sure everyone is aware of their responsibilities for packing, marking, and other tasks that must be completed before, during, and after the relocation.
It is important that you should avoid scheduling the business move on an important day such as a shareholders’ meeting or business event to prevent critical business disruption during the move. Make sure to give some timeframe for packing, so try also reduce important business activity around the moving day.
The costs of hiring a moving company, buying office supplies for the new location, and equipping the new office space with equipment and furniture are all related to every relocation project. Therefore, this should be considered as part of your business moving budget accordingly.
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Taking a detailed inventory of everything in your workplace would take almost as long as the relocation itself. You can skip some non-essential small items on your lists such as stationery materials, pads and rugs, and other similar office supplies, however, you definitely want to include in your list all the office furniture, large appliances, and other items that are being utilized by employees before moving. In general, it is also a good idea to make an electronic or physical copy of the list for your internal company records for future utilization.
Since office relocation involves a lot of heavy lifting and the timetable for moving workplaces isn’t always flexible, it is rather important to employ an experienced office moving company to undertake the moving duty and have a backup in case the move needs to be an extended extra day or two.
Thus, professional office movers will handle your business move most expediently and securely as possible. Hiring a professional is a far safer idea than assigning it to your staff due to liability and potential workers’ compensation difficulties. Before you pick a moving company, acquire up to 3 written moving quotes, determine the moving budget, and compare offerings with your needs. Sometimes the cheapest option does not necessarily also meet your all moving project needs.
After all, this is determined, it is time to set up a moving date with the company you choose.
Create a business relocation email campaign and update all your vendors and customers about your new address. Make sure you send more than one email to those important vendors and customers.
Contact your insurance carrier for your business move and provide the date, new address, and other information they require. If you are not able to transfer your current coverage to your new office, start looking into other choices right away.
Contact your telephone, internet, and utility services provider for your business move and provide the date, new address, and other information they require. This is very important to ensure that your new office space is ready for use when your employees arrive.
You can submit a change of address form to your local post office and forward all mails to your new office address either at the local post office or online.
Visit the new office location before you move and inspect the space for any issues that need to be fixed. If necessary, contact your office decoration company and finalize the plan for the layout and furnishing.
It is a good opportunity to equip your workplace with new furniture and decor, especially if you are expanding your business by moving into a larger facility.
Call your moving company to confirm the arrival day, provide them with a point of contact for the pickup and drop-off location, send a floor layout map prior to the move, and make sure you agree on all other details, if any, to avoid extra service fees.
Make sure everyone knows the moving date and the address of the new office. Provide access information, key fobs, or door codes to all employees. Provide packing, labeling, and unpacking instructions if necessary.
It is important to make an inventory, identify, and arrange all of the office items that will be taken with you. Label all boxes and things by the department to ensure that everything finds its way to the correct location at your new office space. While you’re packing and labeling the items you want to take, keep the stuff you don’t want to move separately.
You can also lower your cost by selling items that you no longer need for your business move. Office supplies such as old desks and chairs can be easily sold locally online by using Kijiji or Facebook marketplace. Before you dump or recycle anything, always consider whether the item can be sold or perhaps donated to furniture back. By selling these used items you can generate some additional money to offset the costs of your relocation, it will also help you to save money on moving fees.
It is a good idea to get rid of those office items that have no value to bring with you to the new office. Try to recycle or donate items such as broken chairs, shelving, and decor that will not be able to be utilized in the new workplace before relocation.
Schedule all your internet, telephone, and IT services to be set up before your business move. Make sure they are ready to use when you move into the new location so that you can get back to business as soon as possible.
Make sure to coordinate your business move with the building management for both locations. It is very important to book a loading dock and elevator to grant the moving company access to ensure a smooth relocation process.
It is important to inspect if you missed any items from the old location. Check every room and corner carefully and make sure you did not forget anything. Also, remember to take some pictures and document any property damage during the move.
Some of the business moving companies provide junk disposal services, so you do not need to worry about it anymore. If not, please be responsible for the office junk left at the old office location. Some of the building management will charge a big amount for office cleaning and junk disposal – much higher than hiring someone to do it properly.
Unpack all the items and check with the inventory list you previously made if you are missing anything during the moving process. Make sure to arrange all your office supplies, furniture, and other equipment in the right place.
Plugin internet, telephone, and IT systems in your new office. Test your office equipment accordingly to ensure that your company can go back to business as soon as possible. Contact the service provider if any troubleshooting is needed.
Looking to move small, medium or large size office, or complete a commercial move, feel free to schedule a FREE virtual onsite estimate or request a site visit with a top-rated moving company agent.
So this is really it – the Office Moving Checklist. The list may seem to be long, however, the most important thing is to take things easy and organized as much as possible. This is really the only way to ensure that you are covering all necessary steps to prepare for your office move in order to have a reasonably good moving experience. Executive Moving concierge wishes you the best of luck with your office move!
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