Prepare for a Commercial & Office Relocation

Relocating an office or commercial space is a huge task.  It can be daunting and stressful, to say the least.  It involves the entire staff and requires a lot of planning to ensure the process goes smoothly. If you have never been involved in a commercial relocation before, you may not know what to expect or how to prepare. We’ve compiled some tips below to give you an idea of what you may encounter and to help your transition go off without a hitch.

PREPARING FOR YOUR COMMERCIAL MOVE

• In the months leading up to the move institute an office clean-out to get rid of any unnecessary files, old equipment, and anything else that should not be moved to the new office. Ask each employee to clean out their own offices and form a team to do the storage areas.
• If you hire a professional mover, look for one that will assign you a Moving Consultant to help you create a move plan and provide assistance throughout the entire process.
• Ask the head of each department to inventory all items to be moved in their department. Have them make a separate list of any items that have special needs, such as servers or sensitive technology, and make arrangements with the movers for their transport.
• Be sure to arrange loading dock/elevator reservations in your current office and at your destination.
• Ask each employee to pack their own offices and to label the boxes with their names.
• Finalize the floor plan of the new office before moving day and provide this to your movers. They will most likely use labels or color coded stickers coordinate the boxes and furniture with their spots in the new office.
• Make a list of any modular furniture that will need to be disassembled and provide this to your movers. Some professional movers will have a Modular Furniture Specialist. Consult him/her about what should be disassembled.
• Choose employees to be on-site during the move to supervise the process.
• Install doorjamb, floor, and corner protection to ensure you do not damage the new office while moving in.
• Be sure to update your address with vendors and clients. This should be done at least a month prior to the move.
• Make sure that electricity, water, and phones/internet will be turned on and ready by the time you arrive at your new location.
• If you are moving on a weekend, speak to the building manager and find out if the heat or AC will be turned on. Some offices have these systems automatically turned off on weekends. Make arrangements to have these on during your moving day.
• Make sure that any data cabling is installed and tested before moving day. If you are packing your IT equipment, pack it last, so it can be unpacked first.  This will allow your IT team to immediately get to work setting up the network, phones, etc.

MOVING DAY!

• Distribute 2-way radios to the supervisory team.
• Conduct a short meeting to go over the move plan one last time and handle any last minute issues.
• Make sure everyone has a copy of the color coded or labeled floor plan.
• Don’t forget to do a final walk-through once everything is packed and out of the office.

Remember, any transition can be stressful, so plan ahead and work together.  By following the tips above and hiring a professional mover with experience in commercial relocation your moving day should not hold any surprises that you are not prepared for.

Contact our team for more information!