Whether your company has outgrown its existing office space, or you’re only looking to relocate, moving offices doesn’t need to be overwhelming. When you move offices, there are seemingly hundreds of moving parts, endless boxes, and an unbelievable number of files and items you need to move with you.
But…
If you do it right, moving can be done smoothly and almost stress-free. Do it incorrectly, however, and you’ll have a nightmare to sort out for the next three months.
Here are some of our best tips for moving offices so you’ll be stress-free.
Plan Ahead
Planning is, perhaps, the best tip of all. The further ahead you can start planning for your move, the more organized you can be. The organization is essential when moving offices.
By using the month or two before your move to plan, you’ll be able to map out a clear plan of attack for boxing, organizing, labeling and sorting when you transition buildings.
You can also begin packing up non-essential items such as archived files, extra office supplies, and the surplus of breakroom kitchen items you stocked up on during the last sale.
Be sure to use this time for assigning specific roles and moving tasks to your employees, so everyone has a plan come moving day. Giving everyone a job ensures you won’t have employees standing around not knowing what to do or getting in the way.
At a Minimum:
Have every employee pack up their personal items, books in their office, and anything inside their desks.
Come up with a detailed plan for the weeks leading up to your move, and the day of your move. Map out which offices get packed when and how, pass out labels for employees and mark out a holding area for boxes ready to load.
Include as many day-of details as possible down to when your office removalists arrive, when employees are expected to be at the new location and who will help move boxes into their appropriate rooms. Prepare labels for the new building to ensure boxes to go to the right places. If you can, colour code the labels for different departments to help simplify the instructions for the movers of where to unload the boxes and furniture in your new offices.
Delegate Roles and Responsibilities
After you’ve planned out your day-of moving schedule, delegate specific roles and responsibilities for your employees to handle. It’s important to remember that you’ll want to make sure someone can help your friendly MetroMovers load up according to your master plan. Our professional office movers will pack your things into the truck, but unless they are properly labelled and directed, all your boxes will look the same.
Delegate or hire a dedicated moving manager who can liaise with your Metromovers manager and instruct your movers to load boxes according to office and area of your building. That way you won’t have boxes of kitchenware mixed in with archived file boxes and your IT manager’s personal items.
Choose An Office Moving Company Wisely
When moving offices, you don’t just need any moving company – you need expert commercial movers with excellent reviews and ratings. It’s essential to do some research before you choose the best removalist company that will help you with one of the most significant transitions of your company.
Decide whether you want a full-service moving company that includes packing to unpacking, or a moving company that will simply move your boxes from point a to point b. If possible, get recommendations from others who have moved and ensure your chosen moving company has plenty of experience with office relocations.
Always hire a company with a proven record of five-star service. When asking for quotes, insist on a location-based assessment. It’s not enough to tell them what you need over the phone. Movers need to see the size and complexity of the offices they’ll move.
Loop in I.T.
While all tips are essential, this should rank in your mind as one of the highest priorities. Your I.T. department needs its own plan for disconnecting, boxing, transporting, and reconnecting all your technical equipment.
This is a huge job and needs to be planned for accordingly. Ask your I.T. crew what their needs are for a successful and stress-free move. Depending on your business requirements, they might need the option of going to the new location early to begin hooking up phones, servers, and web management equipment so you’re ready to get back to business the day after you move in.
They also might prefer that their equipment is moved last, so everyone else’s equipment is already set up and ready to be hooked up when they arrive. It’s essential to discuss your move in detail with your I.T. team to ensure a smooth office transition for everyone.
Allow for a minimum of one day for your IT team to set up your data and web platforms before you can be a fully working office.
Plan a Successful Move
Moving office locations can be stressful if not planned out properly. By ensuring every employee has a job, the moving company is on board with your master plan and your I.T. department is consulted, you’ll have as stress-free a move as possible.
Which of these tips will you incorporate into your next office move?
This article is a guest post from Adrien Brito, a commercial moving expert from North Dallas Moving and Storage in the USA.
