An Expert Guide To Moving Offices: Checklists, Challenges and More

Introduction

Are you preparing for an office relocation? Office removals or business moving always come with a lot of disruptions if not handled properly. Whether you are moving to a coworking place or a serviced office, preparation, planning, and communication is key. 

Moving offices is indeed a challenging task, but there are also ways that will lessen your pressure and will help you to conduct everything in a smooth manner. You also need to make sure that your business operations are at their designated places. 

An Expert Guide To Moving Offices

As I have mentioned earlier, office removals also can be done really smoothly if you do it in a well-organized manner. And in order to do that, you need proper preparation, planning, and communication. 

Here is an expert's guide for you so that your business moving becomes less hectic. So, let’s have a look at the guidance. 

Step 1: First Things First

Once you have made your business moving decision, you need to take care of the first things first. And usually, you should ensure that all these things are taken care of 3 to 6 months prior to your actual moving date. 

• Review your commercial property lease first. In case you are leaving the space earlier than the mentioned date, it might cost you your deposit. Apart from that, you might also be responsible for any kind of damages or breakages to the space during the time of moving. You need to ensure that you are totally aware of all these things. 
• Now, develop a planning team, which will be responsible for the entire moving process. This particular team will also delegate the tasks related to office removals. 
• Collect business moving quotes from different types of moving agencies. And then analyze them to get the best available services. You obviously need to consider the cash amount as well. Go for one that fits your budget. 
• Business moving will always come with importing machinery and equipment. So, next, you are required to find out if you need insurance for them or not. The decision is all yours. And by going through the available services and how much they will cost, you should make a final decision. 
• Setting up a business moving budget is also really crucial for office removals. It will not only help you in keeping track of all the moving spending but also prevent you from overspending. 

Step 2: Communication

Once your moving date is confirmed, it is also vital to inform both your external and internal parties about your upcoming relocation. 

• Inform your current official landlord or property manager, who is in charge. Also, do not forget about offering an official notice. 
• Inform all your team members about the office removals date and obviously the address of the new office. 
• Make a list of people whom you need to send the change of address. 
• You are required to ensure that your employee, service provider, and client lists are up to date. 
• Ahead of time, inform all your team members about their respective responsibilities in this business moving. 
• Do not forget to make a reservation with the moving company that you have selected for your office removals.
• Give your It department a brief about your business moving and also discuss what technical support you will need on that specific date. 
• You also need to ensure that you are notifying all your affiliates, suppliers, and local partners, about your office removals, especially those who are going to be affected by your change of contact information and address. 

Here is a list of parties, whom you need to send the change of address notice. 

• Clients and partners.
• Stationery services.
• Any food service companies.
• Telephone company.
• Insurance companies.
• Your internet service provider.
• Any accounts departments.
• Bottled water company.
• Banks and other financial institutions.
• Any professional organization that you belong to. 
• Service companies, for printers and photocopies. 
• Any other additional services your company makes use of. 

Step 3: Preparation

Now is the time to take care of all the logistics of shifting all your office equipment from the current place to the new place. 

• Get a detailed floor plan for your new office space. First, measure the entire office space, and then plan how you are going to place things.
• Build an investor of all your existing office furniture. 
• In case you need any new furniture, consult with a furniture company. 
• If needed, place an order for new stationery and furniture. 
• In case it is needed, also arrange external storage facilities. 
• Every department assigns color codes. Working on a detailed commercial floor plan will help you here, and make sure that you are allocating color-coded stickers to every department section. 
• Assign a number to every employee, and then include that corresponding number to their desk and equipment as well. 
• On your floor plan, define and name communal spaces clearly. 
• Do not skip the signing part of any official permits, licenses, and paperwork. 
• For the moving day, book the parking services along with the elevators. 
• Arrange cleaning services for both your current and new place. 

Step 4: Making The Move

Now, when your moving day arrives, you should be feeling totally prepared. Here are some more ways that will ensure that everything goes really smooth on that big day. 

• Keep your emergency numbers handy. 
• Both for the internal representatives, and moving team, allow a budget for refreshment. 
• If required, during the move, make an arrangement of air conditioning. 
• Make sure that all the technical equipment, phones, computers, and others are being moved first.
• Make sure that all the representatives are totally available in order to ensure that all the color-coded items are being placed in the right designated locations. In addition to this, they also need to make sure that all the desks are in the proper places along with all their boxes that are numbered. 
• Fix a date to your systems and telephones lines to make them operational. 

Settling In

Now, as the big move is over, there are still some things that you need to check. All the desks and equipment have to be in their designated places, all the technical and electronic equipment are set properly. In short, your office removals are done properly, and you are all set to start your regular operation.