Companies relocate their offices mainly because they’re expanding for more business and customers, downsizing for efficiency, or simply because their lease is getting over. As professional office movers, we know that this time of transition is when businesses are at maximum risk. Apart from the fear of a drop in sales and complaining customers, there are also chances of frail office items like hard drives, laptops, files, data servers, etc. getting damaged during transit. Moving a corporate office can go from exciting to daunting all too quickly, especially when you don’t hire professional office movers. Whether you’re scaling up or downsizing for efficiency, moving in or out of the city, there are a lot of components to take care of. So if you find yourself in the position of coordinating the office relocation, we’ve got a few key moving tips for businesses to make this process virtually headache-free. As every office relocation is different, so you, along with your team, will need to decide what tasks to include in your specific project plan. The priority is to make sure every detail is covered within a set time-frame and budget. Below are a few tips from our local movers for a successful office move:
- Plan your office relocation early
Commercial relocations need detailed planning and preparation, the same as the right office movers. When planning the move, decide on the moving date, the time-frame for the relocation process after which you can come up with a schedule. Additionally, have a specific budget assigned to the relocation process. It will come in handy when identifying costs for hiring office movers and help avoid making uninformed decisions. If possible, start planning your move 4-6 months before you actually want to make the transition in order to attend to all of the details without becoming overburdened. This will give you the time to get into the nitty-gritty of the move. Once you know what your new office is like, plan your interior accordingly. Decide how you’re going to arrange furniture and other equipment in the new place. Once you know you’re moving into a new office scope out space and decide on the layout, including where everything and everyone will go. That will allow you to plan out what your needs are as far as new office equipment goes, and allow employees to do their own planning ahead for their new space. Create a map or floor plan and make it available to both employees and furniture movers so that everyone knows the plan moving ahead.
There’s no such thing as “winging it” when it comes to moving with professional local movers to a new office space. You have to start the planning process early, divvying up who will be doing what, how they’ll be doing it, and when it will be getting done. Otherwise, you may find yourself scrambling at the last minute, and nobody wants to be in the office all night throwing staplers in a box or trying to figure out how to get a dozen massive printers ready for transport. In addition to planning how you’ll get everything ready for moving day and office movers, you’ll also want to have a plan in place for where things will go when you arrive at your new office space. Use a blueprint to figure out office and common space layouts and figure out any new needs you might have. Figure that you’ll probably have to set aside at least a few months to efficiently plan your office relocation, and a couple of months to actually get everything set up and ready to go. And don’t forget to plan ahead for your moving budget for local movers—it’s important to know how much you have to spend.
- Communicate with your employees
As your employees are a big part of your company, communication with them before the relocation and before office movers come is a big part of the office relocation. Communicating with your employees is one of the important office relocation tips you need to consider. Be sure to keep your staff up-to-date with moving plans and time schedules. Notify them of important changes and procedures at the new business premise including:
- Moving date
- The new address or any revised phone and fax numbers
- New building rules
- Packing arrangement at the new location among others
Even if you are hiring professional furniture movers, you can encourage them to create a moving checklist to ensure that all essential areas are covered, and nothing gets missed. While change can be unsettling for employees, communicating with them can boost their morale.
- Assign everyone the task of packing up their own desk
Teamwork is key to a successful office move! When planning your move, get everyone in the office involved. Not only will this maximize the moving process, but it will also be a great team-building opportunity with everyone working together. Something even as simple as assigning everyone to pack their own desks could be beneficial and helpful. If you don’t have time yourself to coordinate your move, find a reliable employee, and designate them as the office moving administrator. That will be helpful to your local movers too.
While you may be having local office movers come in to take care of the big stuff, it will still be a major help to have everyone responsible for their own desk space. Give your staff a heads up on when they’ll need to have their desks packed up, and try to encourage them to do a little bit at a time so nobody is trying to get all packed up at the last minute. You may need to just give your team a couple of hours of time off on the day before the furniture movers to get their desks in order. When employees are packing their belongings and individual supplies, have them put their name on the outside of the box in multiple places so the office movers can put them in the appropriate location according to the layout chart you made. To be extra sure, you can also put name cards in the correct locations at your new office to help your furniture movers to be efficient and organized.
- Research to find the best moving company
This important task can be assigned to one person or group or to a few different people, with each calling specific local movers and then comparing notes. In any case, start early to make sure you get the best price and fit for your needs. Since moving a corporate office involves a lot of equipment and details, be sure to get a full estimate and hire a full-service moving company 1-3 months ahead of time. Make sure furniture movers have experience with commercial relocation and have them give you an on-site quote for the move — or even better, get recommendations from others in your network who have moved offices before. The office movers should be held to the same professional standard as anyone else you do business with. So, you need to be very careful while choosing a moving company and professional office movers. Like we have already said, first check whether the company has executed such office moves before. You should also have a set of questions that you may want to ask your future furniture movers. This will help you choose the right moving company and the right office movers that carefully move your sensitive office equipment. Hiring office movers is definitely one of the most critical tasks of moving a business, and there are moving companies that specialize in office moves. Like any household move, it’s important to make sure the company is reliable and that you are receiving the best service and the best local movers for the cost. Do your research, ask the right questions, and have the company come to your office to assess your move.
- Get the IT Team on board
One of the biggest complications inherent in moving to a new office space is disconnecting and reconnecting all of your techs. Give your IT team at least three months’ advance notice to start planning the transfer of all things technical: equipment, internet plans, phone connections, etc. They will need to evaluate the new space for any upgrades that need to be made, either to the infrastructure or to the equipment being brought to the new office. When relocating a corporate office with professional local movers you want your landing to be as smooth as possible on the tech side, so do the legwork well in advance. As soon as you know the date of your move, have your I.T. department draft a plan for transferring all of your office’s technical equipment. This includes computers, servers, and phones, as well as your data and internet plans. This is a big job and one that you can’t outsource to the office movers, so your team must get to work on it as early as possible. If there are pieces of equipment that you’ll be getting rid of, set up a plan for recycling or donating them. Human-I-T, Computers with Causes, and the National Cristina Foundation are all non-profit organizations that accept used tech and donate them where they’re needed most. In some cases, the equipment does not even have to be in the current working condition, and you will have less stuff for local movers to transfer.
- Deep clean your office
Simplify moving day by transporting the little stuff as you can, provided there’s an overlap of timing with your new lease. You can make the whole moving process easier both for you and your office movers by taking over items like plants and bulk office supplies on your own, especially if you can get them set up in their new locations before you officially move in. Don’t bring things you don’t need! Shred all unnecessary papers, get rid of office furniture that has been collecting dust, and sell or donate equipment that you won’t be needing anymore. Anything you choose to donate can be used as a tax write-off, so check with your accountants to find out what sort of paper trail you need to create as you purge. Besides, if you have less stuff you will pay your local office movers less, si it’s a win-win situation.
- Update your address everywhere
This is also very important, according to our best movers. It’s better to start updating documents with your new address earlier rather than later, so place your orders for new business cards, letterhead, envelopes, return labels, etc. right when you know your new address. Let your suppliers and customers know when you are relocating, your new company address, and when the normal business will resume. Be sure to update your website, letterhead, and social media sites too. Additionally, contact Google to have your address, and online listing changed a month leading to your relocation. Make sure to update your clients as well, especially if they regularly ship stuff to you. Your clients should know that you are moving and should have the new address with them. Let your vendors also know about the new address so that the deliveries are made correctly at the new place. It’s much better to have all of your updated documents on hand before your move than to risk going days or weeks without them in your new space.
- Celebrate!
And last but not least- Reward yourself, you definitely earned it! After such a long process with your relocation and local movers, the last step is to celebrate your new destination. Throw a party with your employees welcoming everyone to the new office space. A simple celebration will give everyone in the office a great sense of accomplishment!
Moving to a new office is a lot of work, but chances are you’re doing it for a good reason. Plan as much as you can so that to-dos don’t slip through the cracks, and appoint your office movers very early on in the process. Knowing that someone has a handle on all the moving parts will help alleviate stress and keep things running on the track. If you follow these office relocation tips from our best movers – from planning the process, communicating with clients, vendors, and employees to backing up your data – you will be able to transition smoothly into your new workplace. And if you need to hire the best movers in town, call Professional Simi Valley Movers and get your free moving quote today!