Time To Plan Now For Your Early Summer Office Move
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But, if you want to get started yourself, then here are some first steps:
- Create a timeline that will allow for all the necessary stages of your move. You’ll need to discuss this with the rest of your moving team or with the managers and supervisors to ensure it’s feasible. For a small office, you’ll need at least three months to prepare and for a medium to large office, at least six to eight months. The key is to start as early as possible.
- The next step is to collect all information on the new space. Try to get blueprints or floor layout so you can identify key components such as electrical outlets, storage space, etc. and most importantly, to determine the new office layout. It is also a good idea to have a general layout plan for your current space so you can compare the two; if there are areas in the current office that are not working, identify them so that they can be resolved in your new space.
- Also make a list of potential problems with the new space, such as a smaller reception area or less storage area or perhaps a larger open space that may require more cubicles or temporary walls.
- It may be necessary to hire carpenters or painters if walls need to be constructed or painted. It may have been addressed when the new space was acquired, but just make sure that no additional construction or cosmetic changes need to be completed before the move.
- For medium to large offices, we recommend appointing (or ask for volunteers), someone from each department or division to coordinate their particular area.
- It could be assigned to the department supervisor or manager who can then ensure that each employee takes responsibility for packing their desk, files, and personal items. For smaller offices, you may be on your own. If so, identify a few key people who may be able to help with coordinating the move.
- Your team can also assist in identifying current issues with the old space and provide possible solutions for the new office. It is a great way to incorporate other viewpoints and to achieve consensus on the move if some are not quite excited about the change.
- If you have a specific budget amount assigned for your move, it will be important to identify costs before you hire movers, or even before you pack the first box.
- Have your moving committee create a list of tasks that need to be completed and make sure they are added to the timeline/schedule.
- You’ll need to make sure that everyone you do business with, both suppliers and clients, know that you’re moving.
- It’s a good idea to assign this task to one person to oversee. Notifying customers and clients requires specific communications around where you’re moving to and how the business will operate during the move. Such information is essential to ensure your customers don’t go elsewhere for your services.
Three Commercial Moving Tips From William Lowe & Sons, Commercial Movers in Boston MA.
Commercial moving presents some unique difficulties and requires extensive planning, mostly because business downtime caused by the move can be more costly than the move itself in lost revenues and potential damage to customer service.
1. Search new leases at least 6 months before the move. There must be adequate time for completion of all renovation, including installation of phone lines, computer network connections, and internet access.
2. Determine what will be moved and what will be disposed of. Commercial space is expensive. Moving is a good time to evaluate the proper and efficient use of your space. New more modern and efficient furniture may be a better alternative than moving some of the old. There is no point in moving old furniture only to dispose of it almost immediately once in the new space.
3. Get your commercial estimates at least 2 months in advance. A commercial move isn’t something you can do with a fly-by-night effort. Companies need the professional and secure touch of a licensed moving company with experience in commercial moving to ensure their job is done in the proper way. Office moves have a lot of additional logistics involved, and usually they are much larger than residential moves making scheduling a move into a huge office tougher than scheduling a move from a 1 bedroom apartment.
We recommend getting estimates at least two months before the date of the move. Companies should meet with their prospective movers to hear what these movers expect the job will take, in terms of cost and timing especially. Professional movers have ways of gathering estimates with accuracy that might surprise the common businessperson. The commercial representative from the moving company involved is also prepared to anticipate many of the other tasks you may need to complete in order to facilitate a successful moving day, such as acquiring a certificate of insurance and reserving freight elevators.
The first 21 rules for accomplishing a successful office move are:
#1 Choose the right moving professional
#2 Choose the right moving professional
#3 Choose the right moving professional
#4 though #21 Choose the right moving professional
Seriously…
The negative ramifications of a poorly planned office move in terms of lost business, customer dissatisfaction, lost employee moral and possible turnover, and the myriad of other hidden and less obvious costs make it mandatory that you have the most experienced moving professional on your side. You do not want to reinvent the wheel. There are tried and true methods to accomplish a successful office move, and you need that input and expertise throughout the process.
- We do the whole job.
- We understand that the planning can take months of preparation.
- The more detailed the plan the smoother the move will be accomplished.
- We carry all the necessary insurance for you, and also what will be required by the building management where you are relocating.
- We know how to schedule the move with the building you are moving into as well as out of. Most likely the move will need to be done outside of normal business hours, as most buildings won’t allow moves during office hours. The best time for an office move is typically over the weekend.
- We check with the buildings about any other requirements (each office building is unique). The building may limit the amount of time you can park at the loading dock, require that floors be covered or protected, and that elevators are reserved in advance.
- We suggest you talk to your employees about the move as early in the planning stage as possible and keep them informed.
- We check with state law in regards to the amount of time a company is required to provide notice to their employees.
Other Considerations:
- Determine what printed materials such as business cards, envelopes, and stationary will require address changes.
- Create announcements about the move.
- We can coordinate with the moving team, furniture delivery, IT install team, etc.
- Create a rough sketch of the floor plan at destination so that the movers know where to place the furniture.
- The week before moving you may need assistance with packing, so be sure to inquire about this in advance.
- Let the head of each department take an inventory of all items to be moved in their department. We can help coordinate these records.
- Before the move, we can walk the new space with the building manager to ensure it’s ready for business (no broken bulbs, leaks, etc.)
- We find out whether the AC or heat will be on during the move, as some buildings turn off the HVAC by default on weekends, unless you tell them you need it on.
- You should give employees some time on Friday before the move to pack their desk items and any other materials that haven’t been packed by that time. Have them take all personal possessions with them.
- It is wise to have at least two managers present during the entire move, one at origin and one at destination. However, only those managers should be present during the move. Any more than that may get in the way and slow us down.
- We make sure all data cabling is installed and tested before the IT team arrives to setup the network and other equipment.
If you’re moving existing IT equipment, make sure it’s unloaded first so the IT team can immediately get to work setting up the network, phones, etc.