Moving into a new office space is almost as complicated as moving home. There’s lots of furniture, utilities to disconnect and reconnect at the other end, ornaments, box files and all manner of artifacts. Plus, when you’re moving house you often take a couple of days off work and your colleagues fill in for you. When you’re moving offices, all your colleagues are moving too! Do you shut down ops for a few days or try to keep things ticking along as best you can?
Here’s how to make a successful move with the minimum of disruption.
- Plan as early as possible
You really can’t just wing it here! Before you’ve even signed the contract with Cattaneo Commercial you’ll need to assign particular tasks and projects to people so they’re good to go. You really need to avoid a last-minute scramble, especially if you realise no-one’s coming to pick up your moulding machines.
Scrutinise the office floorplans so you know where everything – and everyone – will be going and make sure you know how much you have to spend on this move. This includes the costs of shutting down for a few days. Realistically you’ll need a few months to set everything in place and at least six weeks to get everything ready to move. You also need to make sure everything will fit into your new place.
- Make someone moving manager
Everyone will be doing their bit, of course, but you need an overseer, usually an existing project manager, to keep everyone on track.
- Make sure you have the best removals company you can afford
Get as many quotes from companies as you can! This means more than the usual three quotes that’s advised. Office moves get pretty pricey so do take your time here. If you opt for a full-service, the movers will do all the packing, loading and unpacking for you.
Have the companies actually visit your premises before they give you their quotes because they’ll be more likely to spot, say, an awkward staircase that’ll mean they need an extra person.
Lastly, make sure your removals company is fully licensed and insured.
- Get everyone to pack up their desks
If everyone’s desk is all packed up and ready to go. This makes life easier for the removals company and speeds things along.
- Get IT on the case straight away
Disconnecting and then reconnecting all the techie stuff is one of the biggest and fiddliest parts of an office move. Your IT department should get together a plan for the move as soon as it’s coming. An office move is also a good time to offload any old, outdated or defunct equipment.
- Sort out your change of address notices
As soon as you know your new address, start changing over business cards, labels, letterheads and so on. It’s better to have stationery with these new details already to hand before you go.
- Label all your moving boxes
Just as you label your boxes for a house move, you should do this for an office move as well so that when you get to the other side you hit the ground running (or, at least, unpacking efficiently). You need to give each box a location and a number and these details should correspond with a spreadsheet so you know what’s in them without having to pick up a box cutter.
- Shift non-essentials by yourselves first
These non-essentials might include plants, posters and frames, bulk office supplies and so on. It’ll save time and possibly the expense of one removals van load.
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