How to Plan Your Office Relocation Properly - A Full Checklist

Posted on 24/02/2016

The business relocation is one of the more difficult type of removals one could go through. If you are in charge of the moving office job, then you have a lot on your hands to deal with already. You should minimise the worry and anxiety you might be assaulted with while planning by making a thorough moving checklist. This is usually the best solution to any worries as you will have covered all the reasons why you would think that something will go wrong. Everything is easily fixable with proper planning.

First of all, two months before the move, you should sit down and take a pen and paper. Yes, all the planning should definitely be penned down, and that is done for clarity of mind. You need to literally see the problems you are fearing and their solutions next to them so that your psyche can assimilate the situation and how non-complex everything could be. Now, start writing.

2 Months Prior to the Relocation
•    Assuming that you have found a new office, you need to inform all the employees about the move and communicate the new location. Everybody should have the time to prepare for the move.
•    Inform all your service providers about the move as well. Give them a specific date when everything should be relocated – or, in the case of moving to a postcode they do not cover, when they have to end their service.
•    This is also a proper time to start looking for a good moving company. And yes – you should use a moving company. Office moving is much more complicated than just packing everything and taking it to point B. You need somebody responsible to handle the furniture, the equipment, and the hardware.

1 Month Prior to the Relocation
•    Final period to settle on a removals company. A quick advice would be to seek one that at least three other people have heard about, and it gets bonus points if it had successfully moved any one of them.
•    This is also a good time to start packing or planning for the relocation of non-essentials, such as archives and break room equipment.
•    Confirm all the cancelled or moved services with your providers – you don’t want to end up in an office, expecting to work, but getting nowhere due to there being no electricity or internet, right?

2 Weeks Prior to the Relocation
•    Time to start the active packing. Hardware used on long-term projects should be unplugged and ready to ship out. Furniture other than desks and chairs should also be sent over to the new office.
•    Make all the preparations with your removals company of choice. Pick the date and the time of the move, confirm it as many times as you’d like.
•    Inform your employees about moving day again. Repeat the date until it sets.
•    If you work with customers, inform them about the move as well.

1-3 Days Prior to the Relocation
•    Time to start packing in earnest. Anybody who is not working on essential things should start packing his/her desk and belongings.
•    Call the moving company to confirm their availability on the appointed date.
•    Confirm the services relocation with all your providers and have them do it as soon as possible so that you can be back in business as soon as possible.

Moving Day
•    When the moving company comes, make sure everything that was left for the last minute is securely packed and ready to go.
•    Leave the office movers to load up all hardware, furniture, and equipment.
•    Do a final check up to see if everything is ready.
•    Confirm the new address with the movers one last time and off you go.

You should be up and ready for business again soon enough. If you stuck with the checklist, you should have covered all the basic things you need to keep your mind at ease before the move. After the move it is up to you to arrange everything for the restart of the business’s ventures and cut the downtime as early as possible.