Planning an office move can be highly overwhelming, and the more employees there are to relocate can make the process that much more immense. Because of this, making a checklist can make this process feel smoother and much more organized while your staff transitions during this chaotic time.
1. Review Your Company’s Property Lease.
See what your lease has to say in regards to moving or relocating. Is it time for the lease to be up? What kind of notifications are you to provide to your landlord? Be prepared for any kind of financial situations that may arise from a break in lease if there is to be one.
2. Decide How You Will Move.
Will you be moving items and office furniture yourself or are you thinking a professional mover is a better plan? Will there be sensitive materials that should not be left in the hands of a third party or may require an extra level of security? Do you have the manpower and time within your company to make the move yourself? Hiring professional movers can add additional costs to moving, however, they often pay for themselves. Remember, the longer your business is taking to move, the longer you are out of operation.
3. Decide Why to Move
There are many reasons a business owner may choose to move locations. However, the reason why will help you with the next step, which is to select where. Oftentimes we grow out of our current building or space, or perhaps you want to be closer to your clients. Knowing your reason for relocating is important. This will allow you to better express your location needs to your employees and clients in a manner that they can understand as well.
4. Where Are You Moving To?
Find a better place that will suit your office and the needs of your company better. Knowing your reasons why will help you with this. Make sure to remember all budgetary needs as well as any zoning or local laws that may make an impact on your flow of operations.
5. Make a List of People You Need to Alert.
This list is going to be long. From the utilities to vendors and clients. You don’t want to forget anyone. This information also needs to be communicated as early as possible as it may impact accessibility and feasibility to those on that list.
6. Determine if You Need a Planning Team for Your Move.
Moving a whole office takes quite a bit of planning. Having a planning team that can coordinate tasks helps the move go more smoothly, with or without a professional moving company helping.
7. Determine Dates
Based on your new lease and your old lease, you will have specific dates that will work for moving. If utilizing professional movers, the timeline can be a bit easier and operations should not be interrupted for long. However, if you are planning on moving on your own, you should probably leave some flexibility in your schedule, just in case everything does not happen according to your timeline.
8. Get Moving Supplies
You will need moving supplies. While this can be a pretty obvious task, it is something that many find themselves forgetting in the process of planning. You will need boxes, packing materials, tape, and some markers for labels. Make sure you have everything possible to keep yourself organized so that the unpacking process is seamless.
9. Make a Plan
Plan how you are going to move. This means making sure you’re packing in a way that makes the process of unpacking smoother. Take into account what will happen when you get to the next location as you load the truck. You will want the desks and heavy furniture to the rear of the truck so that you can set them up before unpacking the files and computers and smaller office devices. This planning can save you a lot of time and frustration later.
10. Prepare for Downtime
Let all vendors and customers know that you are moving and will be out for a few days. This will help you focus on setting up your new office space and settling in without a lot of distractions. You will then have to ensure that you have all the utilities and everything changed over and ready to be up and running as soon as possible before returning to normal operations.
When moving an office, planning will be your number one priority to make sure changes are made in a timely manner without much interference. Plan ahead for everything and allow for a couple of extra days as a cushion to ensure that you can do this without a lot of interruption and can have time to address any hiccups in your moving agenda.
