A Checklist From a Moving Company Offices

1. Develop a Plan

You need to narrow in on a move date. Consider the end date of your current lease or talk with an agent about a timeline for selling your space. It’s also not too early to begin looking for a new location. Availability, discounts for specific move dates, or other factors with your new site may drive your moving timeline.

2. Announce the Plan

You’ll want to inform your employees of the move as soon as it’s practical to do so. Whether the relocation is across town and they may have a slightly longer commute, or it will require them to move themselves and their families to another state, this is big news. You want your staff to hear it from you. Letting them know early in the process gives them time to prepare and ask questions.

It’s also crucial that you announce the change to your customers. Consider putting out a press release and/or sending an email or direct mail piece with information about the move. This relocation is exciting news, and you want to share it. Add a move announcement to your email signature, print a notification on your invoices, and post a sign in your offices. Look for ways to reach as many of your customers as possible.

3. Create a Budget

Costs to relocate your company’s belongings will depend on the amount of stuff you have. Your furniture and equipment, the volume of smaller items like files and decor, and how much of the physical labor you plan to do yourself all determine costs.

It’s never too early to start researching commercial movers. Speak with several companies, aiming to work with a flexible local business rather than an impersonal national moving chain. Reputable moving companies will evaluate your space and belongings and provide a free estimate. That will give you a target number so you can budget accordingly.

If budget is a concern, look for a moving company with an ala carte pricing model. That will allow you to control costs by doing some work yourself. Save money by outsourcing the tasks you can’t accomplish or don’t have the time to manage. For example, you may be able to load boxes of files in a vehicle and drive them yourself but need help moving large, heavy equipment. Or you may pack up your own office but want help disassembling your desk and loading it onto a truck.

Many business owners find their hands are already over-full with the daily operations of the company and the other complications of moving. In those cases, they may hire out the entire process to focus on the business transition.

In addition to the relocation expenses, you may also need to budget for renovations to the new space, cleaning, and additional furnishings.

1. Downsize and Declutter

Start evaluating what you truly need to take with you. Your relocation is a fantastic opportunity to declutter. If you are moving to a smaller space, consider what furniture and other items will realistically fit.

Evaluate the condition of your items. If your current cubicle system is dirty and falling apart, it may make sense to use the money you would spend moving it on replacing it instead. It’s silly to pay to move items you won’t need at the new location, so think through your future space plan.

Purge old files. Talk with your legal counsel and accountant about what items you must save and what you can dispose of. Remember to shred or burn any sensitive information.

2. Create an Inventory

You don’t need to list every stapler and paperclip. But your list should include all large furniture and equipment. If you still need a quote for your move, this inventory can help you discuss your plan with commercial moving experts. There may be additional charges for moving large equipment like commercial-grade copiers. Having your list handy will help moving companies confirm the previous quote or generate an estimate if this is your first contact.

3. Assign Tasks

Outline a plan for your staff, showing who will be responsible for specific elements of the relocation project. Will you leave a small crew behind at the old space to maintain business continuity until the new offices are fully operational? Will you send an advance team to prepare the spaces for the full move?

If you’ve decided to handle some elements of the move in-house, assign those jobs. Let the accounting department know they need to box their files. Assign the tasks of buying boxes to Brenda from the Purchasing Department. If you want each department to inventory its area, hand out those assignments.

If you are working with commercial movers for some or all of the process, decide who the point person will be and put them in contact with the company you’ve chosen. Be specific in tasking; you don’t want something to get missed because everyone assumed the other guy was handling it.

4. Finalize Moving Services

If you still need to do so, it’s time to sign the contract with your commercial moving company. If you wait any longer, you may struggle to find someone available for your desired moving dates. Generally, the longer the move, the sooner you want to hire your moving team. A cross-country move is more logistically challenging than relocating three streets over from your current location.

Regardless of the length of your move, aim to have a signed moving contract at least five months before move day.

1. Begin Packing

If you are packing parts of your office yourself, it’s time to get started. Ensure you have boxes and tape on hand and in sufficient amounts. You may also need packing paper, bubble wrap, and other protection materials.

Carefully label everything, being as specific as possible. “Files” isn’t a beneficial description. “Marketing Files; A-F, pre-2015” helps you get that box exactly where it needs to be when unloaded. Don’t stop with labeling just the boxes.

Stickers placed on computers, furniture, and other items will make sure that Bob doesn’t end up with Sally’s chair and Sally gets her desk and not Jim’s. If you are doing some furniture disassembly instead of leaving that to the moving company, you can begin work on less frequently used items. A month may seem like a long time, but you can’t save everything until the last minute.

2. Meet with Movers

Meet with your moving company to review the plan and make any necessary adjustments. Ask any questions you may have about the plan for move day.

3. Schedule Services

Schedule cleaners and any other services needed as part of your move-out process.

1. Finalize Packing

Finish packing and disassembling anything your moving company won’t be handling.

2. Cancel Services

Arrange to turn off utilities. Cancel any other location-specific services as well. This step on your checklist could include landscaping, plant care, security, or water delivery.

Establish all these services at the new office.

3. Confirm with the Moving Company

You or your office move coordinator should meet with the moving company for one last plan confirmation. Provide passcodes for entry doors, building schedules, freight elevator permits, and anything else they might need to work in your old and new buildings.

It may also be helpful to provide the movers with maps showing the layout of each office, with room names corresponding to box labels. That carefully labeled box we discussed above doesn’t do much good if no one knows where the marketing department is.

1. Provide the Movers with Your Map

You have the map you created for the final meeting with the movers. Give a copy to everyone involved with move day.

2. Put One Person in Charge of the Door

Consider having one person working the door of the new location. They can answer any questions the movers may have about where an item should go.

3. Provide the Movers with Your Map

One person should be responsible for making sure everything is out of the old space. They should ensure everything is clean and in proper condition when turned over to the new owner or landlord.

4. Return Items to Your Old Building

Hand over all keys and pass cards you’ve collected from your staff.

5. Soak it All In

Say a final goodbye to your business’s previous home and start getting excited about the next chapter.

Consider Appointing a Move Manager

If you have a larger office, you may benefit from appointing one person as the move manager. They will track the details of the move, oversee vetting and hiring professional commercial movers, and be the keeper of the lists. With one employee serving as a point person, it will be harder for details to fall through the cracks.

Communicate with your Staff

As stressful as this time is for you as a business leader, it’s almost as hard on your staff. Communicate frequently about the plan. Involve them as much as possible. Reassure them about their job security. Letting everyone know what to expect along the way can calm nerves and reassure your faithful employees.

Focus on Customers and Other Constituents

It’s not just your employees who may be feeling uncertainty and stress. Your customers may worry about your ability to continue to serve them, meet deadlines, and fulfill obligations. Share your plans with them and keep them updated. Clear communication can prevent your company’s move from turning into lost business.

Be mindful of what you promise your customers during the weeks before and after the planned move. Be upfront about any possible delays or slower response times. Let them know what days the business will be shut down.

Consider leaving a small staff at your old location for a few days or weeks. The overlap will mean that you and most of the team can focus on getting the new site up and running while you still have a few employees available to continue serving customers.

Finally, be realistic about how much business you can conduct during the move. The weeks before and after your relocation might not be the best time to take on additional business or commit to other obligations.

Consider Storage

You want to minimize downtime. However, properly serving customers or filling orders will be challenging if you have to weave through a sea of boxes to reach your desk or access your inventory. Consider storing some items, so you have space to work and room to organize and get settled. Once you’ve set up the cubicles and decided on the best gossip-friendly location for the water cooler, you can bring in the rest of your items and equipment.

If you need temporary storage for inventory or while settling into your new location, search for a commercial moving and storage company that provides storage access. You will have a more seamless transition and likely better rates if all these details are handled through one company.

Be Thoughtful about Disassembling Furniture

The internet is full of memes about assembling furniture from Big Box stores. You carry in a wide, flat box that is supposed to become a desk. Instead, it often becomes skinned knuckles, frazzled nerves, and strained relationships. If you think putting together furniture is a challenge, wait until you try to take it apart. You may have thought those directions with unclear photos and AI-generated language translations couldn’t be worse. But try tackling the process in reverse and without any instructions at all. Get comfortable. This project is going to take a while.

Still, it is often safer for your furniture if you disassemble it before loading it on the moving truck. Legs can easily snap off a table if a load shifts during the drive. If you aren’t familiar with truck-loading strategies, it’s easy to stack too much weight on your desk. That excess weight can lead to damage. Disassembling solves these problems.

If you are tackling this project yourself, allow plenty of time. If the items have brand names or identifying information, check the internet for assembly instructions. Attempting to reverse engineer the process of putting things together is easier if you have some guidance.

We know avoiding downtime in your operations is critical to your bottom line. Start by taking apart pieces you can live without. You can disassemble the boardroom table if you aren’t hosting clients between now and when you move. If your final staff meeting in the old location happens with everyone sitting in a circle of chairs, that’s okay. Starting the disassembling process early avoids the last-minute rush. It will also allow you to walk away when you feel like hurling your hex wrench through a window.

Remember that after moving your company to a new building, you must reverse the process and turn that pile of pieces back into furniture. Label everything carefully using low-tack tape. Bag up screws, handles, and small parts so they don’t get lost. Include a label in the bag so you know what items the pieces go to, in case they get separated. You can tape the bag to the larger pieces of the related object. Some people prefer a parts box with all the bagged items from various items. That prevents these little bags of nuts and bolts from accidentally getting discarded with packing paper or left in the bottom of a box.

If you want to avoid that process entirely, search for well-rated “commercial movers near me.” Experienced moving professionals have seen every type of office furniture and equipment you can imagine. They laugh in the face of a pile of Swedish hardware.

Your movers can disassemble everything before loading. They have the expertise to understand what needs to be taken apart and what they can safely transport wholly or partly assembled. And they will put it back together on the other end. If you find a moving company that will send the same crew to load and unload you, the person who disassembled the item will also reassemble it.

Whether you’ve outfitted your office with Herman Miller chairs, Big Box desks, or both, professional movers will know how to disassemble, transport, and reassemble your furniture efficiently and safely.

Make a Plan for Moving Large Equipment

If you choose to, you can probably safely box up your files and your “World’s Best Dad” coffee mug. What makes business moves even more challenging than residential moves is the equipment. When preparing for a commercial move, you must pay special attention to oversized furniture like boardroom tables, heavy desks, computers, monitors, servers, printers, copy machines, and specialized equipment.

How will you safely load, secure, and unload these items? If your new building has stairs, can you physically get this equipment where it needs to go? Will it fit in an elevator? If you try to tackle moving a company to a new building as a DIY operation, ensure you’ve thought through all these logistics. These items are the lifeblood of your business. Treat them with the utmost care.

If you outsource your relocation, your professional movers will expertly handle these issues. If you want to use the entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude that has made your business successful, you may prefer to take on some of the move tasks yourself. In that case, we recommend outsourcing moving large, heavy, complex, or fragile equipment and furniture.

Focus your DIY efforts on packing smaller items and things you can easily and safely carry. That’s a great way to create a budget-friendly move that still utilizes expertise where it’s most valuable. Hire commercial movers with heavy-duty equipment to handle the challenge of moving your large, cumbersome, and valuable items.

Hire Help

Downtime is lost time. The less time you spend moving your company to a new building, the less time your business is shut down. When researching moving companies, look for one with experience with commercial moves. Look elsewhere if they tell you that moving a business is the same as a residential move. You need someone who understands the unique challenges that come with commercial relocation.