Moving Office Checklist

Moving your business from one office to another is no easy feat. There are risks involved that may be damaging to the operation of your business, so you need to take control and draw up a clear moving plan to streamline the process. This comprehensive moving office checklist goes through everything you’ll need to plan for when you’re making the big transition!

Include Your Team

An office move is a hefty project so all the work cannot be left to one nominated employee!

An overall moving project leader should be appointed to oversee the full process, but it can be a good idea to choose a few representatives from each department. This, of course, depends on the size of your company. If you’re 5 people things will be a whole lot different than if you’re 500.

Each department should meet separately to condense a list of exactly what needs to be done before the big move. This list should be filtered back to the project leader by the department representative.

The full office team should be regularly updated on any important changes, keeping everyone in the loop so no confusion arises.

Budget

A moving project isn’t cheap so drawing up a budget is vital. Do this using the information you’ve gathered about the needs and wants of each department, and also based on what needs you’ve identified from the floor plan.

 

Break down the budget into different expenses like the cost of set-up, removal services, new furniture, personnel costs, stationery, and updated marketing materials etc.

If you are looking to augment the company’s budget, consider recycling. Account the company’s tech gadgets and see if you can sell the old mobile phones, computers, or laptops that the company can consider as a spare resource. In that way, you can declutter your extra tech equipment while having an additional budget to allocate.

Timeline and Deadline

As well as breaking down the budget into chunks, a timeline should be constructed with deadlines for each task and a project completion date.

 

Make good use of spreadsheets and office moving checklists (like this one!) to keep you on the right track. Chase up department representatives when task deadlines are looming so that everything runs smoothly.

Floor Plan

To get a good idea of the work required and what is feasible, you need a floor plan of the new office premises with measurements of the space. This floor plan will help you determine what furnishings you need. Shelving, wallpaper, carpets, blinds, lighting, partitions, and new furniture are all things to be considered.

 

Based on your current furniture and the requirements fed back by each department, use the floor plan to decide how everything will be laid out. When marking your envisioned layout on the floor plan, assign each department a colour and each employee a number. These colours and numbers will be used when you’re packing up.

Removal and Storage

Gather quotes from a few removal companies and ask questions about whether they offer any other services your particular business requires, like assistance with packing.

Book your removal company as soon as possible to avoid delays to your moving schedule.

Look into renting a self-storage unit in London for any furniture and equipment you don’t plan on taking to the new premises but you still require access to, like archived documents or trade show props.

Address Change Notifications

There is a long list of people your business will have to notify of your address change.

Let your clients know that business will resume as normal whilst you’re moving premises. Alert all your suppliers, the bank, insurance companies, and utility providers. Your business stationery will need to be refreshed too, as well as your website and other marketing materials.

To ensure that you still receive communications from anyone who may have missed the memo, set up a postal redirect and call forwarding to your new address and number.

 

Installation

Before you move in, you’ll need to ensure that everything is properly installed and ready for your equipment and furniture.

Sufficient cabling, data points, gas, water, electricity, and heating are musts. Make sure your kitchen and bathroom facilities are looking good and put up new shelving or partitions if required.

Pro tip: When planning for repairs, installations and inspections, make sure to employ professionals who have had a history with working on an office space. AerialForce, for example, has many partner engineers who have done aerial installations in London office spaces.

Packing

Moving day is almost upon you!

To make things easy (and to declutter) make sure all your employees take home any of their own personal belongings before you start packing up. For a couple of weeks leading up to the move, pack up everything in the office, trying to avoid disrupting your employees’ work as much as possible. Label boxes with their contents and destination as well as the department colour code and employee number where relevant. Place colour code or numerical stickers on bulkier pieces of furniture too.

 

Final Prep

Your office is packed up and good to go, you’ve sorted out all your admin – what else do you need to remember?

Make sure you have keys or access codes for your new premises for the moving day. Ensure you have a parking space for the movers and note where they can access lifts and stairs. Create a detailed moving day schedule and distribute it to your volunteer moving team.

 

Moving Day

On moving day, make sure you have an emergency stash with water, a first aid kit, energy-packed snacks, and a budget for other refreshments. Distribute your detailed, colour-coded floor plan to your movers as well as emergency contact details.

When you arrive at the new premises, take photos of the move-in state and do a quick walk around to make sure that everything is in order and ready for the furniture to be put in place and assembled.

Once everything is in place, have your department reps do a spot check to make sure that all the equipment and furniture for their department is present and free from damage. Arrange for your old office to have a deep clean before handing over the keys to your landlord.

 

Test and Feedback

When business commences again, give all your employees building access key cards and test working in the space for a week or two.

Get your department reps to gather feedback from their teams about any issues with the layout or facilities in the new office space so you can get the perfect setup as quickly as possible.

The Move Is Over!

Moving office is a long, difficult process but equipping yourself with the right knowledge and services will help to iron out any major problems.

Using a London Storage Unit is a great idea for storing your equipment or documents mid-move and in the long-term, freeing up space and putting your mind at ease that some key pieces will not be damaged during the move.

 

 

Photo Credits: Unsplash

 

 

About the author

Carol is a freelance writer for Storage Vault Coatbridge and is absolutely bonkers about storage and productivity. If not writing lists, press releases or blog articles — you can find her exploring the Scottish highlands with her Macbook and notepad looking for inspiration and adventure.

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