Moving from one office to another can be a chore, especially when you want to continue running your business through the process. No one likes to feel that their business is out of commission when they have customers counting on them, but sometimes exciting changes happen like upgrading your office location.
You can make the move feel seamless by having a good plan of attack and a professional moving crew with experience moving offices. Once you’ve picked a time and hired the movers, here is what you need to do to prepare your office for the relocation.
Start planning
You’ll want to start by planning out how this is going to go down. Several weeks before, you’ll want to choose the timeframe for the move, depending on important dates coming up in your calendar, and also depending on if your current lease is ending. Next, call a professional moving company to schedule a time and to find out what to expect on moving day.
Be sure to start getting your team involved to make sure everyone knows when to expect the move. Suppliers and employers will need to know where to report during the move and to know not to schedule anything for your old location after the moving date. Talk to everyone about their part in the move and have a meeting to discuss the current details. Having a timeline that everyone is included on will make things run seamlessly.
Next, you’ll need to take a closer look at the new space to see if you’re going to need any projects done ahead of time. You may need a painting crew to paint in advance of moving in furniture or you made need to talk to a carpenter about the flooring or constructing walls.
Come up with the layout for the new space, including where desks will go, a receptionist, storage spaces, and where electrical outlets will be available. Are there any problems you could foresee that you’ll need a backup plan for, such as needing more cubicles or finding a place to keep the waiting area or lobby?
Assign tasks to your team
Now that everything is organized, you’ll want to start delegating tasks. You may want to ask for volunteers or assign tasks, as well as let each employee know what they need to do individually before the move.
Whether it’s packing their own personal effects and desk or helping move furniture, your staff will need to know what tasks they have been assigned and at what time. Having meetings will help to answer questions and keep everyone on the same page.
The weeks before the move
You’ve been preparing for 2 months now with your team and now it’s time to handle some of the details that come with running a business. A month before the move you should take the time to inventory everything, purge any extra clutter, notify everyone of the change of address, and order new business cards. This is the time to get rid of furniture or décor you won’t be using, taking note of everything you will be moving, and updating all marketing pieces with the new address.
Now you’ll need to prepare the new space by turning on utilities, notifying area businesses about your plans for the moving day, communicating with the building manager about your moving day needs, and talking to the moving company about their access for unloading at the new office. You’ll want to start getting things packed and labeled and letting your customer base know about any interruptions to business, whether it’s for a few hours or a few days.
Moving your office may sound overwhelming, but with the right plan in place everything can happen smoothly. Use this guide to make it happen efficiently so that you can look forward to your new office!