The bigger the office, the more time you will need to prepare and plan for an office move.
Moving a complete office locally or into a different city is a massive project in itself, isn’t it?
But how can you experience easy office moving? What planning must be involved to save your time, effort, and money?
If all these questions run in your mind about office moving, then this blog will help you through it.
Importance of moving checklist
Before you start moving, make sure you have a plan in place in order to avoid any hassles along the way. It is important to make sure that your moving day goes smoothly and there are no surprises when it finally comes, by creating a moving checklist ahead of time to ensure everything goes according to plan.
Having a checklist will make it easier for you to keep track of all the things you need to do when you reach your destination. This will ensure that you won’t be dazed when you arrive. It is crucial to keep a moving checklist for a variety of reasons, some of which are listed below.
- Improve Your Organizing Skills
- Speed up your work
- Keep Track Of Your Belongings and important documents
- Reducing stress
- Don’t let anything slip through the cracks
- Attention And Memory Aid
To make your work even easier, you can download this office moving checklist to keep it handy for reference.
Office Moving Checklist: 12 Things You Need to Do to Move Safely to Your New Office
These are the top 12 office moving checklists for hassle-free office relocation:
1. Select a New Office Space
If you have already selected a new location for your office, then it will be perfectly ok but if not, then do it right away. Consider all the necessary criteria that you want your new office location to have and therefore choose one. You got to find a place that is at par with the current one.
For example, you should choose a place that is easily accessible to clients and employees. It should also be close to amenities such as restaurants, shopping malls, and banks. If you have employees who travel frequently, then it’s important that they have easy access to transportation services.
2. Fix the Time Frame for the Move
Once you have selected your new office space, you need to fix a moving date and a timeline. This will help you manage your time and resources better. If possible, you should try to complete all work before moving out of your old office so that you can give full attention to moving into your new location.
Once you know the ultimate workplace move date, you can plan the rest of the office relocation tasks consequently.
The time frame depends on how much work there is to do before moving into your new office. Make sure that everything is ready before moving day arrives. If possible, try to get a few extra days just in case something goes wrong on moving day.
3. Make a Team and Assign Major Tasks
Moving an office is moderately a transformation. Every employee has his/her own expertise at handling relocation. Figure it out, and it will help in the fast development of the work. Every employee has his/her own expertise in handling relocation.
For example, you can create a planning team and assign a moving coordinator to take care of hiring and communicating with moving companies. You can assign another team to get the new office layout and detailed floor plan to decide where every one of the things will go. Similarly, you can have another team create the big-picture logistics about moving offices.
As you assign responsibilities, you can avoid overstraining any single individual staff member.
4. List Out Office Inventory
You will need to make an inventory of everything that is being moved. It’s important that this list includes every important document and equipment that belongs in your office as well as those items which are being moved from another location or office space into yours. Your inventory should also include any personal items such as plants, artwork or decorating items that may be part of your relocation process.
An average size office contains various employees, and so it is noticeable there will be multiple equipment, furniture, gadgets, printers, desktops, etc. All you have to do is formulate a proper list of all these inventories. Decide which material you want to modify and what items you have a preference to sell or discard.
Air conditioners are also a part of office inventory. It entirely depends on you and your new office space, whether you want to reinstall the old one or buy a new one. Speak to reliable HVAC contractors well in advance, so they are available on the day of installation.
Once you have created this list, then make sure that it is updated throughout the entire moving process so that there are no discrepancies between what gets packed and what arrives at its final destination safely and securely.
5. Consider Hiring Professional Office Removalists
One of the most important things to include in your office moving checklist is to hire an experienced moving company that can help throughout the move.
A good moving company can take complete charge of moving your office equipment, tools, and other small stuff without any hassle. The professional moving team should be reliable and equipped to handle even the confidential and essential things of the office. This will considerably reduce the downtime and make sure that your operations do not suffer due to relocation.
6. Schedule a Self-Packing Day
As much as your employees are focussing on moving the entire office, they should also focus on packing their personal belongings. Assign a few days in the moving week for your team to pack essential items on their desks like pen stands, photo frames, figurines, table clocks, relevant documents, etc. They can label and pack the box so that when they reach the new space, they can easily locate and put back their belongings.
7. Inform Stakeholders About Office Move
It’s important that all your stakeholders know about the move. They need to be aware of the new address before you move out so they can update their records accordingly and schedule meetings accordingly. If there are any communication gaps, this could create confusion among your clients or colleagues.
Make a list of everyone in contact with your organization like stakeholders, customers, local partners and suppliers. You can send out an email informing them about your plans as well as give them an update on when they should expect it to happen. It is also important that you keep them updated with any changes in dates or anything else related to this process. This will ensure that they continue sending communications to your new location without any delays or errors.
8. Protect Your Data During the Move
It’s of utmost importance to ensure the complete security of your confidential data during the move.
If you are using a third-party service provider for your hosting, check with them about the best way to protect your data during the move. The most common solution is to use a virtual private network (VPN). This encrypts all of your data traffic before sending it offsite and then decodes it when it is received at its destination. If you are planning on using this method, make sure that both ends of the connection support encryption and decryption of this type before making a final decision.
9. Update the Office Address to All Financial Institutions and Government Bodies
If you are a business owner, then it is important that you update your office address with all financial institutions, government bodies and other organizations where you have accounts.
Some of the organizations that you should inform about your new location include:
- Insurance companies
- Banks
- Postal agencies
- Credit card companies
- Government agencies like the IRS and state tax authorities
- Other agencies with whom you have any dealings (like utility companies).For some, you may need a copy of the lease agreement, lease receipt or any other document that shows your business name, address, and phone number to update your new address. Make sure to start informing these institutions far before your moving date so that there aren’t any delays or discrepancies in receiving informing mails and information.
10. Arrange Stuff at the New Office Location
Since it’s office relocation, you can ask the packers and movers company to arrange the things at the new location.
If you remember, you would already have a team ready with the new floor plan to decide where every one of the furniture and equipment goes. So with the experts from the moving company at your side, you can start setting down your stuff in the new space.
While this is a tedious process and takes time, it’s essential to get all of your large stuff settled in the right places with the help of a moving team to avoid unnecessary rework later.
11. Set Up Office Infrastructure and Network
Another crucial task as part of your office relocation checklist is setting up telephone lines and internet connection.
You can inform your current internet provider and telephone provider about the change in the address so that they can set up the connection ahead of time. It is imperative to have your IT systems up and running as soon as you move in.
And once the connections are set up, you have to properly coordinate with the team about checking for the proper internet connection and telephone lines in the new location.
If at all you’re changing your telephone number, then make sure to inform every employee, client and business partner about your new number. Also, change the number on your website and any other online directories where it resides.
12. Set Up Your Security System and IT Systems
The first thing you should do when you move into a new office is set up your security systems. These include setting up new access cards, access codes, closed circuit television, alarms, surveillance equipment, and so on. You can hire a security company to take care of this or do it yourself if you have the expertise.
Similarly, you should also consider IT security and ensure that everything is protected. Make sure that your IT department gets to work as soon as the moving process is done. They can run a security check including enforcing firewalls and making sure that all your sensitive data is secure.
Other Important Things Which Usually People Delay while Relocation
While relocating office, the address changes, lease changes, and hence, here is a checklist for you to review. Do not delay these 11 trivial tasks as they can burden you later, impacting business operations:
- Order business cards with the new address
- Get the floor plan of the new office
- Be on your planned budget for relocation
- Double-check the data security
- Thoroughly inspect your new office premises
- Hire professionals for cleaning
- Review your new office
- Clean and pack the common areas
- List important contacts to inform about relocation
- Check for parking space at the new office
- Store confidential records
Hiring the right packer and mover can set aside your major worries and hassles. Irrespective of office size, they are experts in handling the entire process of office moving. With these checklists of major and trivial stuff in hand, we know you are going to do a great job at office moving.
Looking for experienced moving companies to help you on your moving date? Look no more than our experts at Move My Stuff. With decades of experience helping businesses relocate all over Australia, our team of experts can help you move your office equipment, furniture and any other stuff safely within your moving budget. Contact us today to book our team for your upcoming move.
Suggested Reading
–6 Ultimate Apps That Help to Ease House Moving Burden
–The Only Moving House Checklist You Will Need in 2019
–Change of Address Checklist You Must Have in 2019Services you might be interested in– House Moving
– Van and Man Hire ($99/hr)
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