Office Relocation Checklist

Your Essential Office Moving Checklist

Whether you’re downsizing, in need of more space, or moving your operations to a new area, preparing for an office relation is no small task.

Similar to moving family homes, an office relocation takes an almost military level of planning to pull off successfully – but with a few differences of course.

The question is where do you begin and what do you need to do? What about some of the finer details that many people miss during a move like this?

To help you answer these questions and more, we’ve put together this office relocation checklist from the experts to make sure that when your big day comes, you’re more than ready for it.

Before The Move (Six Months Before Moving)

To kick things off with our office relocation checklist, we recommend starting planning your move at least six months in advance before the actual date.

This is to make sure all your ducks are in a row and you come across as few friction points as possible during your office relocation – Here’s what to do:

1. Confirm Your Moving Date

The most important thing to do is to pick a date for your office relocation.

Planning around a day that includes the least friction on moving day is key here. Consider the impact of external factors and a date in the month that that does not include key events such as meetings with clients.

Finally, pick a date and stick to it, as changing plans can complicate things.

2. Review Your Lease

lease

Next on your to do list is to review the old lease for your current location.

Although unlikely to happen, it is vital that you double-check your current lease to make sure it has been properly terminated, otherwise this will make a huge dent in your plans on relocating!

Other things to remember to check are for elements in your lease that include any terms and conditions such as whether you are liable for property damage costs or and if you are liable to pay for any inspections before your departure.

Don’t forget to carefully read your new office lease early as well for any nasty terms and conditions before signing. Otherwise your new premises could be more expensive than it should be.

Finally, make sure to give the owners of the current office space plenty of notice before your moving date – the earlier better if at all possible.

3. Have A Team You Can Trust In Place For Your Office Relocation

Nobody can handle an office relocation all on their own so you’ll want to designate trustworthy team members or task employees to assist in the moving process.

Once you’ve picked a few team members, have them help out with the planning and execution of tasks.

These can include some of the following:

Arranging packing materials and other packing supplies needed.
Dealing with the property manager if needed.
Helping staff with the packing of office inventory, work items, and other equipment.
Making sure that everyone understands the plan for during the moving day.
Communicating with moving trucks.
Ensuring there are plenty of labeling materials.
Answering any questions about your new location or the move date.
Sorting any unnecessary documents that your office doesn’t need anymore.
Letting people know about their new desk locations.
Working with I.T to ensure computers, cable connections and networks are working from day one.
Supporting staff on the new way to travel to work.
Checking that all draws and filing cabinets are empty.
Letting people know about any security-based.
Information, such as new keys, access cards, fobs, or door codes.

4. Consider Using A Professional Office Moving Company

If you have a lot of essentials to move to your new office or staff that are incapable of assisting in your upcoming move, then you might want to consider professional assistance by looking at moving companies. There are a lot of moving companies out there, but not all are equal.

Spend a good amount of time shortlisting companies, based on their price, quality of service, specialisms, and online reviews. If you’re in the Sydney area, then we’d be more than happy to be your Sydney office removals partner.

5. Agree On Insurance

Once you’ve chosen your moving company, you’ll need to consider moving coverage/insurance.

Depending on the size of your business, you may have expensive items such as computers, office furniture, printers, and monitors that will need to be transported to your new office location.

If you have plenty of office inventory to worry about, then considering this type of protection is essential.

6. Set A Moving Budget

Finally, its important to remember that moving always costs are never accurate and can be more than originally expected.

With this mind, it’s best to make sure you have plenty of wiggle room in your budget to address any last-minute costs you might incur.

3 Months Before Your Office Move

Now that the groundwork has been done, let’s move on to more practical matters concerning the physical aspects of the move.

1. Know Your New Space

By now you should have all the necessary details about your new office space. If not, it might be a good idea to meet with the building manager in your new location, just to get to know the place a little better.

It’s also useful to know the exact address and have a detailed plan handy for your entire office. This way you can plan how you’re going to do the wider layout.

Consider drafting a detailed checklist of your move and for everybody that is involved in moving to your new office.

Finally, assign moving deadlines too if you think it will help.

2. Notify All Staff Of Your New Office Move

A no-brainer really, however the more details about the move you can give to your staff, the better.

Set expectations for moving week and the entire process, so that any employees know their responsibilities ahead of time. This will also help prevent any stress-related moves from occurring.

It also helps to share the new floor plan with staff, as well as where their seats will be. Finally, supply them with a detailed plan on how the big day will go down.

3. Create Detailed Inventories and a List Of All Office Items

Put together a thorough list of all furniture, important equipment, office supplies, kitchen items, and anything else you want to take with you to your new address.

Here is a list of items as part of our office relocation checklist you wont want to forget:

Office Furniture Items

Office desks
Stand-Up Desks
Monitor Stands
Filing Cabinets
Bookcases
Sofas
Conference Room Tables
Office Chairs
Whiteboards
Desk Lamps
Art and Decor
Surface Protectors

Electronics and Technology Items

Computers and Laptops
Power Sources, Cables
Monitors
Computer accessories including mice, keyboards, headsets, webcams and mics.
Internet Router
Office Printers and Scanners / Photocopiers
Storage and Backup Devices
Desk fans
Shredder
Projectors
Office Phones
Tablets

Stationery and Every Day Items

Pens and Pencils
Printing Ink and Paper
Scissors
Three-Hole Punch
Binders
Batteries
Packaging Supplies (envelopes, stamps, boxes, sticky tape)
Business Cards
Staplers, Staples, Paper Clips and Pins
Notepads
Calendars and Organisers
Markers and Highlighters
Everyday Paper in various sizes
Post-it notes

Kitchen Items

Coffee Maker
Coffee Mugs and Coasters
Fridge/Minifridge
Microwave
Plates and Cutlery
Kettle

4. Order Any New Items You Might Need That You Aren’t Already Taking With You

Moving is always a good opportunity to buy new furniture and equipment for your new location. Choose and order these well in advance as office suppliers have longer lead times due to scale.

5. Confirm All Utilities

Ensure that all utilities are ready for usage before arriving, this includes

Internet And Phone Instllation
Phone Installation
Gas and Water
Electricity
Rent Is Paid Up

Ensuring all these elements will ensure that they will be working from day 1 to minimise disruption to workflow.

6. Finish up the paperwork

Confirm once again that your previous and new workplaces have all the legalities in order, and you are allowed to execute the move.

7. Inform Clients, Partners, and Suppliers Of Your New Office Move

clients A big part of moving is to make sure that everyone is on the same page – and we’re not just talking about employees!

Once you move to your new office, you will need to consider external relationships. For example, will your office relocation affect any partners or clients? If this is possible, then you will need to make sure they know your new contact details and whether your relocation will impact their relationship with you in any way.

Here are more details in our office relocation checklist on who you may need to inform about your move.

Landlord and property owners: As mentioned above, the more notice you can give the better.
Staff, employees, and contractors: It’s a good idea to let your team know well in advance so that they can be prepared in all relevant ways.
Clients and suppliers: It’s also a good idea to let suppliers, and each client and business partner know about the move so that they can expect minor disruptions during the time.
Get I.T up to speed: Your IT department is going to have a big job to move all computers and set up new networks, printers, and other office devices.
Other parties to notify about a change of address will include:

Stationery Supply Services
Banks and Financial Services
Power, Water, and Other Utilities
Internet and Telephone Providers
Food and Drink Suppliers
Cleaning Services and Maintenance
Local Authorities
Insurance and Accounting Services
If you need extra help, check out this change of address checklist.

Moving day

All of the groundwork has been done, you’ve gone through this whole office relocation checklist and everything is ready for your new space.

Things To Remember On Moving Day

Stay in close contact with your moving company: Communication is key to relocating office equipment.
Organisation: Have your moving team at both the departure point and destination to make sure things are being put in the right place.
Stay on top of the utility activation: If you’re working with a professional mover, sometimes a utility setup service is part of the deal.
Most importantly – relax: Your moving company will be responsible for this part of the operation, so take the chance to have a breather knowing you are in good hands.

Settling Into Your New Office Space

·Get Everything Set Up: Time for IT to plug everything back in and set up the networks. You are going to want to test phones, computers, Wi-Fi, cables, and IT systems again.
Consider Hiring an Interior Designer / Cleaning Services: Both employees and clients thrive on a sparkling new office layout. If your old office wasn’t a clean establishment, then moving to a new office address will give you the perfect opportunity to improve this. Furthermore, you can consider hiring these services to give your new premises a real shine.
Update your credentials: Change the office address and contact details on your website, business cards, Google listings, social media platforms and any other directories.
Check your cargo: Once you have had the chance to open up all your moving crates, check everything against the inventory to check for missing or damaged items.
Security matters: Collect all old key cards and keys, and hand out the new ones for the new office.
Show staff in Ensure that all staff knows where they are going and immediate working needs are met.
Plan the party: Now is the time to celebrate! Everything has been moved, staff is settling, so there’s no better moment to put together an office-warming shindig!

Why Not Keep Things Simple: Hire Professional Office Movers Now

That’s it for our office relocation checklist. As you can see, that’s one heck of a list.

As we mentioned at the start, office moving is a big deal and can be a challenging task.

You have to consider many aspects of the move, so why not let us take the logistical side of things out of your hands?

We have over 25 years of experience and our experienced planning team can effectively assist your employees pack, move, and unpack. We also assign a moving coordinator months before the move to assist you with your planning.

As specialist business relocation consultants, we know what it takes to handle office and industrial equipment, and just what it takes to pull off a successful office relocation.

For more information, just get in touch with our friendly team who’ll be more than happy to answer your questions.