How to plan office relocation?

Whether you’re planning to move your office to a different location in town, to another city or another country, this is not a light decision to make. But it should not be avoided either if pros outweigh cons and that happens pretty often nowadays. Moving office doesn’t necessarily need to be a tough move. In fact, if planned properly, it can be a smooth process. As always, it all comes down to planning and preparation. So here are some tips on how to plan your office relocation.

office buildings — Moving your office is not a light decision to make!

The first thing to do: find a new office

Here are a few things to consider:

What is going to be the new office location?
How much space does the company need, especially when taking into account its future growth?
What type and length of the lease you need? You’ll need to have answers to these questions before you are off to negotiate the lease.
Do you need an office space planner to help with design and build-out?
Who will be in charge of planning the new office IT infrastructure?
Will you replace any outdated office equipment and furniture? If so, who will be in charge of making an inventory? Who will eventually make decisions on what items to move and which ones to replace? And if anything is being replaced, how are you going to get rid of the outdated office equipment and furniture?
Do you want any paper records moved to digital? Make sure you plan and notify your staff about this ahead of time.

The next thing to do: create your office relocation plan

This is where you specify all the tasks to be done in order to successfully move your office. Later on, the staff just need to follow all the steps outlined in the plan and your office relocation process should be completed both on time and within the budget.

So how do you create your office relocation plan?

Here are some tips for that particular job.

Appoint key people

First, you need to choose the chief person who will be in charge of the move, but then you also need a team around them. The person in charge needs to have great organizing skills and be determined. They should also have the authority to represent the company when needed. The best way to form a team around this person is to do that along with them so that they also take part in choosing the people they are going to work with on that particular project.

Determine key dates

You need to keep in mind when your current lease terminates and when new lease signing takes place or when new office build-out is going to start and finish. You should also take into account your company workload and try to choose the moment (if possible) that would be the least disturbing for your company. Then you should set the final date for the completion of the moving process.

Estimate the budget

And have the team get back to it and review it from time to time so that the process stays within the budget.

Create a customized office relocation plan

This is where you need to list all the tasks to be done during the moving process, the people who will be in charge of each of them, the deadlines and the budget for each task to be completed.

Don’t rush with your office relocation plan. If the plan is not good, it is likely to slow down the process later on and might even add additional costs. But if the plan is good, your team will only need to stick to the schedule.

What if developing a customized project plan is not something your company could successfully deal with?

It’s actually a very common scenario and this is what professional moving companies are there for. There’s no company that can do everything on their own or even if they could, it’s would not be cost-effective. So it’s always better to hire someone to move your office as they will do it much more efficiently and your stuff will be free to keep working on their own tasks in the meantime. Professional movers can even help you calculate your moving costs and plan the process.

Play it smart

If the budget is your main concern, you should know that hiring professional movers should actually save you money. Take into account all the time some of your employees will not be available for their regular work due to being busy with moving. Here are also some tips on how to hire a cheap moving company.

If you use full-service movers, then a professional move coordinator will develop a plan containing details of physical relocation of your office. However, you would still need to provide the dates and the budget. You would also need to appoint a person that would be in charge of the process as a representative of your company.

Find the right services

If you are worried how to make sure you’d choose reliable movers, visit verifiedmovers.com and check them out. You need a company that will handle all the packing and moving, but also all the deconstruction and reconstruction.

office space — Inform your employees about office relocation first

What else needs to be done?

When moving your office you need to inform your employees first, so that they could get ready for the move too. If you’re moving your office to another city or another country, you also need to discuss relocation packages. You might want to get more info on moving to that particular destination beforehand (such as moving to NYC or moving to LA).

Then you should also notify your customers and business partners about the move ahead of time. This is a great opportunity to reach out and get back in touch with your current, former and prospective partners and customers. If you’re moving your office due to company growth, let people know that.

After the move, don’t forget to update your company website and social media, stationery, brochures, business cards, etc. You don’t want to get your customers and business partners confused or to seem lazy, do you?