There are many reasons why a business needs to move premises from ending a lease to finding smarter or bigger premises. Whatever the reason for needing to move office it can quickly turn into a large headache if you do not prepare and plan well in advance of the moving day.
Planning your move
The one thing that most of us have when having to move office is a bit of time before the date for shipping out arrives.
This means that we the opportunity to put a plan of action into effect and allows you the chance to create a timeline for the individual stages of your move.
Depending on the size of your office you will need a reasonable lead time if at all possible so that everything can run smoothly and without major disruption to the business. If you run a small office then a period of about three months should be sufficient time to get everything planned and ready for action, bearing in mind that you might want to choose and appoint a packing service.
A larger operation should probably try to have a preparation period of about 6-8 months, but whatever the size of your company, the key is to start planning as soon as possible.
Gathering information
As part of your plan you should attempt to gather as much information as possible about the new space that you will be moving into.
Try to get hold of a floor layout or make a floor-plan yourself so that you can quickly and easily identify key issues such as where power points are and what storage space there is. You can compare the new layout with your existing office and identify any potential problems or mismatches that might need to be resolved before you move in.
Co-ordinate
If you have a number of different departments it would be a good idea to appoint a person from each section to co-ordinate the move and liaise with other departments. Having appointed people responsible for planning the move for their particular department will help to avoid communication problems and ensure the move runs a lot more smoothly.
Preparing for moving day
There are understandably so many things that need sorting and planning in advance such as phone lines and cabling for computers amongst many other priorities but you should also pay attention to the finer detail so that you can be up and running as quickly as possible in your new office.
It is far too easy for things to get lost during a move so good advice would be to create a labeling system for each box and even item of furniture so that it can be transported to the right area and department of the new office using the information on the label.
If you plan well in advance, label everything so the movers know where it is headed for in your new office and have good communication between departments, hopefully your office move will be achieved without any headaches.
About the Author: John Young is a moving planner. He often blogs about his experiences and tips to relieve the stress of moving homes and offices.
Photo credit: SreeJith Vijayakumar
