Moving office is a huge undertaking. It’s one of the only events that can make moving house seem easy! To help you to make your next office move as smooth as possible, we have compiled an office relocation checklist for you to use.
Office relocation checklist
Step 1 – planning
1. Before you move, work out the floor plan for your new office and where you want your employees seated.
2. Assign a number to each desk. It sounds a bit over the top, but this will come in handy later. The easiest way to assign each desk a number is to mark the desks in sequence according to their department. For example, if your departments sit together, number your IT people as desks 100, 101, etc., and your marketing department seats as 200, 201, etc. This will make different areas and departments much easier to identify as your blueprint gets a few more coffee stains on it during this work in progress.
3. People with individual offices should also have sequential numbers assigned to them. Perhaps reserve 0-99 for this task.
4. Designate communal spaces, or activity based working spaces. You don’t have to number these if you don’t want to, but make sure they are clear on the floor plan. This is the best time to consider whether you want to allocate separate areas for quiet spaces and collaborative spaces.
5. Make sure IT have their own project plan for the move, including getting all PC and hardware cables and cords ready for moving day.
6. Confirm access requirements to the building on day one, and make sure that you know where and how the removalists will have access to the building.
7. Send your clear floor plan to the removalists, to staff, and to all departments involved in the physical move. Make sure that staff understand your expectations for the move and details about the new office space.
Step 2 – packing the office
1. Ask all staff members to number all the major pieces of furniture and hardware they are taking, as well as all their (packed) boxes. Try to get everyone to label each piece in the same spot. When it comes to redistributing computer monitors at the other end, it helps to be able to quickly identify the number and not search for the number.
2. Empty and lock all filing cabinets and drawers.
3. All keyboards, cables and phones need to be packed in a plastic bag labelled with the same number as the staff member’s other things.
4. Personal items shouldn’t come along for the move.
Step 3 – preparing your new business space
1. Post signs for your removalists, so they know where seat numbers translate from the floor plan to the physical building.
2. Use masking tape to mark where desks or other heavy items should go. If the office is already fitted out, label using the location numbers from the floorplan.
A professional removalist like Holloway Removals and Storage will be able to take your office move from there. The more time you spend preparing, the less time you will experience business disruptions later.