Ready to hire office movers for your move? Read this comprehensive guide from an experienced Boston Commercial Moving Company
Before you make the call to get office movers to come in and move your office, it’s a good idea to make a plan. Starting six months out, here’s what you need to do when planning on moving your office across the hall, across town, or to another city:
Six Months Before Moving
- Establish a “move committee” of key staff members. Don’t get yourself into a “too many cooks” situation. You’ll want to delegate the responsibility of moving your office to two or three employees. These are the people who will contact commercial moving companies, get quotes from various office movers, and make sure the work schedule and the moving schedule line up accordingly.
- Meet with IT Firms and discuss cost and plans for your new system. This is a great time to think about modernizing your equipment. If all the hardware is going to get unplugged anyway, why put it back together if it’s outdated? Let moving your office be the single stone, so to speak.
- Request preliminary quotes from office movers. A Boston office moving company should have “non-peak” dates that may be cheaper. It’s always best to have a representative of the moving company stop by in person to check out what you have to move.
Three Months Before Moving
- Follow up and meet with Move Committee. Make sure everyone in the office knows the plan. Schedule vacation time or remote work as needed. Moving your office can be a hectic process, so it might be a good time for those not involved with the process to take some time off.
- Finalize your IT firm if you’re upgrading your system or equipment.
- If you have the budget, consult a space planner or interior decorator. If not, start to develop a plan for the space. One way to do this is to draw up the floor plan of the new office on a whiteboard in a common space. This way, all employees can see the plan and have input in the new layout. Office moving can be just as stressful as moving your home. So it’s always helpful to make sure everyone feels invested in the process.
- Select office movers from the local commercial moving companies that have offered quotes. Be sure to check reviews and ask for references.
Whether you’re expanding or operations or just rearranging the office, it’s important that all staff members are involved in the plan. Photo by The White House from Washington, DC (P060915PS-0374) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Two months before moving
- Confirm and schedule all upgrades and changes to your phone system, utilities, internet, computer system, etc.
- Complete office service changes:
- Stationery (With the New Address!)
- Business Cards
- Promotional Materials
- Any Subscriptions or Scheduled Deliveries like Bottled Water
- Copy Service
- Vending Machine Service
- New Purchases
- Finalize Floor Plans (Know which Furniture items your need and which you don’t)
- Let your office moving company know about any significant changes to your inventory since their initial walk-through. This may affect the hourly rate or estimate.
One Month Before Moving
- Order Packing Supplies like boxes, markers, and packing paper (Unless your Office Movers will be packing your office for you)
- Notify all Suppliers of New Address
- Notify all Customers of New Address
- Update Staff on Plans for the Move
- Contact a Charity to Arrange for Donation of Excess Items
Two-three weeks before moving
- Arrange for new Parking Spaces and Permits, if needed (More on Boston Moving Permits here)
- Order Building and Office Keys
- Confirm your office move with your building manager. Be sure to reserve any freight elevators or loading docks that will be needed.
- Obtain insurance certificates from commercial moving company
- Finalize installation of any new tech services like phone, internet, internal network, etc.
One week before moving
- Begin packing (unless your office movers will be packing for you)
- Meet with employees. This can be a stressful time for the staff, but you can reduce their stress by ensuring that everyone is well informed about this office move.
- Label all furniture according to plan. This can save significant time on moving day. This will making your office movers very happy.
- Tour new facility and double-check furniture and floor plans. The better organized you can be for your moving company, the smoother things will go.
- If your new space is under renovation, speak to your contractor to confirm that it will be ready by your move-in date. Contact your office movers as early as possible should there be a need to reschedule.
One day before moving
- Complete packing and labeling. Again, the better organized you are, the smoother your move will go.
- Uninstall and Reinstall phone equipment or any other tech that requires it.
- Walk-through with staff indicating new work areas. You want to minimize surprises when everyone comes back to work.
- Post floor plans and label all areas according to plan – This will speed up your movers because they won’t have to ask too many questions.
Say hi to your Office Movers, moving day is here!
- Be sure to have Move Committee staff available to answer any questions from your office movers. Only commercial moving company employees and your Move Committee members should be on-site. Anyone else is just going to get in the way and slow down the process. (And make moving your office more expensive as a result).
- Adjust furniture as needed in the new space. We know you’ve made a plan, but sometimes you’ll change your mind when you see the furniture in the new place in person.
- Inspect your furniture and hallways for any moving related damages. Most commercial moving companies require notification of any damages within 48 hours of the move for coverage to apply.
- Relax and enjoy your new office!
Safe Responsible Movers – Boston Office Movers – Click Here to Book Your Boston Commercial Moving Company Today!
Featured photo by Trollbackco (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
