Useful Tips To Help Your Office Move
Moving office, whether to expand, downsize or merely to relocate – can be for the business owner, every bit as stressful as a homeowner moving house and unlike a house move, every minute that the business is not running can mean losing money. Here’s some advice on how to manage the office move.
Communicate the move
Communicate with your customers and all those companies and people that interact regularly with your company. Tell them about what you are doing and where you will be relocated. Best to do this about a month prior to the move. Remember to update your website and use the website and social media to inform of the changes.
It’s not just the customers you need to consider. Be sure to inform HM Revenue & Customs and the relevant government agencies. The bank will need an early prompt to supply new cards and cheque books whilst insurers also need to sort out the paper work. What about office supplies, third parties you rely on, freelancers, subcontractors, the relevant telephone company, postal service and internet provider? Do you use couriers who would need to know?
Write a list of every contact you need to inform that is relevant to your business and work the list.
Make it a positive time
Depending on the type of business it might be worth celebrating with a party when moved – inviting clients or customers.
Get staff emotionally invested in the move as some may be unsettled by the upheaval. They can be a big help on the day if needed. Also – in the same way as a house move, purge old and irrelevant files, tat and materials that have been hoarded and are unnecessary to take with you. Make it a time to review suppliers, the way the office is arranged and where staff are sitting. What would be best for morale and best for productivity – is there a perfect balance?
Update all office and business materials
This can be an afterthought or seen as something to do at a later date for some companies and this can make the business look unprofessional. Update all marketing materials and stationary with the new address and contact details prior to the move. Don’t forget to change your signature contact lines on outgoing emails.
Rely on experienced movers
If you look around you can find an experienced office removals company that may be able to put your mind at ease, taking care of a lot of the fuss and detail on the day.
“Office moves sometimes require that our removal men work overnight for minimum disruption to the business,” says Steven Hartwell, co-owner of Advanced Removals & Storage. “You have to be fast, careful and organised. When you are moving a business the aim is to get them in a position where they can be up and running again as soon as possible. However, saying that, some office moves are staggered, which is why we have storage facilities to hold office contents in the interim period. We approach every office move as a unique project to get it right.”
You can always provide a map of the intended new office layout to the removal men so there are no miscommunications.
Organise into rooms
Group all the items intended for each room in the new premises together in a space so that they can be loaded on the truck in an order and unloaded efficiently for unpacking. Create an inventory so everything can be ticked off at the other end. Advanced Removals can help you with this process.
Box and order messy items
Label every workstation and computer (including keyboard and monitor) with the user’s name. Have a box or bag for leads and the mouse per computer and label accordingly or you’ll be faced with a tangled mass of leads at the other end. Here at Advanced Removals we have our own boxes and packing system so don’t be afraid to ask us how much we can do for you during the move – you might be pleasantly surprised.