What to Expect When Moving Offices and How to Prepare

Moving your company’s office to a new location is a big deal. It represents a new beginning, a new chapter, a new era for your company. Just the act of moving communicates a ton about your company and impacts your company’s brand and the perception of your company as well. It also plays an influential role in impacting your employee’s attitudes and the culture of the office. Moving can support your company’s growth initiatives, realign strategies, increase efficiency, and even save you costs in some situations. Office relocation is a long process though; even before the decision to move was made, you (if you made that decision) or your management team weighed many options and considered the consequences of moving the entire company somewhere else. Once that decision is made though, a long and difficult series of events has to take place before people are comfortable and working seamlessly and comfortably in the new office!

The scope of an office relocation, no matter how big or small may overwhelm even the most experienced team of employees since it does affect everyone in the office. Whether it’s relocating your office to a larger location, merging offices, reorganizing your existing office and adding cubicles, or even moving company corporate headquarters, any mass move of employees is complex. Most companies have little to know experience managing such a large project of this scale and need the help of professionals to make sure the move goes smoothly and doesn’t ruffle too many feathers. That is where hiring the right office movers, and office furniture installation companies who offer quality and professional office relocation services plays such a key role in your transition. Furniture Assembly Team is your most dependable Office Furniture and Related Services Company. We’ve worked years to be your most trusted office furniture installers and we truly want your move to go without a hitch. We’ve compiled a small list of tips on how to properly prepare for your office move!

Plan the Move

Fail to plan and you plan to fail. Create a timeline or a plan that will allow for each state of your move. Make sure that anyone involved in the move understands this timeline and agrees that it’s feasible. Include your managers, supervisors and especially your moving team and your office furniture installer. The key here is to start as early as possible. For example, a small office needs about three months of planning whereas a medium to large office should give themselves at least six months to plan

Next, you’ll need to start gathering as much information as possible about your new space. Ask for blueprints or floor plan layouts so you know where important components like electrical layouts and storage spaces are located. At the very least create a rough draft of the layout you’ll want for your new space. Think about areas of your current office that haven’t been working well and make a plan of action for fixing those problems in the new place. Identify the furniture you will be moving and figure out who you’ll have help you with your office furniture assembly in your new place. If you are expanding and adding new furniture, cubicles, or cabinets to your new office, consider ready to assemble office cabinets or pre-assembled office furniture to ease the process. The benefits of ready to assemble office furniture when installed by professional office furniture assembly services is that you can get the rest of your move team to focus on the important parts of the move while they handle the normally time-consuming job of office furniture installation in a fraction of the time.

Also, during your planning process, you’ll want to make a list of potential problems with the new space, such as less storage or a large open space that require cubicles or temporary walls. All capable office furniture installation companies should be able to plan with you how to efficiently use that extra space if you have it. It may be necessary to hire carpenters or painters if walls need to be constructed, painted or repainted.

Choose Your Team

For medium to large offices, we recommend choosing at least one person from each division or department of your company to coordinate their area. They can work with the supervisor or manager in that department to ensure each employee understands what their responsibilities during the move will be and packs their desk, files, and personal items in time for everything to be moved soon after your office furniture service completes all office furniture installations. Have regular meetings with these people so they can pass on any important dates or changes in the moving process. Remember how stressful this process can be for everyone; communication is the best way to ease your employees’ minds.

Assign Tasks

Have your moving committee members create task lists that need to be completed and make sure they are added to the time line/schedule that all have access to. You may require specialty service providers, such as office furniture and related services, telephone line installers or computer network specialists. Ask each department manager or supervisor what will be required from their area. Make sure common areas are covered, such as the reception area, lobby, and storage areas since these areas don’t have managers or supervisors.

One of the most critical tasks is to hire movers. There are moving companies that specialize in office moves and relocations that will also work with your furniture assembly company. Just make sure you do your research, ask a lot of and the right questions, and have the company come to your office to assess your move before you hire them to make sure they have the staff and tools to help with your move.

Final Weeks

Review modular office furniture layouts for your new facility to expedite the unloading and setup process. Assign an organizational system along with color-coded labels, and distribute necessary materials and instructions to your team to make the packing up process easy. Have your office assembly services company come in and help you with your furniture. Blow up some large copies of the new office floor plans, cut and hang a copy in readily visible locations in every room to use as guides for furniture arrangement to make it easier for your office furniture installers and furniture assemblers can easily get you guys up and running. Consider arranging for a professional security guard to keep any sensitive items safe, or to monitor street level activities during the move. Make a list of all office employees involved with the relocation as well as their cell phone numbers for immediate contact.

When the day finally comes, you want to make sure that things go smoothly, of course that is never a 100% guarantee. The best way to prevent any problems from occurring is to hire office furniture services that can provide you with furniture assembly services that exceed expectations and have had tons of experience. The experts at Furniture Assembly Team are your number one office furniture assemblers and are ready to help with your office furniture installation and assembly to make your move as stress free as possible!