Important Tips before office relocation

1. Plan well in advance
Plan several months before moving.
Have your management and employees write down which equipment or documents to take, which to throw out, which new equipment to order into the new office and visit the new location if possible by appointment in the weekends.

2. Find a moving company early
Since office relocation involves lot of details and equipment, make sure you ask a moving company (of your choice) an estimate months before the move.
Ask them if they have commercial relocation experience and ask them for an on-site quotation. You can also search for reviews on the internet or get recommendations from your network.

3. Involve the IT team
Get your IT team months in advanced to plan out how to transfer all phone, computer, internet, equipment. They also will need to evaluate the new office space and evaluate how they can bring all their IT assets & infrastructure into the new office.

4. Clean & Organize your office
Shred all unnecessary documents, get rid of or sell or donate used and unwanted furniture. Donating furniture or equipment can be used as tax write off (Ask your accountant about this).

5. Order new equipment in advance
Order new equipment to arrive right after, (1-2 days after) ,your team moved into the new office because the order can arrive early or later than expected. Do not order new equipment to be delivered into your old office and spend extra money to move the new equipment to your new office.

6. Don’t forget to update your address
Before moving in, contact your utilities company,vendors, partners to change your address. In addition, change your business address in the internet, business cards, letterheads, and other public materials. Moreover, don’t forget to update your clients about the move.

7. Sort out your schedule with clients
If you have a meeting with the clients or partners, etc. Give yourself and your team a buffer zone around several days where there are no client meeting and no major deadlines.

8. Have your employees organize their desks
When they are packing their individual documents and supplies, have the put their name on their boxes in multiple sides so the mover can easily organize them.

9. Use color coding
If office relocation involves large number of staff or departments, color coding is also good for telling one department from another.