A house move is measured in inconvenience: an office move is measured in money, because every hour the phones and the login servers are down has a cost attached. This changes the dynamics considerably, because the deadline is not the day the last box is unpacked, but the point at which the business can reopen for customers.
It also changes the stakeholders and their responsibilities, which is why companies comparing Orange County movers for a commercial job should be thinking in terms of a coordinated shutdown and restart, and the quotes should be read with that in mind.
Plan Backwards From the First Trading Hour
Set the deadline as the first hour the business needs to be open for trade, then work backwards from there. Everything that needs to be up and running at this point must have its own deadline before that, including the systems and tools people need to work with, from the internet to card readers and so on. Everything else, including most of the furniture, can come after. People who plan forwards from a “day of the move” frequently find themselves unable to operate the systems they need on the day they wanted to reopen.
IT Is the Critical Path, Not the Furniture
A business internet connection at the new address is likely to have weeks of lead time, and is frequently the deciding factor in whether the reopening date can be met. It should be ordered the day the lease agreement is signed. The same goes for number portability for phone systems, or structured cabling if it is required. Everything else in the move has some headroom; IT rarely does. Any servers on site, including NAS devices or comms cabinets, require individual planning, transportation documentation and verification of backups before they are disconnected. A temporary overlap of connections, with both the old and new sites operating at the same time, is an option when downtime really cannot be permitted, but at far greater cost.
Label by Destination, Not by Origin
Every room in the new office, every desk and work area, should be allocated a code prior to packing beginning, and boxes should go to that destination with a note saying so. It makes a huge difference to the speed at which unpacking can happen if a worker can read a label and put a box down without asking further questions. Boxes should be numbered and a list kept of their contents, because the most common experience in commercial moves is that the furniture arrives intact but the files someone needed on Monday have vanished.
The Building Requirements Nobody Budgets Time For
Commercial properties have requirements, which usually means that the mover will need a certificate of insurance before work can begin, a booked service lift, agreement on loading bay hours and arrangements for accessing the building outside of these. The outgoing landlord is likely to have particular conditions on leaving the space as it was found, and any alterations made may need to be remedied. This should all be tackled a month ahead of time, because a delay on the service lift leaves everyone else waiting.
Tell the Staff More Than Once
Staff need to know what to do to prepare, including what not to touch, where they will be working, when their machines are due to arrive and whether they should take anything home overnight or not. They also need to know who to ask if questions arise. The best organisations tell them more than once, and make someone in each department accountable for making sure their people understand.
Do Not Forget the Space Being Left
The terms of the outgoing lease usually specify how the space must be left for the next tenant, which is often the deciding factor on how much time must be spent cleaning up and removing equipment. A space is rarely left as it was found without work, and budget time should be allocated to removing cabling and signage, repairing any damage and tidying everything up. Two jobs always get put off to the end and should not be: responsibly disposing of any electronics, and making sure any paperwork or drives containing the company’s data are securely destroyed or transferred.
Weekend Moves Cost More and Usually Pay for Themselves
The cost of a weekend move, when people have to be paid extra to work, and where access to some buildings is likely to be more difficult or even impossible, is always likely to be higher. However, it provides two full days of setup and preparation, shortening the period of closure dramatically. For businesses that operate on a week-day only basis, it makes more sense financially than losing a day’s trading, and it is likely to be priced that way too: the two options should always be compared.
Conclusion: The Deadline Is the Restart, Not the Truck
Internet connectivity is booked on the day of signing the lease, not the day the company vacates the space. Time is budgeted for the critical path, not the furniture. Boxes are packed with destination labels and numbered. Both the incoming and outgoing buildings’ requirements are researched a month ahead of time. The cost of a weekend move is weighed against a day’s lost trading. The physical move becomes the simple part.
