Selecting a Mover and Planning an Office Relocation

The mover may handle the boxes, but a successful office relocation depends on coordinating much more than the move itself.

An office move can look deceptively simple on a schedule: pack on Friday, move over the weekend, and open Monday morning.

The moving company is an important part of that plan. It isn’t the entire plan.

Furniture, technology, building access, security, employee belongings, equipment, vendors and the sequence at both locations all have to come together at the same time.

Start by selecting a mover that understands the scope—but manage the relocation as a coordinated project.

Selecting the Mover

Provide the same information to each moving company so you’re comparing proposals based on the same scope and assumptions.

When reviewing proposals:

• Compare estimated labor hours, staffing, trucks and move duration—not just the bottom-line price.
• Check references for comparable commercial moves and ask about the experience of the team that will actually perform your move.
• Confirm that the mover can handle any specialized furniture, equipment or materials included in the relocation.
• Understand the mover’s insurance coverage, claims process and responsibility for damaged property.
• Identify anything the mover will not disconnect, move, reconnect or insure before awarding the work.

A low number isn’t necessarily a low-cost move if important scope has been excluded.

Before Move Day

Decide early who is responsible for packing.

Some organizations have employees pack their own offices and workstations. Others use movers or professional packing services. Either approach can work, but the responsibility needs to be clear.

Confirm who will provide crates, boxes, labels and other packing materials and when they will arrive.

Provide the mover with floor plans for both locations. Identify departments, offices, workstations, storage areas and equipment so items can be labeled for their destination rather than sorted out after they arrive.

Also determine how personal belongings, plants, confidential records, artwork and other items requiring special handling will be managed.

The objective is simple: move day should be execution, not discovery.

Coordinate Both Buildings

The move needs to work at both ends.

Confirm the requirements with property management or the landlord at the existing and new locations.

Those requirements may include:

• Permitted move hours
• Loading dock reservations
• Freight elevator access
• Certificates of insurance
• Security procedures
• Protection of floors, walls and elevators
• Building access for movers and vendors

Don’t assume the rules at the new building are the same as the rules at the old one.

A perfectly planned move can still be delayed because the loading dock wasn’t reserved or the mover wasn’t cleared to enter the building.

Technology and Equipment

Technology deserves its own move plan.

Determine who is responsible for disconnecting, transporting, reconnecting and testing computers, monitors, phones, audiovisual equipment, printers, copiers and specialty systems.

Some equipment may be moved by the mover. Other equipment may need to be handled by the manufacturer, technology vendor or another specialist.

The responsibility shouldn’t be discovered when someone points to a piece of equipment on move day and asks:

“Who’s moving that?”

Just as important, determine when systems will be tested at the new location.

Equipment arriving safely doesn’t mean the office is operational.

Plan the Sequence

The relocation should be coordinated around what needs to happen before employees arrive.

• Which areas move first?
• What equipment must be operational before other work can proceed?
• When will technology be tested?
• When will furniture installation be complete?
• Who confirms that the new space is ready for occupancy?
• And who makes the final call that employees should report to the new location?

For a larger relocation, the move sequence should be treated like any other project schedule, with responsibilities, dependencies and decision points clearly identified.

The Mover Isn’t the Move Plan

A good commercial mover can solve many logistical problems and bring valuable experience to the relocation.

But the mover doesn’t own every dependency.

Someone still needs to coordinate the buildings, technology, furniture, vendors, employees, access requirements and operating schedule around the physical move.

That’s what turns moving day into a relocation rather than a collection of trucks and boxes.

Leadership takeaway: The mover moves the contents. Someone still has to manage everything that must happen around the move.