If moving house is considered one of the major stressors in life, then moving office must be off the scale – but it doesn’t have to be.
It doesn’t matter why you’re moving; whether your building has been sold, or the lease has expired or that you’ve outgrown the current premises. The main thing is, that when it’s time to go, you minimise the disruption by being as organised as you can be.
With that in mind, at E.J. Shaw Storage, we’ve put together a handy 12-tip guide to help minimise the downtime.
- Create a plan: not just for moving day itself, but for the period before and after, what you need to do in the lead-up, on the day, and in the immediate aftermath, so you can tick all the boxes.
- Plan your move for a Friday, because it gives you the weekend to lock everything into place for a smooth start on the Monday, without the pressure of dealing with customers and suppliers at the same time.
- Make sure everyone in the office has the moving day date in their diary so no-one plans any other activities or meetings on the day.
- Book your removalist and cleaners at least two months before you move (if possible) so you are not left stranded.
- Consider using a professional office removal specialist (not the same as a furniture removalist) to transfer any large furniture items from the old premises to the new. Staff are not trained to do it, so you are risking issues with OHS, and it is not efficient or productive to have them doing it. Make sure you check their references before making the booking.
- At the same time as you book your removalist, talk to your IT specialist, especially if you have a large IT infrastructure to move. Check if they can do the job over the weekend after your move. Again, this will minimise downtime.
- Get the message out – A: how will your clients, contacts and suppliers know you have moved? Send an individual letter/card to each one, and put the updated details on your website. Update Google maps with your new details, and contact the post office to redirect your mail for six to nine months. It might sound expensive – but can you afford for them NOT to know where you are?
- Get the message out – B: Don’t forget to update all your stationery at least a month before the move, especially everyone’s business cards. That way, you can be handing them out to your important contacts before you move.
- Around two weeks before the move, start cleaning up the office to get rid of things you don’t need. Archive documents that are sitting around. Start packing things ready for the move, making sure everything is labelled clearly.
- Consider whether it makes sense to use a unit while you move, either as a temporary measure or a more permanent solution. As you’re packing up, it may be easier to store archive boxes, office petitions and other business material in a self storage space – and longer term, if these are items you don’t need on a daily basis, it may reduce your need for expensive space at the new building.
- As you look at what needs to be done for moving day, remember we have a full range of business merchandise supplies including archive boxes as well as large and small cartons, plastic, bubble wrap and tape, to make the move simpler and easier.
- When the big day arrives: make sure you are ready to go, with everything packed and labelled according to where they will be in the new offices. Each staff member should pack their own desks and computer equipment so they know how to reassemble everything at the other end.
At E.J. Shaw Storage, we can help you with all your storage space needs, large or small, especially if you have decided to move to a smaller office space.
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