Moving a commercial office is an generally complex task. It involves endless practical and logistical obstacles, and can quickly become a nightmare for a business if handled incorrectly. A botched office relocation is a recipe for revenue loss, disgruntled employees, destruction of crucial infrastructure, and even lost customers or clientele.
Which is why a company can never be too cautious nor plan too carefully when the goal is to make a smooth transition. Of course, it is impossible to plan for every contingency, and unexpected problems are almost inevitable. But with a bit of diligence and some careful preparation, you can certainly minimize headaches and make your corporate move both efficient and (relatively) painless. Here’s how:
Plan Your Attack!
The physical aspects of the move are what you have the most control over, so be thorough when making plans for what goes where. This means knowing where each desk and employee will be placed, where your router will be most effective, whether each workspace has sufficient access to power outlets, and what every other aspect of the floor plan will look like from A to Z.
Budget Realistically
Make no mistake: moving is expensive. Carefully calculate in advance to find out the financial impact the relocation will have. This means determining freight costs, van hire expenses, movers, costs associated with construction in the new location, fees for IT setup and so on…
Proper Packing
The best idea is to put each employee in charge of his or her entire work space, making it mandatory that each worker carefully labels and numbers every box and keeps a physical list of what is in each one. This may seem like unnecessary bureaucratic busy-work, but this simple bit of organizational accountability will pay dividends when a client’s unexpected request saves you from a frantic needle-in-the-haystack search right in the middle of a move. It will also help to avoid items from being lost or misplaced.
Timing Is Everything
With enough advance planning, the actual hours you spend boxing, moving, and unpacking again should be able to fit into a single weekend and save you the costly imposition of being closed during the workweek.
Get the Word Out
Contact your primary clients to give them the new address and directions, update your website, mention it on social media, include a message about the relocation on your answering machine, and instruct your whoever answers the phone to inform everyone who calls.
Relocating an office is stressful, and can create many problems. But it doesn’t have to. The key to an effective transition is forethought and careful planning. If you follow these simple tips, you and your employees will be happily settled and back to business in no time.
If you’d like more information on removals Birmingham or Sutton Coldfield, Greenings would love to help!