Are you planning to relocate your Rochester office? Perhaps your company has moved toward a hybrid working model and you no longer need so much space? Whatever your reason for moving your office, know this: Extensive planning and preparation will save your sanity.
Aside from planning, hiring professional office movers can be a huge help when you’re trying to streamline and simplify an extensive commercial relocation. To help you make your office move as low-stress as possible, the team at Ace Moving & Warehousing shares a few simple yet highly effective tips below.
Appoint a Move Manager
As soon as you know you’ll be moving the office and you have a move date set, appoint a move manager (a project manager, if you prefer) to oversee the process. Depending on the size of your office and your daily business volume, any setbacks or disruptions on the day of the move can cost you dearly, especially if they slow down the process significantly.
How do you choose who to appoint? Select someone who is excellent at:
● Setting and hitting deadlines
● Creating and adhering to budgets
● Motivating other employees to get things done
● Maintaining a high sense of accountability and integrity
This person will oversee all the other individuals who supervise various parts of the move. Given the high level of responsibility here, make sure they’re also good at delegating, communicating, and of course, staying organized.
Hire Experienced Office Movers Three Months in Advance
To ensure you’re able to snag a slot with the Rochester moving company you want, lock in your contract three months in advance of your move date. To ensure you’re hiring high-quality commercial movers, make sure you:
● Verify the moving company is licensed and provides liability coverage
● Look for affiliations with nationwide van lines (at Ace, we’re affiliated with Atlas Van Lines)
● Verify whether the movers specialize in office moving, not just general commercial moving
● Look for trust signals, such as a listing with the BBB, client testimonials, service awards, etc.
While you can certainly attempt an office move on your own, it’s not recommended, especially if you have several employees. Furniture, high-value office equipment, electronics, and thousands of important documents are at stake here. Unless you’re well-versed in commercial moving best practices and have the manpower to tackle such an involved endeavor, it’s best not to even try to DIY it.
Create a Move Plan
Once you’ve nailed down a move supervisor and hired professional office movers, get started on your move plan. This plan should include a checklist of the tasks you need to complete. It should also detail which individuals will be in charge of overseeing specific moving tasks and reporting progress to your move supervisor. A few tasks to get your checklist started include:
● Setting up utilities, internet, and phone service at your new location
● Notifying suppliers, vendors, affiliates, local partners, and regular clients of your move
● Ordering any special equipment you’ll be installing in your new office
● Assigning move-related tasks to each employee
● Planning who will set up computers and IT systems at the new location
● Transferring insurance or researching new policies
That’s just the tip of the iceberg there. If you’re unsure how to create this checklist or you feel overwhelmed, turn to your commercial movers. High-quality moving companies specialize in creating custom move plans for all the types of moves they specialize in, so if you need help, rely on the experts. After all, they’ve done this many more times than you have.
Design the New Office Floor Plan
As soon as you have the blueprint for your new Rochester office space, compare it to the layout of your current space. Identify any issues as early as possible, so you can figure out what to do with an excess of furniture or equipment that may not fit in the new location.
The last thing you want is to move everything to your new office, only to find out you’ll have to move some of it back out again. Plus, you’ll have to either rent a storage unit to keep that stuff safe or decide whether it’s up for donation or sale. Either way, it’s additional work you definitely don’t need to add to your plate. A few preliminary things to consider when planning your new layout include:
● The size of the reception area
● The size of each office and the main working floor
● Designated storage space within the office or areas that you can convert to storage
● The layout of desks or cubicles that will encourage optimal traffic flow
● Quantity and location of electrical outlets and whether you need to have an electrician retrofit the space with additional receptacles
Depending on the differences between your current space and the new one, you may need to hire contractors to put up temporary walls, install new wiring, assemble extra cubicles, or add anything else the space lacks. Take care of this as early as possible as you’ll need to give contractors plenty of notice to ensure they can complete the work by the time you move in.
Looking for Professional Office Movers in Rochester? Contact Ace Moving & Warehousing
If you’re getting ready to lease a new office space in Rochester, let our team at Ace Moving & Warehousing make your office relocation as smooth as possible. We’ve proudly served the commercial moving needs of Rochester businesses since 1958, and when you need expert move assistance, we’re here for you too.
To learn more about how we can help you, feel free to request a fast moving quote or give us a call at 507-288-3341. You can also send us a message with any questions or to request more information.