Office Space: How Do You Plan an Office Relocation?

Office Relocation and Network Installation

Are you ready for new scenery? Is the same old office becoming boring and crowded?

If so, you may need an office relocation.

There are plenty of reasons that you may choose to relocate. No matter the reason, relocating an office is a big task. And, it’s likely that your business may struggle with the moving period.

Keep reading to learn how to deal with your office relocation. We’ll cover everything you need to know about moving the office and handling the changes that come with it.

How to Successfully Relocate An Office

In order to successfully relocate your office, you need to break everything down into chewable steps.

To help, we’ve organized your move into three phases: (1) planning, (2) packing, and (3) moving.

Phase 1: Planning

The first phase includes all of the steps you need to take while you’re planning your office relocation.

This may be the most important phase. Your success in this phase affects your success in the others.

1. Choose Your Office Relocation Hub

Communication runs rampant when these kinds of changes happen. People start chatting and sending messages across platforms and important points can get lost.

To prevent this, you need to designate one office relocation hub. This platform/chat should be the one place that people can go to to get the information they need for the move.

Using something like Google Teams or Slack can help you divide information as needed. You may want different sections for announcements, events, things to do, questions and answers, and more.

2. Organize Your Important Documents

We’re sure there are several documents your company needs to keep track of during the move. By separating these documents from everything else, you can be sure that they’re in a safe place while things are moving.

3. Send Your Office Relocation Announcement

Once you’ve chosen a channel for announcements and grabbed your important documents, you can make the office relocation announcement.

It may be difficult for some of your employees to come to terms with the change. So, you should include messaging and communication options for those who may struggle with the announcement.

4. Communicate With Your Employees

We’re going to have this step several times throughout the move. This is because keeping an open communication flow with your employees is the most important step.

Not only can it reduce company attrition due to office relocation, but it can also strengthen employee bonds and reduce confusion.

At this point, you should keep an open flow of communication about where you’re moving, why you’re moving, and what the plans will be (as you develop them in the next few steps).

5. Create A New Move-Related Email Address

If you haven’t done so already, you should create a place for people to send questions about the move. If you opted for a multichannel platform like Google Teams or Slack, you can add a Q&A portion to the channel.

However, you should also have a private channel for people to speak with upper management. There may be personal concerns.

To address these, you should develop a separate email address like [email protected]. Make it easy and convenient for your employees to bring up their questions and concerns.

6. Build Your Office Relocation Budget

You and other company leaders should come together to build a budget for the upcoming move. This will give everyone a guideline to work with when they’re making move-related decisions.

The more detailed it is, the better off the company will be financially.

7. Record Wants And Needs

As you’re preparing for a move, you need to think about what your company needs and wants out of their new office.

Make note of how many employees you need to seat and what other amenities you may want. Once you have your list done, you can start thinking about the layout of the new office.

8. Consider Office Differences

As you’re considering the layout of your new office, you need to consider what the differences are between your two offices.

How are you going to arrange employees? Is the parking lot bigger or smaller? Are there more window offices?

Considering these small details can help you determine where you should seat employees and arrange furniture.

9. Bring Managers Together

All of the office managers need to be on the same page when it comes to this move. This will present a unified front as well as provide a continuous stream of communication across departments.

You may consider making a chat for managers to speak about upper-level decisions throughout the moving period.

10. Gather Your Moving Committee

The last step in the planning phase is getting your moving committee together. You should ask around the office to see who’s willing to help out.

Or, you may have an events committee already banded together for this kind of event.

Either way, they should be ready to go by the time you hit phase two.

Phase 2: Packing

Now that you’ve planned out the move and have everything in order, you need to get packing.

It’s time to get your stuff ready!

1. Ask For Recommendations

Ask around to other companies and professionals to see what resources they’ve used. They may be able to tell you what moving company they used.

When in doubt, make a quick online search.

2. Hire Professional Movers

Once you get some recommendations, you can hire the professional team that you want for your company’s move. You should also consider whether your company needs moving vans and other, related supplies.

Before agreeing to work with another company, you should get a quote and read the company’s terms.

3. Gather Moving Boxes

Now, it’s time to gather moving boxes to get all of the supplies to the new building. Get plenty of boxes in different sizes to get everything you need over to the new office.

4. Designate Loading And Unloading Zones

To prevent confusion, you should also take time to designate the loading zone at the old office and the unloading zone at the new office. Make clear signage for all incoming and outgoing vehicles.

This will also make it easier for your loaders and unloaders to move everything out of your old office and into your new one.

5. Choose A Cleaning Service

Before you ditch the old office or move into the new one, you want to make sure the space is clean. This is where a professional cleaning service comes in.

Find good times for a cleaning service to clean the old office after everything is gone and clean the new office before everything gets moved in.

6. Predict Obstacles During Office Relocation

The only way to prevent surprises is by anticipating them.

So, you should write down all of the obstacles that your team is facing. You should consider everything from accounting for office relocation to company attrition due to office relocation.

7. Reduce The Items You’re Moving

To make the move easier, you should get rid of some items. A company move is a great time for spring cleaning.

Go through your furniture and see if there are any old pieces you’d like to get rid of. Consider upgrading appliances.

You could plan a warehouse sale to raise funds for the move.

Anything can help lighten the load for the move. And, it may boost morale for your entire team.

8. Start Packing Things One By One

Now it’s time to start packing things individually. Be sure to label everything as you go.

It may help to go room by room or category by category. Keeping things organized now will make unpacking easier.

9. Assign Seats In The New Office

Once you have a clear idea of your new office and the things that you’re putting into it, you can assign seats in the office.

The assignments don’t have to be the same or similar to the current arrangement. Feel free to change things up if you feel that it’ll make your office more productive.

If you’re unsure what to do, reach out to your employees and ask.

10. Communicate With Your Employees

Through the packing process, you should communicate with your employees.

Let them know what’s staying and what’s selling. Give them insights about their new seating. And, allow them to give input along the way.

Phase 3: Moving

You’ve made it to the third and final phase: moving. It’s time to start getting things over to the new office so that you and your team can settle.

1. Organize Your Packed Boxes

Once you get everything over to the new office, you should organize your boxes into the general area where you’re going to unpack them.

By doing this, you’ll save time on the backend. And, your unpacking team will have an easier time organizing things as they’re unpacking them.

2. Enlist Help With Unpacking

Once you’re ready to unpack the things from the old office, you’ll need an army. So, it’s time to bring in the moving committee and gather volunteers.

Get unpacking and start getting the new office together.

3. Organize Your New Office

As you’re unpacking your old things, you should organize the desks, paperwork, and other supplies.

Figure out the office flow before employees start pouring in the front doors.

4. Communicate With Your Employees

As you’re unpacking things, you need to keep open communication with your employees. They should know when it’s okay for them to go into the office again.

And, they should understand what they need to do at home while they’re waiting.

Again, you should keep an open line of communication for employees to ask questions as needed.

5. Connect Utilities At The New Office

Before your employees start pouring into the new building, you need to make sure that water, power, Internet, and other utilities are ready to go.

Unless you have a robust tech team in the building, you’ll want to choose from tech support companies near you to handle things like network installation.

Perform test runs and make sure that your utilities will be able to withstand your employees coming back. This will make the first few days back run more smoothly.

6. Finish Packing The Old Office

As you’re pulling employees into the new office, you’re likely finishing things up at the old office. Make sure to run through the old office to ensure that you’re not forgetting anything.

7. Create A Decoration Plan

Once all of the basic furniture is in, you need to figure out how you’re going to decorate the office. The sooner you get the decorations in, the quicker your employees will become accustomed to the space.

8. Check On The New Building as Needed

As employees start coming into the new office, you should check on the building.

Make sure that utilities are running strong. Check on how employees are doing with the transition. Consider changes to the seating chart, if needed.

As always, you should consider your employees’ feelings after the transition as well. See how they’re holding up and consider their questions and comments.

The first few months after moving may involve making lots of changes. But, that’s normal.

It’s okay to change and adapt to the new circumstances.

9. Tie Up Any Loose Ends

At this point, you should have settled your old and new buildings. Your employees should be settling in, and you should be ready to continue work as normal.

If there are any loose ends, now is when you can tie them up and move on.

You may need to return the old building’s keys or unpack the last box.

10. Celebrate Your Office Relocation Success

Once you’re done with the last task, you and the rest of your staff should take time to celebrate. Moving an entire office is a big deal and you deserve to sit back and celebrate your success.

Don’t forget to thank everyone who has been helping along the way.

Depend On Office Relocation Consultants

Office relocation is a big task. But, breaking it up into smaller steps like these can help relocation become more manageable.

If you’re ready to relocate your office and you need IT support along the way, you can turn to our team at Be Structured Technology Group. You’ll get seamless IT support throughout the move, which will decrease company attrition due to office relocation.

Feel free to contact our team when your office is ready to make the next big move.

About Chad Lauterbach

CEO at Be Structured Technology Group, Inc. a Los Angeles based provider of Managed IT Services for small business. I desire to help small businesses better utilize technology by assisting in high level planning to make sure that new systems will benefit them both operationally and financially. I am careful to implement and support systems using industry best practices.