Office moving can be stressful and, if not planned properly, can lead to lost work time and hinder your business operations. Businesses typically move to improve operations, make space for new employees due to expansion, or cut costs. Whatever the reason, moving a business is meant to enhance its efficiency. A poorly executed move can have the opposite effect, resulting in operational setbacks and increased stress.
More and more medium to large companies are trusting professional movers to handle the logistics of relocating the business and employee workstations. When properly budgeted, hiring a reputable moving company can make the office move more efficient, allowing your employees to stay focused on their work and preventing disruptions to regular business operations. This keeps your customers satisfied and reduces stress for management.
To ensure everything goes smoothly, it’s important to understand a few key factors related to commercial moving. These include selecting the right moving company and understanding the costs involved in relocating your business. In today’s post, we’ll break down these and other essential aspects of business relocation.
As we mentioned above, the whole point of hiring a professional moving company to move your office is to alleviate the stress from management and employees and to make the move as efficient and speedy as possible without interrupting the regular operation of your business or office.
Even compared to residential moves, there are several extra factors to consider specifically for moving an office. A good moving company will do the following:
1. Designated moving manager
Just like having someone in your own company be in charge of the move, a designated manager from a moving company will work with your management team throughout the process to ensure your move goes according to a plan, has a timeline, and ultimately comes in within the budget you agreed when you signed the contract.
2. Packing and unpacking.
Making sure that all the furniture, drawers, and filing cabinets, not to mention papers, are packed can take a tremendous amount of time. Professional movers have the knowledge and skills to pack efficiently and compactly. At the new location, they will ensure everything is unpacked and ready for the employees.
3. Moving out of office hours.
A huge benefit of hiring a moving company to move offices is that your workers can stay focused on their work, while the movers focus on moving. Many commercial moving companies do moves overnight or on weekends to ensure that no work time is lost. The workers can come back to work the next day and resume regular operations.
4. Furniture assembly and arrangement.
Whether you have your floor plan or need help designing one for your new office, your mover can assist in assembling the furniture and even begin preparing the place before the day of the move. This is another significant time saver that helps ease the transition from the old office to the new.
5. Cable and wire connection.
One time-consuming task businesses don’t always consider when moving, is how long it takes to hook up all the phones, computers, modems, routers, and security systems in the office. Even without trying to do it neatly, hooking up all the cables and ensuring everything is connected can take a lot of time and resources. Professional movers can ensure everything is set up and ready to use by the time employees arrive to work.
6. Disposal services.
Whether it’s new stuff for your new office, getting rid of junk from the old one, or even the packing materials used during the move, relocating a business can create a lot of garbage. A benefit to using a moving company is that they will take away and dispose of any waste, and make sure your business is starting its new life in a fresh new space.
What is workstation-based moving?
Workstation-based moving is a specialized approach to office relocation that focuses on efficiently transferring individual workspaces, including desks, computers, and other essential equipment. This method is designed to minimize downtime and streamline the moving process, ensuring that employees can quickly resume their tasks in a new environment.
In a workstation-based move, the moving company works closely with your business to create a detailed plan that outlines the logistics of the move. This includes:
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Assessing Each Workstation: Evaluating the specific needs of each employee’s workspace, ensuring that all necessary items are accounted for and packed efficiently.
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Organized Packing: Professional movers use systematic packing techniques to ensure that each workstation’s items are labeled and packed together, reducing confusion during unpacking.
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Timely Execution: Workstation-based moving often involves moving during off-peak hours, such as nights or weekends, to prevent disruption to daily operations and allow employees to focus on their work.
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Set-Up at the New Location: Once at the new site, the movers will assist in setting up each workstation according to the pre-established layout, ensuring that everything is in place for a smooth transition.
Why a workstation-based move may be a good solution for your company
How much does a commercial mover cost? Calculating business move prices
The cost of hiring a commercial mover can vary significantly based on several factors, making it essential to understand how to calculate your business move prices effectively. On average, businesses can expect to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $20,000 for a commercial move, depending on the size and complexity of the relocation.
Factors Influencing Commercial Moving Costs
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Size of the Move: The volume of office furniture, equipment, and supplies directly impacts the overall cost. Larger offices with more workstations will naturally incur higher expenses due to increased packing, transportation, and labor needs.
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Distance: The distance between your current location and the new office plays a crucial role in pricing. Local moves typically cost less than long-distance relocations, which may involve additional logistics and fuel charges.
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Services Required: The extent of services needed can also affect the price. Basic moving services may include packing and transportation, while additional services, such as packing supplies, furniture assembly, or IT setup, will increase overall costs.
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Timing: The time of year and day of the week can influence moving costs. Moves scheduled during peak seasons or weekends may incur higher rates due to increased demand.
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Specialty Items: If your office includes specialized equipment, such as servers, large furniture, or sensitive items, this may require additional care and specialized moving techniques, leading to higher costs.
What To Look For In A Business Moving Company
If you start searching for a business moving company, it can be outright overwhelming to look at places like the Internet or online reviews. There is seemingly an endless number of companies and at a first glance, almost all of them have flawless reviews and ratings. So how do you settle down on just one, and how do you know that this moving company will do a good job. This is partially what the quote process is for. Remember you should get 4-5 quotes before deciding on a company. To get you closer to narrowing down that big list, consider these things all good moving companies must have:
- Make sure the company meets the criteria under the Good Practice Guidelines for Canadian Movers. Because there is no single governing body when it comes to the moving industry in Canada, there are a lot of shady companies out there, misleading people. The Good Practice Guidelines is the closest thing to an official document on how moving companies in our country should operate and has a lot of useful information for both residential and office movers.
- Is the company registered with the provincial Workers Compensation Board? This is almost a standard for any trades or laborers in Canada today, and there is a good chance even your business pays into the WCV. Being in good standing with the WCB means the company’s employees are covered and protected while working at your home. Many shady moving companies will not go the length to register their business with the WCB.
- Does the company offer Replacement Value Protection, and for how much? Most moving companies do not offer any insurance or protection on your move. The RVP often adds to the cost of the move but offers much higher reimbursement on your personal belonging if something goes wrong during the move. Even if you don’t opt-in for the Replacement Value Protection it’s a good sign if a company offers this option.
- Does the moving company subcontract any of its services? This doesn’t necessarily mean the company is bad, as long as they are honest about what they do and exactly which business will handle your stuff when you move.
What to consider if you’re moving the business yourself
There are endless business moving checklists online that go into specifics of business moving, but there are always a few basic golden rules to moving your business yourself, to make sure all your bases are covered. One suggestion for example is to try and stagger your move as much as possible. If you can have both locations operating for some time while you are finalizing the move, this can go a long way towards not losing customers or disrupting service.
Here are some other things you absolutely must consider when moving your business:
- Make someone in your company the move manager. Even if it’s not full-time someone should be responsible for coming up with a timeline, and budget, and ensuring that the move is moving along. This will create realistic time points for planning your move and have a point of reference in a person you can go to for everything move related. That being said, don’t overburden your move manager, and make sure responsibilities are split as evenly as possible.
- Change your address online. You’re changing your address in real life, so make sure that is reflected in all your online platforms, especially if your business requires people to walk in to find you.
- Try to keep your existing phone numberMail can be redirected and marketing pieces can be redone, but a missed phone call from a prospective client can outright kill a business. Whether keeping the same service provider or going with someone new, try to keep your phone number so that your clients know where to find you.
As you can see, whether you decide to hire a professional moving company for your office move, or try to move using your own resources, there are a lot of factors to consider. What’s ultimately important is that your move doesn’t affect the performance of the business and allows you to get back to full work mode in the new place as soon as possible.
