Ultimate Checklist When Moving Your Business – The Preparation

You’ve been putting it off for a while, but the time has finally come. You are moving your business. You’ve heard scary stories about unexpected expenses, broken equipment, rude truck drivers, careless movers, and much more.  

Before you start panicking and wasting your nerves, sit down and relax. All of the above can be avoided. In fact, your move can go smoothly and impeccably. All you need to do is make the right preparations.

Forget about two moves being equal to a fire. Draw a deep breath and take a quick look at the below list. It will help you arrange a painless move without extra expenses and wasted time.

1. Create A Schedule

No matter how small your office is, you should make a moving schedule in order to organize the process. The earlier you start planning the move, the less downtime and fewer surprises you’ll be facing.

Make sure you know the dates when:

  •         You start packing
  •         You invite the movers
  •         You finish unpacking

The majority of business owners believe that it’s better to move the business on the weekend. In most cases, it’s the right way to avoid downtime. However, if you take a smart approach to the move, you could complete it on a weekday without any hassle.

According to Toronto movers from Torex Moving, since most people try to move on the weekends, you may have trouble hiring the preferred movers unless you do it several weeks in advance.

2. Talk To Your Staff

While your moving company can provide numerous services, including packing and assembly, some of the tasks should still be delegated to the employees. Moving an office without their assistance can turn into a disaster.

Get your staff to help you move. Determine the move date with their schedules in mind. In many cases, employees know much better when the perfect day for a move is than the boss does. Because they have direct contact with clients and realize when the move affects the business the least.

If you have a large business, designate a person from each department to coordinate the move.

During the preparation phase, make sure to keep in close contact with your staff. You could even schedule regular meetings to discuss the process and answer questions.

3. Identify Your Budget

How much are you planning to spend on the move? Before you hire a moving company, you need to have a clear answer to this question. Depending on your budget, you can choose from a list of services offered by the movers.

Will you be paying for packaging? Storage? Assembly?  Or maybe you can do all the above on your own?

How many people are you willing to hire? Six movers can do a much faster job than two can, cutting the time of your move by at least half.

4. Select The Right Movers

Choosing the best office movers is a tough task, which may take you a while. Ideally, you can get recommendations from nearby businesses or maybe partners. If not, you have to spend time on researching credential and reviews.

Don’t try to opt for the cheapest movers in the area. Chances are, you’ll get poor results. Make sure the movers you hire have references and insurance. Look up the reviews on Yelp and Google.

Don’t hire remote movers. Respectable moving companies should have an office in your area.

Always ask about the number of movers, trucks, and moving equipment. Find out which services the movers offer. Don’t assume that all movers do the packing or provide storage.  

5. Leave The Old Behind

A move is an excellent opportunity to throw out the old stuff and acquire things you were planning to buy for a while. Outdated equipment, old chairs, worn out desks, etc. should probably stay behind.

Before spending time and money on packing and moving, think about the relevance of these items to the new location. You are likely to reduce your moving efforts by taking the right approach to making an inventory.

Once you know which items are staying behind, make an inventory of the ones you want to move. Delegate this task to your staff in order not to miss anything or lose it along the way.

6. Plan The Packing

How will you be packing? Many professional movers offer packing services. They have all the necessary packing supplies as well as experience of doing everything quickly and flawlessly. Are you ready to delegate the packing task to them?

In many cases, the packing services aren’t cheap. So perhaps your staff should do part of the job. Especially, when it comes to such things as office supplies. For that, you’ll need to invest in boxes and bubble wrap.

Consider leaving the equipment, packing to the professionals. This way you are more likely to get all the electronics to your new location in one piece.

7. Arrange Your Business for the “X” Day

A move can take from several hours to several days. During that time, the majority of your resources would be unavailable. Consider all the factors to minimize downtime during the move. Make sure all your clients know that you are moving and may not be able to work with them during the moving period.

You could also take this opportunity to notify your clients about the new location of your business and the new working hours if any.

Plan to leave at least several customer service specialists behind on the move day or arrange for them to work from home.

You could structure the move in such a way that at least one part of your office is always online.

Talk to the movers to stretch the move over several days in order to avoid any downtime.

Moving a business is always tough. However, with the right planning, you could simplify the process, enjoy peace of mind, and make sure all your equipment and furniture is safely delivered to the new location.



By Maria Victoria MacAraig – Contributor   |  02/07/2019