Moving Office? Here Are Some Tips

There comes a time when your office will have to move. Businesses expand, leases expire, buildings get sold; all good reasons for you to move office.

At KeepSafe Storage we have put some handy tips together to help you minimise the amount of downtime that you will have moving and also some great ideas to help you with your office move.

• Planning is the key: create a timeline that includes not only the actual move but the leading up period to the move and also the period after.
• Many officers forget to let the customers know that they’ve moved and also their suppliers and contacts. Make sure you update your website and send a written letter to all of your suppliers and customers so that they know where you have moved to as this can affect your business.
• Don’t forget to update Google maps, otherwise if someone is searching for using the Internet to find your old address.
• Redirection of business mail is expensive but budget for the cost to make sure that all of your business mail is forwarded to your new address and do this for at least nine months as many of your customers and suppliers will ignore your first communications about your move.
• Two weeks out from your move start to clean up the office start to get rid of stuff that you don’t need. Start to archive documents that are sitting around in folders etc. At KeepSafe Storage, we have a full range of business merchandise supplies including archive boxes, large and small cartons, bubble wrap, tape etc.
• Using an Storage unit from KeepSafe Storage whilst you move, you may find that in frequently used office petitions, archive boxes and other business materials are best stored in a Storage space reducing your exposure to additional space at the new office.
• Consider using a professional office removalists to move large items from your existing office to the new office you cannot expect staff to be lifting furniture as it is not productive and with workplace health and safety limitations it is best to use a specialist removalist for this task.
• Make sure that you book removalists and cleaners at least two months prior to move as these companies are often very busy: leaving it to the last minute might mean that you are stranded when it comes to assistance on the day.
• Make sure you check out the references of removalists and cleaners, specialist business removalists are not the same as furniture removalists as they have specific equipment larger items like credenzas and large commercial furniture items.
• Make sure that you are ready to go when the removalist turns up. Make sure all the boxes are packed and ready to go and that they are labelled for the offices that they need to be put in at the other end. Employees should pack their own desks and computer equipment into boxes so they know how to reassemble them into the new office.
• If you have large IT infrastructure to move engage in IT specialist to ensure that the changeover from one network to the next network is smooth. This is not a task to take on yourself.
• Don’t forget to update your stationery, letterhead and business cards prior to your move by at least one month. You and your staff need to be giving these out letting people know that you are moving.
• Scheduling a move on a Friday is often ideal as this gives you Saturday and Sunday to re-establish your business activity without the pressures of customers calling.
• Make sure the entire team knows that you are moving on the day make sure that they do not schedule client meetings client visits or vendor meetings on this day as these will interrupted the process of the move.

At KeepSafe Storage, can help you with Storage space large or small, especially if you are downsizing your office space. Our onsite box shops have a full range of packing supplies, boxes, plastic and bubble wrap to make your business move as easy as possible.