Whether you’re planning an office relocation because you need a bigger space for your team, your current location isn’t fit for purpose, or just because your business needs a new start, there’s a lot to consider. You’re not just moving your business from one location to another, you’re moving files, computers, people, and potentially a lot of furniture. There’s a bit of logistics that go into all of this.

So, as you’re starting to think about moving your office to a new premises, here are a few things to consider.

Create A Basic Office Relocation Checklist to Start

It always helps to write things down so nothing is forgotten, and you can start with a very basic checklist. From there, sub-items on your checklist can be expanded.

Things to start with include:

Defining the needs in your new office: here you need to outline any “must haves” for your new office space; do you need certain facilities like a server room, warehouse space, or a showroom for example. Also define the size of the space you need and make sure to factor in future expansion needs. Finally, define the location you need your new office to be so you can start looking for space.

Talk to your office fit-out company early: your office fit-out company needs to be involved in your office move as early as possible. The fit-out of your new premises is very often one of the longest parts of an office relocation, so getting started on the planning and execution of it as early as possible will ensure your relocation happens on time, even if there are unforeseen delays.

Organise a moving company: this may sound like an obvious one, but it’s one that’s easily forgotten. Even with a great fit-out in place, there will still be things to move from the old office like computers and files. You may be reusing some of your old office furniture and partitions, so those need to come to.

Plan for people: it’s also easy to forget that the people in the office will also be moving. Beyond just telling them about the move, make sure all employees are able to move their personal affects and have things like access cards to the new office organised before moving day. Speak to heads of department to find out if any employees have leave booked in during the move so that they can get organised early.

Think About How Long Your Office Relocation Will Take

When it comes to timing, you don’t just need to think about how long the move will take, but also the time of year that you’ll be moving. While we all hope things will go to plan, there are a lot of parties involved in an office move, and delays can happen due to your team, the office relocation team you hire, or from the owners of the new building you’re moving into.

While a professional office moving company like us here at A1 Precision Solutions can give you a more precise estimate of how long your office move will take, there are some rough timelines to consider to get you started. Very generally speaking, relocating an office of less than 500 square metres takes about 2 months, while anything above 500 square metres takes 3-4 months. This would include new office fit-out, physically relocating any furniture, files, or other goods from the old office, make good of the old office, equipping employees with new access passes, and more.

Obviously, the timelines above are rough, but it’s a good start for your office relocation planning. However, the earlier you speak to an office relocation specialist, the better.

Finally, in terms of office move timelines, always remember the time of year when planning your office relocation. While it may sound convenient to avoid business downtime, moving your office over Christmas, for example, can significantly delay your project as many other businesses close during this period, leading to delays in sourcing materials or simply booking work. Most other times of the year work well, but consider anything specific to your area of Australia.

Don’t Forget The Small Stuff

If you’re changing offices, there are a lot of moving parts. This makes it easy to forget some smaller jobs that don’t take long to complete, but are ultimately relatively big.

Utilities: your new premises will need utilities like electricity and water. Your new office will also need an internet connection and possibly larger IT infrastructure installation as well. Your office fit-out company may take care of this, but you may need to speak to a company that does utilities and site connections for commercial premises. We here at A1 Precision Solutions can complete both your fit-out and site connections, but not everybody does.

Make good: a make good refers to restoring your old location back to its original state. While you may be able to get your old building owner to organise this, it may be more cost effective to choose your own supplier. We offer end of lease make good services as well.

Insurance: you’ll likely use the same insurance company at your new office, but of course you need to notify the company of your move! This is a very quick job to do, but one that’s easily forgotten. Don’t forget to notify your insurance company until it’s too late.

Amenities contracts: just like your insurance company, notifying your amenities contractors like cleaners, food deliveries, etc. is a quick job to do. Some of these contractors will have minimum notice periods if you need to cancel them, so don’t waste money with overlap if you can avoid it.

Storage: does anything need to be stored temporarily before, during, or after the move? Don’t forget to organise this.

Warehouse fit-out: if your office is one that has a connected warehouse, have you taken into account your warehouse fit-out as well? With all the planning of moving offices, it’s easy to forget the warehouse. So don’t forget your warehouse relocation as well as any pallet racking requirements you may have.

Tell your clients your office is moving: this may seem like an obvious one, but also one that’s easily forgotten. Use the office change to have your account management or sales team reach out to all of your clients to tell them about the office relocation. Not only will you be notifying the clients, it’s also a good opportunity to stay in touch with your client base.

Rely On Your Moving Team

Ultimately, you and your operations team can’t do everything, that’s what professional office relocation companies are for. Some companies will only do a new office fit-out, relocation, or make good of old premises, however, A1 Precision Solutions can handle all aspects of an office relocation. This means you and your team only need to work with a single supplier, making sure you’re out of your old office space and into your new one on time, on brief, and on budget.