Moving office is very like moving home, just on a larger scale, usually involving many more people, more furniture and many more boxes to take with you. If you can accept that the task is the same, with only a different scale to conquer, then what may at first seem a daunting task can be made much more manageable by splitting each element down into its component parts.

Important to the success of your office move is going to be the relocation company who actually provide the workforce and the transport to get your old office transposed into your new one, so it is to be recommended to spend some time setting out what you want them to do and what you expect of them. This should ideally be done well in advance of the move and to give you enough time to talk your project through with a few relocation companies.

Each relocation company will usually provide a sales person to meet with you and estimate the time and resources they will need to allocate to the job and usually they will have some good ideas about how to efficiently complete the task, but they are primarily there to ensure they provide you with a competitive price that wins their company the job. This sales person is unlikely to be present on the day of your move to pick up any problems and by that stage it may be too late to correct them anyway.

Because of this it is important to compare the various quotes you receive to ensure that all companies are providing a similar amount of resources to complete your move. If one company is providing ten porters to carry, load and unload, whereas another company is providing twenty, the prices will reflect that; you need to establish if the job can really be done by the smaller workforce of if you are really going to be left with an unfinished or rushed job because there was not enough time and people provided to complete it.

Most reputable relocation companies will be able to get their prices correct and all should appoint a foreman on the day to oversee the move, but they will still need to be taking directions from you, or someone you appoint to be the move coordinator. In addition, the foreman may see the job very differently from the sales person, so it is a good idea for the move coordinator to set out their understanding of how they expect the move to go with the foreman at an early point on the day of the move, so that if there are major differences a combined plan can be agreed on.

For example, you may need to get furniture moved first followed by IT so computers can be set up. If the move foreman starts moving packing crates first because he does not understand this requirement, you, or your IT team, may waste several hours waiting whilst the packing crates are relocated, where they can do nothing productive. Also, make sure you have mobile phone numbers for all the key people on the day of the move, so you can keep in contact.

In summary for a successful commercial property move, it is important for your move coordinator to understand the move, speak with a number of relocation companies to get the right price, and agree a plan of action with the relocation company that can then be followed through on the day.