Office Removals: A Step-by-Step Guide
Posted on 20/11/2020
The Ultimate Guide to Moving Offices
If you haven’t already personally been through it before, you’ve probably been told by multiple people how stressful moving can be. If you thought domestic moves were stressful, try your hands at commercial removals. Office removals can be just as stressful, if not more so, than the average domestic relocation. As offices are a professional place of business, you need make sure that your relocation goes quickly, smoothly, and doesn’t cut into office hours. If you spend valuable working hours planning or executing your office relocation, you will end up losing money. As the saying goes, time is money. However, with meticulous planning weeks in advanced, your office relocation should go off without a hitch. Below is a brief guide to ensure your office relocation will be as efficient as possible:
1) Enlist the services of a reliable commercial removal firm
As soon as you know the move-out date of your new offices, and the move-in date for your new offices, the first thing you should do is book the services of an experienced commercial removal firm. Not a domestic removal firm, a commercial one. That is not to say a domestic removal firm won’t also have experience with office removals, many will offer both services. But whatever service you do decide to go with, you should be sure that they ample experience when it comes to commercial removals. Why is it so important to use a firm with commercial experience? Simply because the demands of a commercial client are different from those of a domestic one, so the firm you decide to use needs to be experienced with the demands of commercial clients, or it could all go to hell in a hand basket.
2) Ask the removal firm to come in a visit your premises
As office removals need to be so quick and efficient in order to ensure that the relocation does not cut into business hours, it’s best to ask your removal firm to visit your offices to tell you how they plan to shift everything from your office into their vehicle. Letting them explain their plan will give you greater piece of mind.
3) Ask the removal firm if you they provide a packing service
With all the computers, desks, stationery, and everything else you need to transport, some of it will require a certain level of packing. Luckily, most removal firms that carry out office removals will offer a packing service of some kind. This will save you doing it yourself or having to rope in your employees to do it for you. A packing service will cost a bit extra, but it will be well worth it to ensure your computers and whatnot are all protected.
4) Plan for storage if you require it
If you need to put some of your items in storage because, say, your new offices are smaller than your old ones, then you’ll need to plan this well in advance. You could use external self-storage bodies, but if you just require to store them for a few days during or after the move, many removal firms will provide self-storage for your items on a temporary basis. This will cost a little bit extra, but it could be just the thing you require.
5) Insurance
You will need to check if the insurance policy you have on your soon-to-be old offices will cover any damages incurred to your items during the move. As most of them will not, you will need to find another way to insure items against damages. Luckily most large removal firms will provide you with an insurance policy, giving you complete peace of mind during the move.
