Moving Office Interstate (in Australia) Checklist
Moving your office (or moving shop fittings) interstate is a huge undertaking that will require a lot of forethought and planning. Having successfully assisted many customers with their office relocations interstate we wanted to pass on our experience and advice to others who may be considering moving interstate but don’t know where to start. We hope our helpful Moving Office Checklist will provide some ideas to get your office move underway.
Pre-planning to move office:
Depending on the size of your company you may want to set up a moving logistics team that will be in charge of organising the move, keeping employees and management informed and ensure that a moving plan is in place and being followed.
Timetable - One of the first things you will need to set in place is a timetable of events and a moving schedule.
Communication - The earlier you can let your employees, suppliers and customers that you are moving, the better. Keep everyone up to date with an ongoing communications plan including information about the new office, any instructions needed about their involvement in the move and relevant times/dates of the move.
Consider your current office set up and how that applies to your new office. Will it be a similar setup? Are you expanding and creating new departments or merging departments? What equipment is to be moved? Are you purchasing new fittings in addition to moving the existing ones?
Getting quotes - investigate the best removal company for you. Is it important that you have a cheap removalist? Check online reviews of your chosen company and read the fine print about transit insurance and hidden costs.
Getting ready for moving day:
Contact your utilities companies and let them know about your move. Ensure that disconnection and reconnection of telephones, post, internet etc are as seamless as possible.
Call in the experts - if you need technical assistance in setting up new office networks and other equipment, book in someone to assist on move day. It will save time and money in the long run to have these things sorted as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Organise a packing schedule - it can be cost effective to have each staff member in charge of packing their own items. A smaller company that considers a self pack container move utilising their own manpower stands to save a lot of money. For larger companies, minimising the labour hours of removalists will help save money also.
Labelling - Using removable sticky labels, prepare all the furniture for the move by labelling it’s position in the new office. Prepare a map of the new office to distribute to staff and removalists so everyone is aware of where everything is going. For assistance in preparing / packing large furniture for the move you may find this blog post helpful. Having staff label all of their computer equipment such as screen, keyboard, hard drive, cables, phone etc. means you can easily direct each piece of equipment to its correct location at the new office. Make sure staff (that are relocating with the company) move their own personal supplies and laptop/tablet rather than moving these items with the removalist.
Source your packing supplies. Some removalists will provide these free of charge such as here.
Office moving day:
By this point everything should be packed, labelled and ready for transport. If you are moving with a reliable company you will be aware of when to expect your removalists and can plan accordingly.
Ensure your communications plan is up to date and that staff (if involved in packing) and informed of their duties on move day.
Settling into your new office:
If you are well prepared you will find unpacking after the move a breeze. An office map of the new office is an invaluable item for everyone involved in setting up the new office to have.
Aim to have all of your technical equipment up and running as soon as possible to minimise office time ‘offline’.
Let everyone know that you are up and running in your new location at the earliest opportunity - social media announcements will spread the word quickly!
If you are looking at the self move option, contact the container removals experts Budget Self Pack Containers. Our reliable and trusted service is second to none and as cheap removalists we aim to get your office or shop moved with maximum efficiency and minimum disruption to your business. Contact us on 1300 659 221 or go online to get your free quote today.