If you are looking for ways to test your sanity, an office move or business relocation is guaranteed to push you to your limits. However, often the focus is on the big stuff; the new location, how many parking spaces there are, office layout, and dates and suppliers.
But, it can be the pesky minute details that push you way, way over the edge. To help you survive your business relocation, without the headaches (or broken mugs), we’ve put together some of the most common pitfalls that can either cost you money or your sanity.
Protect sensitive information
While it’s common for many businesses to be paperless, the act of printing every single contract, HR review, or strategy document is a decades-old tradition. To keep your company secrets and other sensitive information confidential, it’s essential to have a process for identifying any printed materials that require tracking and securing, and then preferably moving them under lock and key.
If confidential documents slip into the wrong hands, it could lead to everybody learning your secret sauce, or at least a few complaints to HR.
Unnecessary filing
Now is not the time to get nostalgic about unnecessary paperwork. If you or your team have been hoarding old magazines, marketing collateral, press clippings, reports or correspondence that serve no purpose, it could potentially increase the costs of your relocation.
To lighten the load, complete an audit to identify what can be shredded, digitised or binned. Your bank balance will thank you for it.
Personal items
You’ll be amazed at how much stuff a business accumulates that doesn’t belong to the organisation. Check your kitchen and ensure those 13 “World’s Best Dad” mugs and shelves full of Tupperware find their original owner. Next, check the desks for potted plants, bonsai trees, and picture frames.
Ask your team to take home their personal items ahead of the move, to help keep removal costs down. Or, if you’re not Ebenezer Scrooge, at least minimise the amount of personal items you’re paying to transit.
Fragile items
If you have a cabinet full of awards, memorabilia, or even just the office coffee machine, a professional removalist will help ensure these precious items are protected while in transit. For those trying to ‘go-it-alone’ remember to bubble wrap anything that might break and clearly label it. The last thing you need on moving day is to be sweeping your pride and joy off the floor.
Large and heavy items
A professional removalist will naturally have the equipment and man-power to shift that oversized mahogany boardroom table and the filing cabinets that are built like tanks. They will also prevent any unnecessary WorkCover claims or trips to the company chiropractor.
However, it’s important to consider other bulky items, such as printers. Some large-office printers that are on lease can only be moved and set up by the vendor. Check the lease agreement or read the manual before moving heavy equipment.
Cords, chargers and power boards
Unless you want to spend your first day in your new office playing ‘Guess the Cable’, remember to label and bag your cords.
The serenity and status that comes with knowing what-goes-where is limitless, so being organised with these ‘enablers’ will pay dividends.
IT infrastructure
In contrast, IT will not look at you fondly if you disconnect any servers or routers without first discussing it with them. They’ll no doubt need time to prepare for the transition, backup files and ensure the new digs have an NBN plug ready to reconnect.
Our removals team can also provide specialist containers to ensure the IT toys are handled carefully, so you can get back to work ASAP, even if you don’t want to.
Unexpected reinstatement costs
Remember when you signed the lease and there was that clause, you probably didn’t read, about ‘making good’ or returning the space to its original condition? Also remember, thinking that mounting screens and digital whiteboards wouldn’t really damage the drywall behind them?
Well, be ready to be surprised. Or at least be prepared to patch walls and give them a fresh lick of paint. Or risk being hit with a surprise tradie bill.
First day essentials
Your boss will probably try to convince you that the desks and IT equipment are the priority. However, you know, like we do, that there are more important things. Nothing sours the mood like no coffee, loo roll or music. These are the essentials you need in your work life.
Pack a priority box with the basics, such as a kettle, mugs (where’s my “World’s Best Dad” mug gone?), snacks, toilet rolls, cleaning sprays and a boom speaker. You’ll thank us later. In fact, all our moves come with a priority box, so you can brew a cuppa as soon as you arrive.
With so much to remember and organise, a business relocation is enough to test even the most stoic of us. One sure way to ensure you don’t get caught out is to leave it to the professionals. And by the professionals, we mean us. We’ve been helping businesses move swiftly and protecting people’s sanity for nearly four decades.
Find out more about our business relocation services here.
