Office Furniture Installation Blog

If you have an office relocation on the horizon, it’s a safe bet that you’ve either focused on – or will soon focus on – issues like space utilization, workflow efficiency, and other layout-related elements and factors. Indeed, unlike a residential move, an office relocation is less about preferences (although these do play a role), and more about functionality.

However, there’s another key piece of the office relocation puzzle that you may have overlooked – not due to neglect, but because it’s less apparent than other considerations like those noted above. Yet, according to INC Magazine, it’s an essential part of a successful and growing business: collaboration. 

An office relocation is a comprehensive, multi-phase project that has many moving parts (no pun intended!). Your goal is to ensure that your experience is efficient, streamlined and frankly, as uneventful as possible. Indeed, while surprises are fine for birthdays and anniversaries, when it comes to an office relocation, predictability is exactly what you want!

With this in mind, and with respect to the fact that every business is unique, below we highlight the core elements of building your robust, comprehensive and, yes, precisely predictable office relocation strategy: 

As highlighted by an article in Wall Street Journal, office relocations aren’t just about moving furniture, supplies, plants, and yes, that prehistoric coffee maker that seems to be something of a corporate mascot. It’s also an anxious time for many employees; not because they’re necessarily opposed to the move, but because changing locations can be stressful. As the aforementioned article’s author Elizabeth Bernstein wisely noted: “moving offices can be as disorienting as moving homes”.

And so with this in mind, here are 3 tips to help make your office relocation a “good news” story for your people and your organization – and not of a cautionary tale:

Unlike a residential move that can often be motivated by personal preference, a business move is fundamentally an investment.

This doesn’t mean that the only consideration is to reduce costs, generate ROI, or in many cases, achieve both over the long-run. There’s something to be said for quality of life, and since most people spend 45-55 hours a week at work each year, staring out the window and seeing a pleasant park vs. an ad hoc illegal dump site is certainly a step in the right direction!

In both business and life in general, it can tough to separate experienced professionals from those that may be full of enthusiasm, but haven’t yet developed the knowledge base required to perform at an elite level. Unfortunately, it’s customers, clients and patients who pay the price – because instead of a rewarding experience, they end up with one that’s regrettable.

To help you avoid pitfalls and setbacks during your office relocation, below we highlight the 4 most common mistakes made by inexperienced office movers. These are the clues and symptoms that tell you that it’s in your best interest to find another partner now -- not later.

After weeks or perhaps months of research, analysis and consideration, you’ve decided that it’s time for an office relocation -- perhaps because you need more space for your growing workforce, you want to be closer to your customers, you need a more cost effective home for your business, or any other key reason(s).  

However, you may also be under the impression that an office relocation is essentially a “scaled up” residential move. Nothing could be further from the truth! Here are 4 common and costly misconceptions that, thankfully, you won’t fall victim to because you’re reading this article before your office relocation – not after:

At Precision, we’ve been helping businesses move for more than three decades. And over the years, we’ve learned that every office relocation experience – just like every client we serve – is unique, and must be approached as such to mitigate risks, exploit opportunities, and ensure success.

However, with this being said, the reason(s) why most businesses decide on an office relocation – whether it’s across the city, state or country – generally trace back to any, some or all of these 4 fundamental objectives:

Whether you’re in expansion mode and need room to grow, or you’re looking to shift into a smaller, yet more optimized and efficient workspace, an office relocation is an exciting event. At least, it’s supposed to be. 

Unfortunately however, for some businesses an office relocation can be a bad news saga instead of a success story. The reason? Employees weren’t utilized appropriately or effectively, and that resulted in schedule overruns, chaos and confusion, added costs, and in some cases, 100 percent preventable damage, accidents and injuries.

To ensure that your office relocation is rewarding instead of regrettable, below we highlight how to – and how NOT to – utilize your employees:

As you prepare to find a new home for your business, it’s vital to “do your homework”. To point you in that direction, here are 7 questions to ask:

1.  Will the new office space suit our future needs? 

While it’s obviously important for your new office space to align with your current requirements, it’s just as important to ensure that they fit your future needs. Otherwise, your growth will get stifled and you’ll be obliged to look for a new home much sooner than you anticipated. If it’s not possible to find an ideal space that fits your current/future needs, try to negotiate a shorter lease, or seek to put language in your contract that gives you the first right of refusal on any vacant space in the same building or complex.

When it comes to residential moves, schedule overruns are obviously irritating and inconvenient. However, generally speaking, the worst case scenario for most homeowners is they may have to spend a night or two in a nearby hotel (which would actually be a treat for kids, and maybe even grown-ups…did someone say room service and Jacuzzi?)

However, when the scene shifts to an office relocation, schedule overruns are far more than inconvenient – and there are no mitigating factors or unexpected bonuses. It’s a complete disaster, and the costs keep adding up hour after hour.