One of the businesses I work for, recently made an office move, from a 4-seat home office in the owner’s garden, to a 2-room suite in a local office complex, due to an incerease in staff numbers. It seemed like an easy process for a small business – less than 10 minutes walk between the two premises, but it honestly took longer than any of us expected to truly settle in and get everything working as we planned, in the new place.
As a business owner or company manager, few things are more stressful than an office move. You have to literally suspend your entire operation, pick it up, and plonk it down again in a new location, all while minimising disruption.
To minimise how stressful the whole thing is, it can be helpful to have some kind of understanding of how long it’ll all take. We’ve tried to assemble a rough timeline of the whole moving process, from the planning stages to settling in.
A rough timeline
How long each of these stages takes to be carried out will obviously depend on a number of variables, including the size of the organisation, how many people are involved in the logistics of the move, and how fast you’re trying to be. However, these figures should provide you with a rough timeline.
Planning the move: 3-12 months
The planning stages of the move will likely be the longest. You’ll need to find a new office that’s in a suitable location, matches your business’s brand, is accessible enough, and fits your budget. While this can be easy in some situations, in others it might take a while to complete the search and find a deal that matches your needs. Expect this to take at least a few months, but up to a year. The longer you have, the easier it will be.
Packing everything up: 1-2 weeks
Apart from the planning stages, the next big thing to take care of will be packing everything up for the move. You’ll want to do this as late as possible, to ensure business continuity as much as you can. Using a removals service like Bright Movers can make this a lot easier and quicker. They’ll be able to do a lot of the packing for you, making sure that delicate things like monitors and lamps are packed up safely and moved without unnecessary damage.
The move itself: 1-7 days
The move itself can take anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how big a team you can get together to do the move for you and how much furniture needs moving. Ideally, you’ll be able to get it done in just a day or two, so that you can start getting everything set up again. This will require help from the movers again, and from your tech team. Wifi, printers and computers will all need setting up, and this can take a little while.
Settling in: 1-4 weeks
Lastly, all that will be left to do is settle into the new offices. This can take anywhere from one to a few weeks – there will likely be some issues to iron out, and it’s important to have the resources set aside to make these changes possible.
By planning the move properly in advance, you can really minimise the amount of time that it takes to get it done. Try to predict issues before they occur, so that you can limit the effects they might have on your ability to run your business during the transition.
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