If you’re planning a business relocation, there’s a series of costs to consider. You’ll need to weigh up the cost of removal vehicles, packing materials, storage and setup at the new premises.
But, the biggest cost is one that businesses all too often fail to consider – Not the van, but Downtime.
For every hour that your employees are unable to work, access key systems or serve customers, total costs rise rapidly.
So, with this in mind, the most effective way that you can keep the costs of your move down is to strategically time it so that disruption to daily operations is completely minimised.
With careful planning, it’s perfectly possible to relocate your business without losing a day’s productivity – that’s regardless of whether you’re relocating a small office, a commercial workspace, or anything in between.
Here at Roberts & Denny’s, we provide comprehensive professional commercial removal services, and storage services for all your office and commercial requirements.
We cover clients across London, Kent, Bexley, Dartford, and the surrounding areas. Call us on 01322 219820 or use our quote form.
Keep reading to find our top tips for scheduling your business move.
Schedule your move outside working hours
The first – and most straightforward – strategy is to time your move for when your team won’t be working.
Typically, businesses time their relocation to take place on evenings, weekends or public holidays.
This way, everything can be moved without disrupting the working day, allowing employees to finish work at the end of the day, then start work at the new location the next day.
Plus, by planning your move as early as possible, you can coordinate your contractors, IT support and removal teams around this tight timeline.
Appoint a dedicated move coordinator
By assigning a dedicated point of contact, ownership and responsibility for your move, you can ensure that everything is communicated clearly and runs on schedule.
Your internal move coordinator should oversee all key activities, including:
- Liaising with the removal company
- Tracking timelines and key tasks
- Managing internal communications
- Coordinating department requirements
- Identifying potential issues (and addressing them) before moving day
- Ensuring nothing gets missed
Let your staff know early
Make sure you communicate the move to your staff early.
By doing so, you can not only reduce stress and uncertainty, but you can also give your teams the opportunity to time their work, to minimise the risk of it clashing or being disrupted by the move.
To ensure everyone has enough time to prepare, you should keep your employees clearly updated on:
- The moving schedule
- Any items or tasks they are responsible for
- Any changes to travel arrangements
- Details of the new office layouts and facilities
- Any operational changes (temporary or permanent)
Keep employees productive
Rather than having your employees spend time on removal tasks, with a professional packing service, you can ensure your teams are able to focus on their actual work.
Instead of asking your employees to spend days packing desks, filing systems and office equipment you can enlist professional, experienced movers to do this for you.
Not only does this ensure the move runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible, but it also prevents a major drain on productivity. It allows your teams to remain focused on their roles right up until moving day.
Plus, enlisting experienced movers ensures items are systematically packed (avoiding confusion and maximising efficiency), and significantly reduces the risk of damaged or misplaced items.
Prepare a plan for essential equipment
For instance, for many businesses, having access to technology is imperative.
As a result, computers, servers, phones and network equipment should be clearly outlined in the business’s relocation plan. By establishing this plan – and getting guidance from your IT provider – you can ensure your systems are back up and running with minimal downtime.
You may even want to arrange for a test of internet connections, phone systems and essential infrastructure before your employees arrive at the new location.
Use interim storage (if your new site isn’t ready)
If your move timeline doesn’t quite sync up perfectly, then you’ll need to account for this gap by arranging for temporary storage.
Having this flexibility will prevent the delays from impacting the entire project, and will ensure key items can be held securely until the new site is ready.
At Roberts & Denny, we provide a dependable, comprehensive professional commercial removal service, and storage service. This includes expert packing services and secure storage solutions, to help businesses relocate efficiently and with minimal disruption to their operations.
So, if you’re planning an office or commercial move, contact our team today for a free quote.
