Advice For A Office Move

Many commercial real estate brokers are involved in helping businesses find new places to do business. Individual requirements for each company are different. It's challenging to ensure that we guide our clients to the best space. Finding the right spot is only the beginning.

Our office was moved recently, and the space has more than doubled. Although the move went smoothly, it was a time-consuming and involved process that taught us many valuable lessons.

Make a Space Plan

This is a good place to begin. The space plan shows the floor plan of the office and the arrangement of furniture, desks, and other equipment. This will allow you to determine how much office furniture you need and help you plan for communication and network cabling.

Don't Forget about Lead Times

Vendors don't stock large quantities of products or materials and rely on their distribution networks to deliver as needed. If you don't plan well, this can lead to significant delays. For example, delivery of carpet can take two to three weeks. Depending on the manufacturer, delivery of office furniture can take anywhere from four to eight weeks. If you don't plan ahead, computer equipment and other items that require installation can all take you a significant amount of time.

Take an IT Tour

You will likely have multiple vendors and service providers providing your IT and communications services. As they will be working together to install wiring and other infrastructure, it is a good idea to bring these professionals to your new space for a walk-through. It is essential that they can coordinate with each other. The walk-through will allow everyone to be on the exact same page and understand who is responsible for what.

Make it a team effort

Moving is exciting and fun. It's also a great opportunity to increase the engagement of your staff. Your staff should feel involved in the construction process. Provide updates and offer tours of the new space. For example, we made joint decisions about furnishing and using spaces in our case. This made it feel like the team was invested in their new space.

All of the planning pays off in the end. You'll get back to work in no time if you put forth the effort to properly plan your move.