Moving a company to a new location is a good idea for a number of reasons. Some businesses need more space, while others may try to improve their foot traffic in a new location. Regardless of the reason, if you’re planning on moving, it’s important to create a business relocation plan before your move begins.
Relocating a company can be complicated, costly, stressful, and disruptive. These issues, along with other major risks, become more dangerous when you don’t have an office relocation checklist at hand. A business relocation plan must include carefully thought-out steps and tasks to move your company through the various stages or relocation quickly and easily.
When Should I Start Planning for a Business Move?
Relocating your company does not have to mean losing productivity or revenue. If you identify the specific needs of your business ahead of time, you can design and implement a custom business relocation plan to keep up productivity and revenue. However, in order to do this, you’ll need to start early.
You should start to plan six months before your move date and identify some vendors and collect references. You should also finalize and organize lease documents with internal teams. If needed, you should work with architects on building plans and construction documents. From there, you’ll continue to narrow your search and finalize plans. An early start is key to organizing your move and alleviating stress.
Negate Potential Risks
If you assess and identify potential risks of a relocation project ahead of time, you can better avoid them. In your business relocation plan, you can map out how you will work to avoid those risks. Plan out how you will minimize disruption to production, loss of employees, and escalating or unforeseen relocation costs. Unfortunately, these issues are oftentimes unavoidable, but prepping for them will help negate lasting damage to your company.
In your relocation action plan, you can also strategize how to maximize benefits. This can include perks like an improved working environment for employees, better space planning, and access to suppliers or skilled labor.
What to Include in Your Office Move Checklist
Prepare a comprehensive move checklist that lists important checkpoints for your relocation. This can include things like:
- Include transport arrangements supplies and equipment
- Disconnection and installation of services
- Key dates and responsibilities
- List of important contacts for the relocation period
- List of important vendors
- Site maps
- Key roles within your company
- Benchmark dates
- Security codes
Lastly, it’s wise to create a contingency plan for aspects of the move that could impact customers. While many companies relocate with their customers in mind, it’s important that they’re not forgotten during the actual moving process. If your location will be closed for a period of time, there will need to be communications in place to make your clients aware.
Business Relocation Experts
Moving your company doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Especially when you hire the right team.
Relocation Strategies is here to help with all the logistics, planning, and implementation. Our experienced staff is invested in the success of your relocation and will ensure your move goes smoothly. If you’re interested in hearing how we can help, don’t hesitate to reach out for a free, personalized consultation from one of our relocation project managers.