Moving a business of any size to a new office space for rent in Overland Park is a pretty daunting task, and should be broken down into manageable steps to keep your business running smoothly throughout the relocation. Here are a few different aspects of moving to prepare for, as suggested in the article “Office Relocation: 9 Must-Know Tips for a Smooth Move”:
Organizing for a Move to an Office Park in Kansas
Before you even reach the packing stage, there are a lot of logistical details to organize. Ideally, you want to start the planning process for a move 4-6 months ahead of time in order to prevent the process from becoming overwhelming. Here are a few things that you should take care of well in advance for a smooth move.
- Plan the layout of the new space. Once you’ve settled on a new space, create a detailed map of what your layout will be and make it available to everyone. This will help you figure out exactly where all of your equipment and furniture will go, as well as whether you will need to leave behind or order more of anything. This also helps your employees visualize and plan out what their own spaces will look like.
- Coordinate technical logistics with IT. Your IT team will also need a few months of advanced notice to figure out how to transfer not only equipment, but things like internet and phone services. They can also check out your new space and decide if upgrades are necessary. Getting this sorted out in advance is crucial to making sure your business can hit the ground running as soon as you move into the new space.
- Order new equipment ahead of time. After you have determined the layout of your space and any IT needs, start ordering any new equipment 1-2 months ahead of time, so that anything you need will be waiting for you when you arrive. You also want to make sure that your orders can arrive at your new office just before you do – if you send them to your old office, you will be paying for shipping twice!
- Hire movers early. Once you have figured out exactly what equipment and furniture will be going to the new office, you will want to hire your moving company 1-3 months in advance. This way you can get a full estimate to budget for the cost. You also want to make sure to work with movers who have experience with commercial office moving in order to ensure that expensive equipment arrives intact, so it might be worthwhile to ask around for some referrals.
- Labeling – Once you are closer to moving day, start thinking about how you are going to organize the moving process. If you are a bigger company with lots of departments, develop some sort of system (i.e. color coding) designate the different areas where movers should put according to the layout plan you have. Smaller companies can do the same thing and just have employees put their names on the outsides of boxes in multiple places. This will ensure that boxes end up in the areas where they need to be without the chaos of trying to direct movers on moving day.
Packing
The actual act of putting things in boxes can be daunting, so here are some tips from a professional moving company for how to pack different items in your office, as suggested int he article “Packing for an office move”:
- Shelves – Pack the contents of any shelves or bookcases separately, then take them apart, label the big parts, and leave them laid out on the floor. Put any pegs into a labelled envelope and pack them separately in a box.
- Computers – Disconnect all cables and lock your disk drive if you can. Some moving companies might provide pouches for you to put your keyboard, cables, and mouse into, which you can then label with a label that corresponds to monitors, printers, etc.
- Office Equipment – Detach anything that can be detached, such as sorting machines, and remove toner cartridges from printers/copiers. Make sure whomever is servicing and packing these machines is experienced or qualified to do so in order to avoid costly equipment damage.
- Storage Cabinets – Take all of the supplies out of storage cabinets and pack these separately.
- Filing Cabinets – Both vertical and horizontal filing cabinets can typically be packed with all of their contents inside, but make sure that they are securely locked. If the locks don’t work, wrap the lock button with plenty of tape to make sure it doesn’t pop open during the move. One possible exception to file cabinet moving is wood filing cabinets – if your office has these, check with your moving company to see if they recommend removing the drawers and packing those separately.
- Hanging Decorations – Large things hanging on the walls like pictures and maps can often just be labelled and left there for the moving company to move in padded bins or special frames (double check that your moving company offers this service). Smaller framed pictures or other items can be packed and put in a box labeled “Fragile.”
- Personal Items – Anything personal or valuable should be packed with you, including small desk deco ratings like plants, diplomas, artwork, or removable disk drives.
Besides packing, you should also make sure that by the day the moving company comes, you have already deep cleaned the office and gotten rid of any unwanted items – donate old furniture, shred old papers, etc. It is also helpful if you empty out all wastebaskets, as well as provide your moving company with a clear diagram of your new space so they can make sure the labelled/coded items end up in the right place.
Moving requires some serious coordination, but it doesn’t need to affect the bottom line of your business if you approach it in a timely, organized way.
If your business is thinking about relocating to commercial property for lease in Overland Park, KS, or executive suites in Overland Park, give one of our brokers a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our office space for rent in Kansas City and even set up a tour.
