When it comes to moving your home, you typically have a good general idea of the things you need to do prior to your move out day. Moving a business, however, can be a bit more of a challenge. Whether you are having to move with multiple departments or just have a small team of seven, a good plan and coordination across the company is absolutely required to have a clean, successful move. Check out the beginning of our checklist to get prepared for your move, whether you are the owner of a business or an employee.
Begin your plan: Creating a move committee to plan how each department or the company overall will handle the move is essential. Depending on the size of your small business, this could include either everyone on staff, or certain employees who have a good organizational understanding of the company. In this committee you can begin to figure out what needs to be moved or donated or thrown away, as well as discuss any new additions to your new office you might want to make. Be sure to share these plans with your employees so they are up to date with what is happening.
Assign tasks: If you have a small business, it can be hard to handle all of the basic tasks that go with a big move. Mitigate this risk by assigning tasks to people that best fit them or who has the most time to get a task done. This way you are sharing the burden of the move across the company, with no one person handling everything on their own.
Take stock of what you have: When you are making a residential move, you might look at stuff that you have and either donate or throw it away. It should be no different when making a small business move. This goes beyond whether you want to keep your old desk or spring for a new one. It also includes shredding old sensitive documents or recycling older electronics or other items that might have been stored away for a long time. Cleaning out your inventory and file cabinets makes it easier to make a new office space your home as well as lowering your transportation costs.
Reach out to all vendors: This should be done at least a month out from your move. To avoid any business or service interruptions for your company, make certain that all utilities and services are ready to go the moment you move into your new space. This includes electricity (if applicable), internet, phones, mail delivery, etc. If you have any signage for your company, ensure that is ready to go and be installed at your new address as well.
Notify agencies of your location change: The other major entities to inform of your move will be government agencies and banks. A change of address will need to be done with the USPS, the IRS, the Franchise Tax Board (if applicable), and the Secretary of State for the state your business resides in. You will also need to let any banks that handle your company’s finances or insurance carriers you work with know of your address change as well.
Get your technology ready: It is hard to run any company today without technology. While ensuring your internet and phone connectivity is important, there are other technological concerns to get taken care of as well. If you have a server you run services off of or have information stored on, make sure you have everything ready to go in terms of moving and reinstalling the server at your new location to avoid any downtime. If you are moving any large printers or copiers, make sure you have a way to move those items, especially if they are heavy.
If you are in need of a moving partner for an upcoming business move, give 1-800-PACK-RAT a call! We specialize in both residential and commercial local and long-distance moves, and have helped numerous customers move with our all-steel, weatherproof containers. We also provide temporary and long-term storage as well if needed. Call us today to learn more, or check out our case studies with other commercial customers just like you.