Are you thinking of moving to a bigger and better office? But now the question is what do you need to do to get there? An office relocation sounds pretty simple to do but there’s a lot of preparation that goes into it and requires a fair bit of organisation to pull off smoothly. So it is important that you are well prepared for the office relocation project, so that disasters like unfurnished offices or unavailable spaces occur. These mishaps could potentially disrupt your company’s function and affect your revenue.

ThunderQuote has put together a simple checklist for you to counter these issues and give you an overview of how your office move is likely to go and all the parties you’d need to work with, including employees, licensing authorities and vendors.

So what are the essential things you need for an office relocation? Here’s a full timeline of what to do and expect!

 

6-12 Months Before

• Identify area of preferred office location
• Conduct employee census
• Choose an ‘office relocation champion’ who will be the final IC for the relocation
• Engage commercial property agent
• Go for viewings
• Engage commercial interior designer (If applicable) or fit-out company if needed
• Engage seat arrangement consultant (for large companies >100pax) for space planning
• Set your relocation budget and evaluate the locations and fit out costs
• Calculate office plan and space requirements
• Engage planning permissions and zoning consultant if needed
• Review pending IT upgrades for possible consolidations

3 Months Before

• Confirm tenancy agreement
• Order office furniture
• Engage office pantry-filling and office catering service
• Earmark the old furniture which are to be prepared for sale or disposal

2 Months Before

• Prepare to transfer old phone lines
• Get quotes for fibre optics and phone line setup services
• Get quotes for internet cabling / IT setup
• Update website with revised address and optionally, revamp your site to reflect your new grounds! (Find web designers here)

1 Month Before

• Brief employees about the expected moving plan and procedures to prepare
• Settle moving date with office movers
• Prepare change of address emails
• Order new signs
• Print new namecards for staff with the updated address
• Prepare for digitization of old records via Evernote etc. if applicable

2 Weeks Before

• Inform banks of change of address
• Prepare contact list of KAH (Key Appointment Holders)
• Prepare phone line redirect / change
• Obtain supplies for packing (packing materials, crates etc.)
• Arrange to protect and cover elevators and open surfaces which could be damaged by movers

3 Days Before

• Notify business registry of change of address
• Confirm Schedules with All Vendors
• Brief all employees on the planned move
• Send out emails to inform all partners, suppliers, clients, etc. of the change in address

Move In Day(s)

• Double check with vendors in the morning (especially movers)
• Engage cleaners to assist with the post-move in clean-up
• Deploy orientation kits
• Celebrate moving in to your awesome new office with a party!

Post Move In

• Old Office: Tear down fixtures/partitions and other remaining items to return the office to its original state (if applicable)
• Dispose of excess furniture from old office (hold-overs)
• Have repair and maintenance contractors on hand to clear up potential issues that may have been overlooked or surface only after a period of usage

Special notes for working with specific vendor types:

The office fit-out and interior design consultancy and implementation portion of your office relocation and renovation is probably going to account for the majority of your costs.

Checklist To Evaluate Your Office Interior Design And Fit Out Firm

• Are they a subsidiary of a larger parent company? This means that your vendor is more stable and has access to more resources if required.
• How big is your project as a proportion of their usual annual turnover? A project that is too large would have a higher risk of failure. After all, if your project is above 60% of their annual turnover, that is probably a red flag to watch out for, as your vendors might not have the necessary resources or experience to handle your contract.
• Have their specifically managed office relocation before, and can they show references for such projects? While newer vendors may be able to provide a lower price point, they are not as experience as other vendors. Although keeping to budget is important, just keep reminding yourself what your company needs and don’t just pick the cheaper option.
• What do their service references show?
• Are they able to help you develop your specific requirements for your office relocation?
• Do they have access to health, safety and licensing professionals  in-house?
• Are they certified as environmentally friendly or have built buildings/offices with Green Mark?
• Are they good value for money? This does not necessarily mean that they are the cheapest vendors but rather that they provide great quality for the price charged!
• Do they have proper insurance procedures and access to required insurance providers?
• Is their team cooperative with each other?
• Are they willing to arrange field visits to other offices they have designed or fit-out before? An unwillingness to showcase their previous projects may be a potential red-flag that they did not do a good job for their past clients.
• Are they responsive to your communications? This is important in determining any type of service vendors you are working with, but especially so for office relocation as there are often last-minute or unexpected issues or problems which may surface!

Comprehensive List Of Other Vendors Needed

• Office Move Planners
• Office Space Planners
• Interior Design / Renovation
• Movers
• Office Furniture
• Disposal Services (Bulky Items)
• Contractors
• IT Cabling
• IT Network Improvement
• Employee Clock-In/Out Systems
• Landscaping
• Cleaning Services
• Courier Services
• Electricians
• Large Format And Signage Printing

With all these taken care of, you should be able to have a smooth time moving into your bigger and better office space! Just remember that maintaining your spanking new office space and keeping it in tip-top shape is not an easy task and you may still require contractors to clean up, repair or maintain the space at all times!

Although, if you feel that a dedicated office including renovation might be a bit too high of a cost at the moment, you can also consider alternatives like renting dedicated desks at a co-working space or at serviced offices where all the hassle of managing the office is taken care of as well!

For a one-size fits all software, ThunderQuote has the perfect solution for you, join our enterprise system that will allow you to easily get vendors from right within your system!

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.