An office move does not go wrong on moving day. It goes wrong a month earlier, when someone forgets the internet, the cancellation of contracts or the lift booking. This checklist splits the preparation into four periods and is based on what keeps coming up when companies move.
Treat the timings as a guide. A small office for five people can be prepared in three weeks, a company with a hundred employees needs more than two months. The order of the steps applies to both.
8 weeks ahead: decisions and contracts
- Appoint one person to run the move. Without a coordinator, decisions get scattered between management, the office manager and IT. The coordinator collects information, decides the small things and is the contact for the moving company.
- Find out the exact handover date of the new premises and the date by which you must vacate the old ones. The time in between is your window for the move.
- Order internet for the new premises. Getting a connection installed in a new building can take several weeks. It is the most common reason why a company sits in its new office on Monday but cannot work.
- Review the contracts that change with the address: lease, energy, cleaning, security, leased printers, the coffee machine, waste collection.
- Request a moving quote. Send both addresses, the approximate number of workstations and the date. Arrange a visit to both premises.
4 weeks ahead: plan and declutter
- Prepare a floor plan of the new premises with numbered workstations. Every employee knows where they will sit and the movers know where everything goes.
- Decide what will not be moved. Old furniture, broken equipment, papers past their retention periods. What is not moved does not need to be packed or paid for. The clearance can be combined with the move on the same date.
- Go through the archive. What can be shredded, what must be kept and what is better moved before the rest of the office. More in the article on archive relocation and shredding.
- Agree a plan with IT for servers, network devices and printers. Who switches what off and who checks that everything runs on Monday.
- Find out the building rules: weekend access, the goods lift and how to book it, protection of floors and door frames, where the van can park.
- Parking in central Prague: if you are moving in Prague 1, 2 or another central district, check whether you need a reserved space for the van. It is arranged with the relevant city district and needs advance notice.
1 week ahead: communication and packing
- Send instructions to employees: when to pack, how many boxes, how to label them, what to take home (personal valuables, laptops).
- Hand out boxes and labels with workstation numbers according to the floor plan.
- Announce the change of address: to clients, suppliers and the bank. Deal with changing the registered office in the Commercial Register in good time and according to what your type of company requires.
- Set up redirections: post, phone lines and, if needed, a sign at the old address.
- Confirm the date with the moving company, the building manager and reception at both addresses.
- Back up data on servers and network storage. Nothing should happen during transport, but a backup is cheaper than uncertainty.
Moving day
- The coordinator is on site or on the phone the whole time.
- At the old address, check that everything is packed and labelled before loading starts.
- At the new address, have the floor plan printed on the door of every room.
- Archives and IT equipment travel separately and in the agreed order.
- At the end, walk through the old premises: cabinets, drawers, the basement, the kitchenette, the server room.
After the move
- On the first morning, check that all computers, printers and phones work.
- Write down any minor damage or missing items straight away, not a week later.
- Hand the old premises back to the landlord with a handover report and photos.
- Update the address on your website, in e-mail signatures, on invoices and in maps.
What information to prepare for the moving company
The more accurate the information, the more accurate the quote and the fewer surprises on moving day. Before you get in touch, prepare:
- both addresses including the floor and whether the building has a lift and how big it is,
- the approximate number of workstations and a list of larger items: cabinets, shelving, a kitchen unit, a safe, a copier,
- the size of the archive in metres of shelving or number of shelving units,
- photos of the main rooms and corridors, or a floor plan,
- access details: where the van can stop, whether there is a ramp or stairs at the entrance,
- the preferred date and whether it is fixed or can be moved.
This is enough for a first estimate. The exact quote and schedule are then confirmed by a site visit.
How to brief employees
The move affects everyone, but most people only need to know a few things. What works well is one short e-mail, ideally a week ahead, repeated the day before packing:
- when to pack (for example on Friday from 1 pm) and how much time there is,
- that everyone only packs the contents of their own desk and drawers, while furniture and equipment are left to the movers,
- the number of their new workstation and how to label the boxes,
- what to take home: laptop, charger, personal valuables, medication, keys,
- when and where work starts in the new office.
A floor plan of the new office attached to the e-mail also helps. People find their place and do not wander around on Monday morning.
How many boxes you will need
A rough guide is a few boxes per workstation, depending on how much paper people have. Add boxes for shared areas, the kitchenette and the archive, which is counted separately by metres of shelving. Allow a margin: missing boxes on Friday afternoon cause more delay than a few spare ones.
The most common mistakes
Internet sorted out at the last minute. Furniture can be assembled in a day, a connection cannot. Boxes without labels. Without workstation numbers, Monday is spent searching instead of working. Moving on a weekday. If possible, move at the weekend or in the evening, because losing a whole working day usually costs more than the extra for the timing. What such a weekend looks like is described on the weekend office moves page.
Want to plan your move?
Send us the addresses, the approximate number of workstations and the date. We will come back with a suggested approach and arrange a site visit.
Related service: Weekend office moves