How Long Does a Commercial Move Take?

Everyone recalls their first big move into a new home or apartment: the stress of boxing up clothes and appliances, coordinating with a moving company and perhaps most importantly, working out a timeline. Moving your business from one location to another, however, presents a different set of challenges, which all determine just how long the move will take. That timeline will vary depending on the size of your business and other factors, but there are some important things to keep in mind when making the move, all of which can help give you a better idea of how long the process will take.

Step One: Creating a Timeline

• It’s important to begin your moving process by organizing a reasonable timeframe in which you hope to leave your current space and enter a new one. If that current space is relatively small, perhaps nestled in a commercial strip mall or industrial building, the moving process may only take a few months to prepare and execute. For larger businesses, that timeline may be closer to six or eight months. Regardless of your business size, it’s best to plan ahead, and companies like Advantage can help better identify and plot out a timeline.

Something to keep in mind when planning your move? Ensuring that the process takes place on a time and day that limits disruption to everyday operations, avoiding any long-term financial impacts.

Step Two: Preparation

• Once you’ve determined a realistic timeframe for moving your business, it’s time to gear up. Again, the commercial moving process is dramatically different from residential moving. While the sometimes tedious process of boxing up equipment and personal items still exists, moving your business also requires some extra financial and managerial planning. Strutt & Parker is a UK-based estate management company. In a recent article, they looked just how long a commercial move can take, and took a deep dive into those financial planning steps. Among them, a lease and building analysis, furniture audit and procurement. Some of the findings look strictly at UK real estate, but still offer some great insight into a crucial part of the planning process

Step Three: Design

• How do you envision your new commercial space? Which components will make your employees most comfortable and productive? How much do you plan to spend? This step presents its own, unique challenges that can prove to be enjoyable. As your commercial move becomes real, think of the possibilities to make it the right move. Use the opportunity to meet with your employees and involve them in the design process. Aside from the logistical aspects of finding power outlets and internet hotspots, focus on the best places to organize furniture, décor and other equipment. Assign tasks to different members of your company to make the process more hands on. Imagining a new, better business will help you and your movers better determine a timeline.

Step Four: Making the Move

• Once you’ve crafted a timeline of when you hope to be calling a new space for the home for your business and prepared both physically and financially, it’s time to bring in the professionals. This is a crucial step as it determines just how smooth of a process the move will be, as well as how long it will take. Remember that commercial moving means taking those computers, fax machines, scanners and water coolers with you, and that means it’s important to hire the right moving company to ensure your hardware is kept safe. Studies show that more than half of workers rely on multiple devices at work, so keeping them intact during the move is essential. As for the timeline, the Strutt & Parker study that we highlighted earlier gives a great outlook:

When you’re ready to move your business, our professionally trained staff is ready to help. Contact us here to learn more and find out how long your move will take.