An office move is the one project an office administration runs perhaps twice a decade, which is exactly why it is run badly. The removal itself is a contractor's job and the easiest part to buy. What nobody is selling is the management of it: the order the tasks have to happen in, who owns each one, and the record of what was moved, what was disposed of and who had to be told. This page is about that half, and about the four things a company routinely loses when the plan is a thread rather than a document.
An office move plan, in the order the work actually falls
Backwards from the date the lease ends, not forwards from today. Notice periods and contract end dates first, because they are the only immovable ones: the lease, the telecoms, the cleaning, the coffee, the alarm monitoring. Then the things with a lead time: fit-out, cabling, furniture, the mail redirect. Then the move week itself. Then the fortnight after, which is where the snag list and the final meter readings live and which almost nobody plans. A plan built forwards discovers the notice period after it has passed.
An owner and a date on every line, or it is a wish list
The single most useful property of a move plan is that no task is owned by everybody. One name per line, a date, and a status, and the plan can be read in a minute at a weekly stand-up. Without owners the plan turns into a list somebody reads aloud while the room nods, which is how the mail redirect gets missed twice.
The four things companies lose in a move
A supplier, because the contract was tied to the old address and nobody told them. A service, because the notice was served on the wrong date. A record, because a filing cabinet went to the tip with the paperwork the auditor asks for eighteen months later. And a piece of equipment, because the asset list was out of date before anybody started packing. All four are records problems rather than moving problems, and all four are cheap to prevent and expensive to discover.
What to keep after the van has gone
The move task list with what was done and by whom, the disposal record, the updated equipment list with holders, and the new addresses served on every supplier and authority. Federal records rules make the general point plainly: records have to be filed or otherwise identified and preserved, and findable when needed. A move is the moment both halves are at risk at once.
Questions people ask about office move management
Who should manage an office move?
The person who holds the contracts and the asset list, with the owner or finance lead signing the dates. The removal firm manages the removal, which is a different and much smaller job.
How far ahead should an office move plan start?
From the notice period on the lease, working backwards. That date sets everything else, and it is the one people find out about too late.
Does the plan need software?
It needs a list with owners, dates and a status that more than one person can read. A worksheet does that. A product is worth it when the same team also holds the contract and asset registers the move depends on.
What is the most commonly missed task?
Telling suppliers and authorities the new address, and the mail redirect. Both are cheap, both are somebody's job, and both are the ones with no internal deadline pushing them.
Should the old office be recorded before packing?
Yes. An equipment list with holders, taken before anything is boxed, is the only version of the truth that survives the week.