Office Relocation Planning

An office relocation can be a critical area for review as businesses consolidate, reduce excessive expenditure and build a stronger platform on which to grow. An office move can get companies into better, cheaper and more appropriate office space.

Getting an office move right is a great opportunity to affect positive change management, improvement in business performance, increased morale and momentum - however, getting it wrong can have the opposite effect. Unfortunately, the bad news is that too many companies make the same mistakes with their office move project. However, the good news is that all of these mistakes can be avoided.

The three most common pitfalls when moving office are businesses:

Underestimating what is involved with an office relocation.
Not starting the office relocation process early enough.
Having a misplaced belief that they can save money by not engaging the services of external professional help.

1) Underestimating what is involved with an office relocation

It's a process - and like any process it can be broken down into a series of simple tasks and checks. The intelligent use of project planning documents, spreadsheets and office move checklists will not only help with the planning of the office relocation, but also act as the road map to carry out the many tasks involved with the office relocation project.

They should include all of the tasks that need to be completed (and the steps leading up to them), the individuals, teams and companies responsible for completing each task - and the office relocation timeline required for each and every item.

Companies moving office shouldn't try and reinvent the wheel when they can use tried & tested moving office checklists and guides. Getting an office move right is a great opportunity to re-invigorate a business and help drive it to new heights.

2) Not starting the office move process early enough

There's a lot to do, so the earlier companies start the office relocation process the greater the chance of achieving the smooth office move that the business expects. Once the Office Move Project Leader has been appointed work should start.

All things being equal, best practice says that companies should start reviewing their options 9-18 months prior to lease expiration, regardless of whether they are considering renewing, renegotiation or relocating office. It is vital to allow enough lead-time to increase the amount of leverage and competition between the various options, which can result in substantial savings for the tenant.

3) Going it alone and not engaging professional help

This is a false economy and, as a result, many office moves end up being a time-consuming & stressful job fraught with difficult. What's worse is the fact that companies that choose not to engage external professional help for the key stages of their office relocation run the risk of making expensive mistakes that could have been avoided.

In today's environment - now more than ever - companies should be looking to extract every ounce of value they can from everything they do. For an office relocation, there is no question that this is best achieved through businesses combining their understanding of their own priorities with the expert advice and market knowledge of office move professionals.

This not only ensures that they don't make any critical mistakes but also saves them money over the term of the lease. The main areas where external expertise is required include:

Tenant Representative Brokers: to help find the most suitable office property and then negotiate the best deal on your behalf.
Real Estate Attorneys: to advise on exit strategy from current office and to ensure that your company's best interests are maintained during the negotiation and signing of the new lease.
Office Interiors Experts: space planning, office design, build-out of the new office and office furrniture.
IT & Telecoms Companies: to maintain & enhance business communications throughout the moving office process (and beyond); IT relocations; upgrade to better systems; change to more appropriate Telecoms solutions and/or cost effective call plans.
Office Moving Company: to perform the physical move from old to new office and offer storage/archiving facilities.

For further information on How to Plan an Office Move go to the HelpMovingOffice Resource Center or follow these quick links:> Office Move Checklist> Golden Rules of Moving Office> Office Move Planner

Planning an office move? Go the office relocation planning resource center

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Office Relocation Planning