The average cost of moving an office ranges from $750 — $30,000. That amount may not cover transportation yet. Also, moving can incur costs from employees, with the average being $50 to $250 or more per employee.
A lot of factors are at play when it comes to computing moving costs. First off, the bigger the office is, the higher the costs will be. More space usually means more equipment. If you transfer all the contents of a 10,000 square-foot office, you may easily spend the maximum average or more. On top of that, you’ll deal with lost productivity, and sometimes, sales. If your relocation disrupts your business operations, you could lose a full day or two’s worth of sales and productivity.
You don’t have to watch your costs rise. Below are some ways to minimize the time and costs of your move:
1. Choose an Affordable Location
Relocating to a city like New York may sound attractive, but can your business afford the rent? If you’re moving from a suburban or remote location, chances are the costs of living in a major city will overwhelm you. Even if you have customers in that area, consider a location somewhere between your old one and the city. Ensure that it’s easily accessible and affordable.
2. Hire Movers
Don’t just hire them off Craigslist. Choose experienced movers from a legitimate company. They’re professionals who are trained to handle work material and equipment. You can rest assured that they’ll keep your sensitive files safe. They’re also time-efficient, so your move can take the shortest time possible, allowing you to restart your business operations as soon as possible.
3. Form a Moving Committee
Business owners shouldn’t be the only ones planning the move. Gather your most reliable and trustworthy team members. Form a moving committee so that you can strategize and brainstorm on courses of action to take before, during, and after the move. Someone has to be in charge of the contracts with movers, and someone else for updating suppliers and customers. The rest of the team should handle packing equipment and files. Work out how much time may be spent doing all of those. Develop a system, like a moving to-do list every day, so that tasks will be organized and productivity can remain high.
4. Consider the Requirements of Your New Office Space
If you’d be moving into a bare office space, that’ll incur furniture and fixture costs. It may even need professional cleaning. If that will strain your budget, consider another office space that’s already furnished. It may be more expensive to rent out, but if you think a fully furnished unit will save you costs in the long run, go for it.
5. Schedule Business Interruption
Whether you like it or not, the chances of your business temporarily halting operations will be high. To minimize the revenue you’d lose, set a date for all moving-related tasks in which you won’t entertain customers. But of course, alert your customers ahead of time and regularly. This will allow you to focus on the move and nothing else. With only one task to finish at a time, you can go back to making sales in no time.
6. Make an Inventory of the Things You Need and Don’t Need
In your moving committee, include an employee in charge of making inventories. This will help you avoid packing things you don’t need. Maybe that one-decade-old monitor can go. Or the refrigerator that’s always broken. Compute the costs of getting rid of unwanted items as well. Making an inventory of the wanted and unwanted items can also discourage theft.
7. Consider Remote Possibilities
Before planning your move, ask yourself if making your operations remote can work just as well as moving. This is not applicable for all types of businesses, obviously, but if you’re a B2B company that doesn’t even meet up with your clients often, consider the remote possibilities. Perhaps instead of meeting them face-to-face, you can conduct transactions digitally instead. If that sounds more feasible than moving, cancel your plan and work on an online business model instead.
8. List Down All Expenses
If the move is final, list down all the costs it’ll incur, plus the possible hidden costs. If you’d have issues setting up your tech equipment, hiring IT personnel to do it may cost about $150 per hour. Determine the time it may take to haul the boxes, too. Repeated elevator rides can stretch out your time or cost extra. If a piece of furniture can’t fit inside the elevator, the movers will have to take the stairs and charge extra. List down all the possible scenarios because they will generate costs, too.
With all of these considered and calculated, you can develop a cost strategy to save as much time and money for your move. In no time, you’d be up and running, earning revenues and profits again