Commercial Moving Guide: How to Pack for Your Big Move (Part 3)

By now, you’ve laid all the right groundwork according to the steps laid out in our previous blog posts on planning and prepping. Now it’s time to start packing for your office move. This phase will impact your employees directly, so you’ll want to execute the steps below with care and encourage them to keep moving milestones in mind when working around their day-to-day deadlines and needs. 

One week – 3 Months Before the Move: Packing

We advise keeping the following in mind as you pack for your office move:

1. Prioritize and pack items in order of increasing importance: Start packing early to avoid a mad rush at the last minute. Your employees will still need to execute their day-to-day responsibilities throughout this step, so start with items that are least important, then move on to items that are nice to have – but not crucial – to their daily roles. Absolute necessities should be left until the day before the move.
   
2. Label your boxes – and the new office space – to ensure that each box ends up in the right department: You might try assigning a color to each department and a letter/number code for each employee within that department, for example. By matching the color and code on your boxes to corresponding delivery areas at the new location, every employee and department will receive the correct items. Involve employees, where appropriate, by having them fill out department-specific colored labels and applying them to boxes containing their individual items. Consider marking each box with a priority level so that employees will first have access to their “must have” items (Priority level 1), followed by those that would be “nice to have” (Priority level 2) and, finally, items that aren’t crucial to day-to-day responsibilities, but will still be necessary to keep (Priority level 3).
3. Create a master list that accounts for all furniture and boxes: This will provide you with a way of ensuring that every piece has found its way to the new office once you move in. 
4. Set up your utilities: Make sure you've set delivery/installation dates for your phone systems, electricity, internet, and any other utility providers so you'll be up and running on day one at the new location. Also, be sure to communicate end-of-service dates to utility providers at the location you're about to vacate. 
5. Keep tabs on the new building: Checking in with your new building manager to ensure that the new space will be ready as planned will provide peace of mind, as well as the knowledge that the move is progressing as scheduled. Conduct a walk through the week before the scheduled move to be sure that the space is both clean and ready.  
6. Maintain communication with your employees: This is the time to provide final instructions and express thanks to your employees for their part in getting ready for the move. Let them know where they need to be (and when) and what they need to do regarding packing instructions and picking up IDs or key fobs. This is also an ideal time to remind them about the new building’s name and address and any entry codes that will be needed for access. If possible, provide them with a timeline that highlights move-in milestones and a target date for when the company is expected to be up and running at full speed following the move.
7. Pass the baton to your movers!

You've planned, prepped and packed and are finally on your way to a new location. If you followed the steps outlined in the first two blog posts in this series, you've successfully navigated the planning, prepping and packing phases of your move and are just one step away from arriving at your new location.

In our next blog, we’ll discuss efficient ways to unpack and get your employees and business back up to speed faster. To get a jump on this process, however, please feel free to contact us for more information regarding SIRVA’s Commercial Moving Services. As a single-source provider, we’re uniquely positioned to manage every aspect of your commercial move – from planning and packing to the physical move itself – efficiently and effortlessly. Whether a workplace move, a facility move or the implementation of retail refurbishment, contact us at commercialmoving@sirva.com or visit our Commercial Moving Page to find out more about how we can simplify the process for you. 


Read the first two posts in our Commercial Move Guide series:
How to Plan for Your Big Move 
How to Prepare for Your Big Move