Relocating Businesses To Greener Pastures Requires Planning

 Moving and relocating your place of business can be exciting and re-energizing for owners. Yet, dealing with the inevitable junk removal can be a challenge.

Every year, opportunities for better (or bigger) locations present themselves to many entrepreneurs, and a change of place often promises new growth. Consequently, they move to a new place where they hope to find better business success than they had in their previous location.

How many owners are relocating businesses?

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that approximately 40 million Americans relocate each year, and the U.S. Postal Service processes about 38 million change-of-address forms annually. Although there are no official records of business moves, it is a known reality in business that, at some time, most businesses will consider relocating as a way to expand.

What to Consider If You’re Relocating Your Business

Depending on the type of business you own, the particulars of your move can vary widely from others. Manufacturers with inventory, machinery and raw materials will have a different set of concerns than the real estate brokerage with little in the way of equipment to move. But every business has some shared considerations.

The following is a suggested checklist for relocating businesses or planning a move:

2-3 Months Before the Move:

• Select a move team or committee.
• Determine your relocation budget.
• Contact your telephone provider to get new numbers or transfer existing ones, if possible.
• Determine if you need specialized or approved vendors to move equipment such as copiers, lab equipment, and manufacturing equipment.
• Check your existing lease for restoration requirements/conditions of your current space.
• Contact your telecommunications/data provider to schedule a transition date.
• Order keys for the new building.
• Confirm location of new signage and, if needed, hire a signage company to plan, get approval for, and install new signage.
• Reserve a qualified mover.
• Order new letterhead, business cards, forms, and other printed marketing materials.
• Schedule updates for your website, email signatures, and any other listings for the day of your move.
• Notify the following entities of your upcoming change of address:
  • Your clients, the post office, bank, vendors, the IRS, Franchise Tax Board, Secretary of State, Employment Development Department, and your insurance carrier.
• Obtain certificates of insurance for the landlord, and any entities required by the lease.
• Coordinate with your IT service on server move, desktops, and PBX timelines.
• Assemble a move team with each department.
• Create furniture layout plans with employees for their new spaces.
• Coordinate review special equipment installation/compatibility requirements with users.
• Develop a preliminary move schedule.

1 Month Prior to Move:

• Develop a labeling plan and assign move numbers. Finalize floor plans/layouts.
• Create press releases to highlight new location and/or office-warming party.
• Coordinate with management of the new site to add your listing to any director.
• Determine security procedures for the move, if needed.
• Obtain off-site storage location for old files.

2 Weeks Prior to Move:

• Finalize your move schedule.
• Conduct an employee move orientation meeting.
• Schedule for getting packing material and labels.
• Establish a plan for move team communication and a process for change requests.
• Create list of emergency contacts, cell phone numbers, and vendors that includes moving company, building management, utilities, telecommunications, etc.
• Schedule any needed on-site help for move day.
• Identify a ‘Move Command Central’ for mover and employee inquiries.
• Select a junk removal firm and a cleaning vendor for after the move.

Move Week:

• Tag and label destination site using room numbers and equipment IDs.
• Distribute contact lists for emergency/on-site/on-call lists.
• Review/ Finalize all move schedules and distribute to move team.
• Prepare the building for move: surface protection, corner guards, etc.
• Distribute new security ID card-key entry badges.
• Schedule training for all emergency procedures at new location.
• Prior to moving day, change locks and access codes at new location.

 Moving Day:

• Assign origin and destination move coordinators.
• Designate on-site help to handle move related questions, etc.
• Complete walk-through on each day of move to track progress, confirm the move is on schedule, and identify anything that might have been damaged during the move.
• Allocate keys and/or access cards for new location.
• Distribute employee welcome packets at their new destinations.

(Checklist adapted from www.hughesmarino.com)

Think Virtual: The Internet Needs to Know

In addition to updating vendors and clients about your new address, don’t forget to change your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information with Google. Simply updating address information in your Google My Business listing won’t be sufficient. Google pulls information from a nearly infinite number of sources, including Yelp, Yellow Pages, City Search, Local.com and Acxiom.

In addition to fixing your data with Google, you’ll need to fix your data on sites that supply directories with this data. Moz recommends visiting Infogroup, Localeze and Acxiom to check for out-of-date information as well as creating accounts on all major search engines to update your old listings.

You can also use Google Map Maker to directly edit Google’s maps. Once your edit is approved, the new information will show up on all Google map searches.

The Right Junk Hauling Team for the Job

Once you decide to outsource the junk removal part of your office moving project, you need to determine which firm is the right one for the job. And while you can certainly find plenty of guys with trucks willing to do the job, choosing that alternative may end up costing you more than you hoped to save. This is why Junk King really is the firm of choice.

Junk King provides an efficient, safe and eco-friendly junk removal service so you don’t need to worry about the pick up or disposal of the debris after your move is complete. Whether you need our services several times during the move, or just once after it is complete, our hauling professionals will ensure that the debris is out of your way so that you can get on with your work.

Our team specializes in commercial junk removal. We can be at your facility in mere minutes, so call us today! Our crew is fully insured and well-trained, so you can trust them to get rid of your unwanted items in a professional and courteous fashion.

One of the best things about hiring Junk King is that we recycle a much of the material we pick-up. This is proof of our commitment to being an eco-friendly removal service. If you have questions about what we do or what we believe, click the button below, or give us a call at (707) 744-4254.