relocation planning Archives

When relocating your business, the process can seem daunting and complex, with many critical factors to consider. From minimizing downtime to ensuring your equipment and inventory arrive safely at the new location, you need an experienced commercial moving partner you can trust to get the job done right. Working with a professional moving company that specializes in commercial relocation services can make all the difference in executing a seamless transition for your business.

Expertise in Commercial Moving

An experienced moving and storage services provider will have extensive knowledge of the unique requirements, challenges and best practices for relocating businesses of all types and sizes. They can work closely with you to understand your specific needs and develop a long distance moving quote tailored to your company. This may include a detailed scheduling and logistics strategy to ensure minimal disruption to your operations.

A reputable commercial mover will also have the proper equipment, vehicles, and materials to handle all of your business assets with the utmost care—from office furniture and IT equipment to specialized machinery, inventory, and sensitive documents. Their skilled moving crew will be trained in the proper packing, loading, unloading and setup techniques to ensure your items arrive in the same condition.

Tailored Moving Solutions

Every business has different moving and storage services needs depending on their industry, size, and the nature of the relocation. An experienced commercial moving company will take the time to learn about your unique situation and objectives. They can then recommend the services and approach best suited for your company.

For example, manufacturers and industrial companies will have very different moving requirements than a small office. A lab or medical practice will need special handling for sensitive equipment. Large corporations require extensive project management for phased relocations of multiple locations. A full-service moving company will have the versatility and capabilities to handle any type of commercial move and provide a long distance moving quote if needed.

Some key tailored solutions to look for include:

Pre-move planning and budgeting
Customized crating and packing
Disassembly, shipping, and reassembly of furniture/equipment
Secure chain-of-custody moving procedures
Electronic equipment disconnect/reconnect
Debris removal and recycling
Storage options for goods and records
Post-move cleanup and facility decommissioning

By understanding your unique business moving and storage services needs, an experienced provider can craft a personalized plan, propose cost-saving options, and execute your move seamlessly. With the right commercial mover, you’ll have confidence that every detail is handled properly.

Specialized Moving Services for Sensitive Items

Many businesses have highly sensitive equipment, electronics, records or other important assets that require specialized handling during a move. This may include medical equipment, IT infrastructure, laboratory instruments, high-value inventory, or confidential files. Attempting to move these items without proper protocols can lead to damage, data loss, or security breaches.

A qualified commercial moving company will have specific processes in place to protect your most sensitive assets throughout the relocation. This may involve:

Custom crating and packaging to prevent damage
Climate-controlled trucks to protect from temperature/humidity
Air-ride suspension and GPS tracking for safe and secure transport
Inventory management systems for end-to-end chain of custody
Background-checked and well-trained moving specialists
Secure storage options with 24/7 monitoring
Federally compliant moving procedures for medical/lab equipment
Adherence to HIPAA and other relevant data security regulations

When you’re dealing with highly sensitive items, don’t trust them to just any mover—look for a commercial moving company with proven processes and experience in meeting the specialized requirements of your industry. With their expertise, you can have peace of mind that your most important assets are fully protected.

Minimizing Business Interruption

Careful planning is critical for any business relocation, especially when it comes to reducing downtime. Every hour of lost productivity cuts into your bottom line. Experienced commercial movers understand the importance of maintaining business continuity throughout the transition.

An efficient moving plan may involve breaking down the move into phases so that the entire business doesn’t have to shut down all at once. Alternatively, scheduling the heaviest moving over a weekend or holiday can minimize interruptions. Your mover should also work diligently to get your new location up and running as quickly as possible.

Other ways an experienced mover can help reduce business interruption during your relocation:

Efficient packing/unpacking to keep items organized
Safe transport via air-ride trucks and secure shipment tracking
Rapid delivery directly to your new location
Professional installation and setup of furniture/equipment
Debris removal and disposal so you can get operational quickly

The right moving and storage services partner will work tirelessly to stick to your moving timeline and get your business settled into its new space with minimal hassle and downtime. This commitment to your success is invaluable during a stressful business transition.

Storage Solutions for Optimizing Your Space

Often during a business relocation, there are items that you won’t immediately need in your new space, but you still want to keep in case you need them in the future. Or, you may be significantly downsizing your space and require long-term storage for furniture, inventory, equipment or records. A commercial moving company that also offers storage solutions can streamline the process and give you flexibility.

By utilizing your mover’s storage options, you can:

Store unneeded items to keep your new space clutter-free
Retain furniture that doesn’t currently fit but may be needed later
Secure additional inventory or equipment in the short-term
Archive important physical records and documents off-site
Keep marketing/promotional materials on hand for events

Look for a moving company with a range of storage options, such as containerized storage in a secure warehouse, modular vaults, or even portable self-storage units. With proper storage, you have the freedom to optimize your business space without permanently discarding valuable items you may need again.

Find a Trusted Commercial Moving Partner

While relocating a business is complex and involves a lot of coordination, working with experienced professionals can substantially ease the process. A skilled commercial moving and storage services company can give you a long distance moving quote and lift the burden of planning and executing the move from your shoulders so you can stay focused on running your business.

When choosing a commercial mover, look for a company with:

Experience managing moves for businesses in your industry
Proper licensing, insurance, and safety protocols
Customized moving plans and flexible scheduling
Transparent pricing without surprise fees
Specialized equipment and processes for sensitive items
Secure facility options for storage
Excellent references from past commercial clients

With the support of trusted moving professionals and a proactive plan, you can turn relocating your company into an opportunity to improve your space, streamline your operations, and position your business for future growth and success. Start the process by consulting with an experienced commercial moving services provider about your unique relocation needs and objectives.

COVID-19 has changed the way we dine, shop, socialize; it’s even changed the way we move. Moving your business is stressful under the best circumstances. Add in a global pandemic, social distancing, and an ever-changing list of public health guidelines, and the situation can quickly start to feel unmanageable.

But organizing a business move during COVID-19 isn’t impossible. Things may take more planning and involve smaller teams, but at the end of the day, you will have executed a safe and efficient business move.

5 Tips for Relocating Your Business During COVID-19

If you’re reading this guide to COVID-19 business moves, chances are you are either in the midst of pandemic relocation planning or you’re about the start. To make things easier and less anxiety-ridden for you, we’ve compiled these tips to make your business move safe, secure, and efficient. Let’s get to it:

1. Limit the Personnel Involved. This one may seem like a no-brainer but moving is usually a team sport and an “all hands on deck” activity. Pre-COVID-19, office moves usually involved as many people as possible to make packing, loading and unloading, and set-up quick and painless. But during a pandemic, the more people involved in one activity, the higher the risk of infection or illness. By selecting a small moving team, you can easily test each member before the move and track everyone’s health and COVID-19 status throughout the process. If one member of the moving team does get sick, contact tracing and quarantine procedures become more manageable, and you can avoid quarantining your entire staff.

2. Make Sure You Partner with a Moving Company With COVID-19-Specific Procedures. While we’re all trying to adjust to this new normal, some moving companies have already implemented policies to help their clients move safely and efficiently within this new public health environment. Look for vendors that have COVID-19 information on their websites. If you have your heart set on a company that doesn’t offer information on their COVID-19 protocols, make sure you ask about what operational changes they have made to comply with social distancing regulations and other health and safety guidelines. While there are things you can do on your own to enhance the safety of your corporate move, it’s always best to have experts with you that know what they are doing and that have experience in coordinating COVID-19-compliant relocations.

3. Use Storage Units to Lighten Your Moving Load: One of the changes that COVID-19 has brought to the workplace is fewer people in the office at a time. That means you need less furniture and supplies. Instead of moving everything from your old space into your new office site, you may want to consider renting a storage unit to house items that you don’t need immediately. By limiting the number of items that need to be unloaded in your new space, you can reduce moving personnel and potentially decrease the risk of COVID-19 spread. Additionally, by storing unused items, you create more open office space, which means greater opportunities for social distancing.

4. Sanitation is Everything. For many of us, hand sanitizer, masks, and other personal protection equipment (PPE) have become daily staples. Your office move is not the time to relax your reliance on Purell and surgical masks. Throughout your move, make sure that all personnel involved in packing, loading and unloading, and new office set-up are using hand sanitizer and other cleaning supplies regularly. Vaccinated or not, everyone should wear a mask; shared surfaces should be cleaned and sanitized regularly. A pro tip is to give everyone in your moving crew a bottle of hand sanitizer with a built-in clip or rope so they can attach it to their pants or jacket and have it on them 24/7. With masks and gloves, it’s always a good idea to have multiple boxes of each on-hand at all times since these items tend to rip and tear easily during moves and periods of heavy exertion.

5. Make Sure Your New Space is COVID-19-Safe. Before you move everything into your new space, complete a walkthrough and identify ways to make your new office space COVID-19-compliant for your employees and guests. When setting up your new space, make sure to:

-Space desks or cubicles as far apart as you can to allow for proper social distancing. In situations where six feet of space between desks is not realistic, try installing partitions or plastic shields to make up for the lack of physical distance.

-Create PPE stations for your employees and guests. By creating easily accessible PPE stations (stocked with masks, gloves, and anti-bacterial gel or lotion), you provide ample opportunities for people to stay safe and protected.

-Ventilate your space as much as possible. Whether you open windows or find ways to optimize artificial airflow, ventilated spaces tend to be safer.

Moving your business during COVID-19 will look and feel different, but different isn’t always a bad thing. While you may not be able to amass a moving team of 50+ employees or crowd everyone onto a loading dock to unload trucks of supplies, with some planning, forethought, and a few modifications, moving your business during COVID-19 can be executed safely and efficiently.

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Davida Redmond is the leader of the Marketing team of Mobile Mini; the world’s leading provider of portable storage solutions committed to providing our customers with superior services and access to a high-quality and diverse fleet.

Moving Your Business Forward: Tailored Solutions from Commercial Moving Experts