Ask three office relocation companies for a quote and you can end up with three prices for three different jobs. One includes packing and one doesn’t. One assumes a weekday, another a weekend. Before you compare figures, agree what the job actually is.
This guide sets out what a full office relocation usually covers, what stays with your business, and how to scope it so the quotes line up. For how we run office moves, see our office moving service.
What an office relocation company does
A removals crew carries things. An office relocation is planned around keeping the business working. The mover’s side of it usually covers seven areas.
1. Survey and planning
It starts with a survey of both buildings, on site or by video, to assess volume, access, parking and anything specialist. We assign a project coordinator and produce a move plan before anything moves. Goods lifts, loading bays and out-of-hours permissions are ours to arrange once we know the buildings, and at the survey we tell you what your address needs for parking and how far ahead it has to go in.
The survey also produces the inventory the price is built on. A figure produced without one is an estimate, not a quotation.
2. Packing, crates and labelling
Most offices move in crates rather than cardboard. We deliver crates well in advance, and each person packs their own desk into their own numbered crate, which takes about twenty minutes. Every crate is labelled to a position on the new floor plan, so it’s unloaded straight to the right desk. If you’d rather the crew packed, that’s available and priced at the survey.
3. Furniture
Desks, partitions and larger storage units can be taken apart and rebuilt. That’s agreed in writing beforehand, so it’s in the plan and in the price rather than decided on the night.
4. IT equipment: moving it, not configuring it
Our crews move monitors, docks and peripherals as part of the move. Servers, network hardware and anything hardwired need disconnecting and reconnecting by your IT provider. Tell us who they are and we’ll work to their schedule so the two jobs dovetail. Our guide to moving office IT covers the order of work.
5. Out-of-hours moves
Most office moves happen over a Friday night or a weekend, so staff arrive on Monday to a desk that already works. Evening and weekend moves are standard for us, not an add-on. Here’s how evening and weekend office moves work.
6. Disposal of what you’re not taking
Every move turns up desks, chairs and cabinets that don’t suit the new space. We arrange responsible disposal of unwanted office furniture, donating usable items where possible and recycling the rest, alongside the move rather than as a separate job.
Whoever takes it away, your business still has duties as the producer of the waste. In England, GOV.UK says you must check your waste carrier is registered and complete a waste transfer note for each load that leaves your premises. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own guidance.
7. Storage
If the new space isn’t ready, storage bridges the gap. We collect on schedule, hold everything and deliver once the space is finished. It’s quoted alongside the move, so the cost is known in advance.
What stays with your business
Some parts of an office move aren’t the mover’s job, and a good quote says so.
| What | Who usually handles it |
|---|---|
| Servers, comms rooms, network and phone set-up | Your IT provider |
| Ordering broadband and phone lines for the new office | You (lead times run to weeks) |
| Fixed electrical work, cabling and fit-out | Certified trades or your fit-out contractor |
| Gas and plumbed appliances | Certified trades |
| The lease, notice and dilapidations | You, with your solicitor or surveyor |
| Telling staff, desk allocation, travel to the new site | You (often HR or operations) |
| Anything needing a crane or specialist rigging | Identified at the survey and arranged separately |
A few things shouldn’t travel with the crew at all. Fuel, gas canisters, solvents and aerosols can’t be moved. Cash, certificates and confidential originals are better carried by you.
Our office move project plan shows who owns each workstream on your side.
How to scope an office relocation
The more of this you send before the survey, the closer the quotes will be to each other and to the real job.
- A rough desk count. Count desks, not people. With hybrid working, the furniture and crates set the job, not the headcount.
- The new floor plan. It’s the single most useful document you can send. With it, every crate gets a destination.
- What isn’t coming. Archive filing is usually the largest single volume in an office, so decide early what gets moved, stored or shredded. Our guide to business archiving before an office move helps.
- Both buildings’ rules. Which evenings or weekend days moves are allowed, and whether the goods lift and loading bay can be booked.
- Who handles your IT. A name and a contact, so the two schedules can be matched.
- One person to decide. Not a committee: somebody who knows where things go and can make a call on the day.
- Your preferred window. An evening, a weekend, or phases over several weekends for a larger office.
Then ask every mover for the exclusions in writing. Packing, materials, dismantling and reassembly, storage and out-of-hours rates are all commonly charged separately. That’s fine, provided you’re told before rather than after.
A scope checklist to send with your quote request
Ask each mover to mark every line as included, priced separately, or not offered:
- Survey of both buildings
- Project coordinator and written move plan
- Crates delivered and collected
- Labelling to the new floor plan
- Packing by the crew (if you want it)
- Furniture dismantling and reassembly
- Monitors, docks and peripherals
- Coordination with your IT provider
- Goods lift, loading bay and out-of-hours access
- Parking suspensions
- Evening or weekend working
- Disposal of unwanted furniture
- Storage between leases
For the questions to ask once you have quotes in hand, see our questions to ask before hiring an office relocation company. For the wider budget, see office relocation costs.
Get your office move scoped
Send us both addresses, a rough desk count and the floor plan if you have it. We’ll survey both buildings, agree a window that suits your trading, and give you an itemised written quotation built on an agreed inventory, with anything charged separately set out at the survey.
Request a quote, or read more about our office moving service.
Frequently asked questions
What does an office relocation company do? It surveys both buildings, plans the move, supplies crates and labels, moves and places furniture and equipment to your new floor plan, and arranges building access. Many also handle disposal and storage. Your IT provider, your landlord and your own staff each keep their own parts.
Will the movers set up our computers? Movers handle monitors, docks and peripherals. Servers, network hardware and anything hardwired need your IT provider, so book them for the move window.
What’s usually charged separately in an office move? Packing, materials, dismantling and reassembly, storage and out-of-hours rates are all commonly separate items. Ask for the exclusions in writing before you compare prices.