Relocating your office can be both exhilarating and daunting. It’s like moving to a new house, except you’re taking your business with you! To ensure a smooth transition, this short article aims to give you some thoughts and a workable list of practical ideas. No hard sell, just valuable insight from our experiences at Sagal Group. We hope this helps, if we can support you with further details or clarity on any elements, please feel free to get in touch.
1. Why Are You Moving?
Understanding the driving force behind your office relocation is crucial. Is it for expansion, downsizing, or perhaps a better location? Gather insights from different departments to prioritize objectives. This will help you to define most precisely what you are looking for and save a lot of energy and time on everything from now on.
2. Assessing Your Budget
Curious about the price tag attached to office relocation? Let’s delve into it. Setting a clear budget is paramount as it helps manage expectations and ensures financial stability throughout the process.
How much does an office relocation cost?
Determining the cost of an office relocation depends on various factors, including the size of your business, location, and specific requirements. Here’s a breakdown to guide your budgeting:
- Building: This encompasses expenses such as rent, maintenance, and addressing any dilapidations. Be prepared to allocate a significant portion of your budget to securing suitable premises.
- Professional Fees: Engaging property agents and seeking legal advice are essential steps in the relocation process. Allocate funds for these professional services to ensure legal compliance and smooth negotiations.
- Refurbishment Expenditure: Transforming your new space to fit your needs may involve fit-out costs and investments in IT infrastructure. Factor in these expenses to create an environment that fosters productivity and reflects your brand identity.
- Furniture: Investing in ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing furniture contributes to creating an engaging workspace where employees #lovewhereyouwork. Consider the quality and functionality of furniture within your budget constraints.
- Logistics: Moving logistics encompass the costs associated with transportation, storage, and handling of equipment and assets. Plan for these expenses to facilitate a seamless transition to your new location.
- Miscellaneous: Additional expenses may arise for print materials, publicity, marketing efforts to announce your relocation, travel expenses for site visits, and staff training to adapt to the new environment.
By carefully assessing each of these budgetary considerations, you can develop a comprehensive financial plan that supports your office relocation objectives while minimizing unforeseen costs.
3. Building Your Relocation Team
Don’t go at it alone!
Balancing your time between ‘day job’ and relocation work can be mitigated with a good team supporting you. Take care with your team selection. You’re looking for support, not more trouble! Too many cooks and all that…
As a guide, it’s useful to include colleagues from – Finance, IT, Human Resources and Marketing. A well-briefed team working towards a shared goal will make the process more enjoyable and a lot easier to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
4. Setting Realistic Timescales
Be Realistic
Give yourself plenty of time. Like any large purchase in your work or personal life, the process will take time to get right. Clearly the size of your project defines how early you need to start but as an example for a 20,000 square foot office space you should start 12 months from your lease break/termination. This can vary considerably depending on the complexity of the works you wish to undertake and technical requirements of your business.
5. Beginning with the End in Mind
Back to Point 1! Why?
Don’t fall into the trap of either appointing a Contractor or finding a space before you have some clear, strongly defined ideas of what you want. Furniture and design details are the aesthetics and touch points for individuals; functional specifications support individual and team productivity. Creating wish lists, mood boards, pinterest pages for these will help you stay true to your dreams and aspirations!
We hope these 5 points, give you a useful insight and inspire you on making a start to plan your office relocation.
Contact us for support on the next steps including: