When running a small business, there may come an exciting time when one realizes that the current situation simply isn’t feasible for running a business anymore. It may be that there are too many people in one building, or it may be that it isn’t efficient to rent out so many offices for employees.
It could be that there is a better office hours and hours away, or it could simply be that one location is more optimal than the other. Whatever the reasoning may be, there will eventually come a time when a business owner will need to turn to corporate relocation services. While preparing to make the move, it is crucial to consider a few different things beforehand. In many ways, moving a business can be just as complex as moving from one house to another.
1. Begin with a Timeline for the Move
This is going to be the most important aspect of moving a business from one place to another. When a company has a timeline to work with, it will be much easier to organize what people are doing, when they are doing it, and when it will be time to focus on another aspect of moving. By creating a timeline, everyone within the company will also have a much better idea of when things will be happening during the relocation.
Relocation isn’t just stressful for the business owner, but for the employees as well. As a rule of thumb, the timeline should be created around half a year before the move is scheduled. This should provide enough time for everyone within the company to gather their resources, schedule times, and obtain any permits, licenses, or policies needed during the move and relocation.
2. Hire Movers Far Beforehand
A lot of people underestimate just how long it will end up taking to move from one place to another. Corporate relocation services commonly recommend that movers and cleaners should be hired between one and three months before everything is scheduled to be completed. After all, there is often a lot of materials, papers, and equipment that need to be moved to the new location and it can take a lot of time, depending on how far away the new location is.
While searching for movers and planning out when to hire them, it would be prudent to research them all beforehand as well. This will help give the company a good idea of what to expect in terms of efficiency.
More often than not, a smaller, low-scale move can get away with hiring the movers one month before the date everything needs to be done by. Large-scale moves will need to begin hiring movers early to take all of the unimportant things to the new location and have them set up there so that everything can be ready on the final day of the relocation.
3. Update Any Vendors for the Company
Depending on the nature of the business, it will be crucial to update any and all vendors that supply the business about the relocation before the date of the move takes place. If one does not update vendors properly, there may be a considerable amount of lost product and other necessities, and that is something that nobody wants to deal with on top of a large move.
It is generally a good idea to update the vendors between one and three months before the move. It can be done one month beforehand if there is a good chance that the vendor will be able to get the items to the new location within that time frame. If not, then it might be a better idea to prepare in advance and update the vendors two or three months before the move.
4. Put a Focus on Allocation
Last, but most certainly not least, it will be crucial to consider the resources that the business uses and where they are going to be allocated. From making sure that equipment can be transferred and transported without disrupting business to making sure that there is enough of a budget for movers, allocating the resources toward the relocation is going to play a key role in making sure that the relocation goes smoothly and doesn’t impact the business any more than it should.