Office relocation checklist: how to move an office, step by step

This checklist is for the person who has been handed an office move: the office manager, facilities lead or head of operations. It works backward from the first morning in the new space, gives every task an owner, and fits a small office with three months to plan as well as a multi-floor move with a year. The timings assume a local move within Southern California, whether the office is in a Century City tower or a business park in Irvine.

How far ahead should you start planning an office move?

Start about three months ahead for a small office and six months or more for a larger or multi-floor office, especially when new furniture, cabling or a build-out is involved. Book the mover at least six to eight weeks before the move date. The office move timeline at a glance:

Six months or more before the move: lease, space and budget

• Read both leases. Note the end date and notice deadline on the current lease, and its restoration clause. Many commercial leases require the tenant to remove furniture, equipment, cabling and signage and repair the damage before handing the space back.
• Pin down the new space. Get the delivery date, the build-out schedule and the date you can start installing cabling and furniture.
• Name one move lead. One person with authority to decide, backed by a small group from facilities, IT, HR and finance.
• Set the budget. Include the mover, cabling and IT work, new furniture, any lease overlap, cleaning and restoration of the old space, and storage.
• Inventory the furniture (FF&E). Decide what moves, what is new and what will be sold, donated or recycled. Order new furniture early, because lead times can be long.
• Ask both buildings for their move rules. Move hours, loading dock and freight elevator bookings, and what the certificate of insurance must show.
• Check employee notice rules. If the workplace has employed 75 or more people in the past 12 months and the business is moving substantially all of its operations 100 miles or more away, California’s WARN Act requires 60 days’ written notice. Moves within Southern California are usually well under that distance.

Three months before: book the mover, order IT and plan the seating

• Walk both spaces with the mover. Ask for a written scope, schedule and estimate based on what they saw, not a phone quote. See office and commercial moving in Southern California for how Elite runs the walkthrough.
• Order internet and phone service. A new business circuit, especially fiber, can take 30 to 90 days or longer to install. Order as soon as the lease is signed, and plan the phone number port.
• Plan cabling and the network. Your IT team or managed service provider designs the data drops, Wi-Fi and network closet, and books installers before the furniture arrives.
• Decide who moves the technology. Computers, monitors and printers are packed and placed by the mover. Servers and network gear need a separate plan: IT backs up, shuts down, disconnects and recommissions, and the mover packs, transports and places.
• Build the seating plan. Number every workstation, office and room on the new floor plan and assign each person a number.
• List every vendor. Janitorial, security and access control, copier leases, water and coffee service, shredding, plants, mail and the insurance broker. Each needs a stop date, a start date or a new address.
• Plan what stays behind. Line up furniture resale or donation, an e-waste recycler and a secure shredding vendor.

Six weeks and two weeks before: labels, paperwork and packing

Six weeks out

• Tell employees. The move date, new address, parking, access cards and what they pack themselves. A one-page packing guide saves hours.
• Set the labeling system. Every crate, chair and piece of equipment carries a label matching its destination number, color-coded by floor or department.
• Request certificates of insurance. Each property manager specifies who the certificate names, usually the building owner and property manager, and the coverage it needs. Allow several days.
• Reserve the dock and freight elevator at both buildings, in writing, and confirm permitted move hours. High-rise office towers often limit moves to evenings and weekends.
• Order access cards, keys and parking passes for the new building.

Two weeks out

• Confirm certificates are on file and dock and elevator times are confirmed in writing at both buildings.
• Pack the archive first. File rooms, storage closets, libraries and anything not used daily.
• Purge files properly. California Civil Code Section 1798.81 requires businesses disposing of customer records with personal information to shred, erase or otherwise make them unreadable.
• Lock the IT cutover plan. Backups, shutdown order, who disconnects what, and a test of the new internet connection before move day.
• Plan truck parking where there is no dock. Loading on a city street can require a permit.

Move week and move day: what happens when

The week of the move

• Employees pack desk contents into crates, label them with their new desk number and take valuables home.
• Walk the new space: power, data drops, cleaning and any new furniture already installed.
• Post the numbered floor plan at each entrance and put room numbers on the doors.
• Share one contact sheet: your move lead, the building engineers at both addresses, the IT lead and the mover’s crew lead.

Move day or move night

• Most office moves run after close or over a weekend. A common pattern packs on Friday afternoon, moves Friday night and Saturday, and sets up on Sunday, so the team starts Monday at the new desks.
• Floors, elevator cabs, corridors and door frames are protected at both buildings before the first piece moves.
• Keep one person from your side at each building to answer placement questions.
• Crates go to numbered desks, workstations are rebuilt, chairs are set, and IT reconnects and tests equipment.
• Before the crew leaves, walk every floor with the crew lead and write down anything that needs fixing.

The first week in the new office, and handing back the old one

• Day one. Staff an IT help desk, and have facilities walk the floors for missing items and adjustments.
• Punch list. Send the mover one consolidated list of damage, missing crates and reconfigurations.
• Change the address everywhere. USPS, banks, clients, the website and Google Business Profile, plus IRS Form 8822-B, a Statement of Information for corporations and LLCs, the EDD employer account and the city business tax registration.
• Clear the old space. Computers, monitors and other electronics count as hazardous waste in California and cannot go in the trash, so send them to an authorized e-waste recycler. Furniture waiting on a build-out or a second office can go into storage.
• Remove abandoned cable. Under the National Electrical Code, the accessible portion of abandoned communications cable must be removed, and many leases require it too.
• Hand back the space. Walk it with the landlord, photograph every room, and return keys and access cards.

Who owns what: facilities, IT, HR and the mover

Office moves usually go wrong at a handoff, most often between IT and the movers. Put an owner against every line:

When employees are also moving house for the new office, corporate and executive relocation covers the household side.

How much does it cost to move an office?

Office moves are priced after a walkthrough of both spaces, because building access, working hours and furniture change the number more than distance does. For local moves within Southern California, Elite’s planning ranges run from about $3,000 to $8,000 for a small office of up to 15 workstations, $8,000 to $30,000 for 15 to 50 workstations, and $30,000 to $100,000 or more for a large or multi-floor office. What moves the number:

The mover’s bill is only part of the budget. Cabling, IT work, new furniture, lease overlap and restoring the old space are usually separate lines. For a written estimate built from a walkthrough, request a quote.