5 tips to choose the right company for your office move

An office relocation is a complicated and stressful process. It involves a myriad of decisions, each of which could make your life easier – or cause endless headaches. 

One of the most crucial choices you’ll have to make during an office move, is which company of movers to hire. Competent and reliable movers will help you make your relocation as smooth and efficient as possible.

To help you pick the right partners for your move, here are five tips to choose the right company of movers for your office relocation.

1. Start looking early

First off, begin your search early enough.

You will have to do some careful research, vetting, and comparing. Not to mention negotiating a solid contract, and setting up a moving schedule. All together, this will likely take a few weeks – if not months.

By waiting too long to start your quest to find the right movers, you’ll be pressed to make a premature decision.

2. Get recommendations

At the start of your search, ask around for recommendations.

Check if anyone in your network relocated recently and had any particularly positive – or negative – experiences with moving companies. If someone just moved in or out of your office building, give them a quick ring.

If you’re lucky, you might come away with a list of viable candidates.

Be sure that the scope of the move was similar, though. A company that helped a small business move within town might not be the best to handle the relocation of a mid-size business to a different part of the country, or even abroad.

3. Check reviews and look for complaints

Next, scour the internet for reviews. Google and Facebook reviews are excellent places to start.

If someone has made disastrous experiences with a company of movers, it’s likely they vented online.

Reading former customers’ opinions will also give you a good handle on how straightforward and reliable a company is.

4. Vet their credentials

Once you have your list of candidates, carefully vet each of them.

Go through their websites and see how transparently they present their services.

Also check their credentials, including their business licence. Find out whether they’re members of any associations, such as the British Association of Removers .

Then, reach out to them personally and quiz them on a few salient points. Ask how many office relocations they’ve handled, which types of insurance they offer, and what precautions they take for fragile items.

5. Carefully compare quotes

Finally, get detailed quotes from at least three different companies.

It’s a plus point if a firm visits your property first to take a good look at everything, rather than just making estimates on the basis of photos or descriptions.

Ask them to break down their estimates. That way, you can compare quotes more accurately by looking at insurance, packing, hourly rate, mileage and storage costs separately.

Find out if there are any additional costs, like overtime rates, or fees for handling high-value equipment.

Conclusion

Office relocation is stressful even under ideal conditions. By selecting a reliable moving company, you can avoid unnecessary headaches.

Start early, collect recommendations from your network, check reviews, and verify credentials. Finally, compare quotes in detail.

This might take some time and effort, but it’s worth it. At the end of the day, you’ll have a competent partner by your side for the big move.