For most companies, moving to new office space is an exciting experience — at least in theory. Not only is it a sign that business is going well, it also comes with the joy of novelty: a new office means new spaces to explore, new restaurants to lunch at, and new configurations that will put you in touch with new people.
But the actual act of moving offices is almost universally understood to be profoundly stressful. Not only must leaders plan every aspect of the move beforehand, they also need to make sure the move itself doesn’t interrupt the regular workflow.
According to some studies, as many as 75% of small and medium-sized businesses delay moves because of the stress involved in doing so.
Sometimes, however, you simply have no choice, and need to move to a more appropriate space if you want your company to keep growing. So how can you ensure in these situations that the move is as stress-free as possible?
Go For Flexible, Affordable Furniture Options
In many cases, moving to new office space will mean outfitting an entirely new floor plan with fresh office workstations, conference rooms, and equipment. This can be one of the most anxiety-inducing parts of the move for the simple reason that it is often one of the most costly — and whatever decision you make, you will need to live with for years to come.
Procuring new furniture for an office isn’t easy: low-run pieces might be cheap, but providers almost certainly won’t provide installation, making the move-in process even more complicated and time-consuming. High end commercial office furniture companies, on the other hand, offer more comprehensive service but have complicated processes and can take a long time to handle the actual installation, due to month-long lead times.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of companies filling the gap between high and low-end furniture. For example, branchfurniture.com offers beautiful, affordable office workstations and other office furniture for competitive prices and can usually install within ten to fifteen days.
Choose Turnkey Services
Furniture isn’t the only thing you’ll need to set up before moving in — structured cabling, electrical and data connectivity, and more may also need to be arranged in advance.
If you really want to take the pressure off the move, hiring companies that can guarantee turnkey service is the way to go. Turnkey service means that everything from the insurance and landlord requirements to the installation will be handled by the provider, freeing you to take care of day-to-day business and other aspect of the move.
Turnkey service is also more efficient: big projects like furniture building and cabling installation have a lot of room for error, and making sure they’re being taken care of by experienced professionals is the best way to ensure they are done right.
Even the best office move will involve stress and disruption, but if you plan ahead and do things properly, it is possible to keep these things to a minimum.
A successful relocation often comes down to the partners you are working with, so make sure to hire seasoned furniture and cabling providers who offer high quality products and turnkey service.