Welcome to Mountain States Moving!

Office Moving

Relocating?
Regardless of the company or the circumstances surrounding an office move, planning, efficiency and pre-move planning, efficiency and communication provide the foundation for a successful move. As your moving plan develops, it becomes obvious that months of preparation may be needed. Each company employee must help assure that productivity and workflow continue at acceptable levels during the relocation. A successful move requires sufficient pre-planning time, every detail must be worked out.
Atlas Van Lines has compiled the following information and guidelines to assist you in the relocation of your office. Whether you have five or one hundred employees, Atlas can help make sure your office is restored to near-normal productivity immediately after the move. The information below will provide valuable insight into the roles of everyone involved in your office move.

Planning... Who's your move Coordinator?
It's kick-off time and the relocation process is about to begin but who's the quarterback? Who calls the plays? Who makes the decisions when best-laid plans fall through? It's your Move Coordinator who's called upon to make decisions critical to a successful move.
To accomplish a winning move, one executive should be designated as Move Coordinator with total responsibility and authority to organize the relocation. On larger moves, more than fifteen offices, you may wish to appoint a moving committee to optimize the results through planning and communication. Your moving committee will carry out assigned tasks and assist in developing the company's relocation policies and requirements. Committee members like clerical staff, supervisors and department heads provide the necessary communication to co-workers.

Moving... the Committee's Role.
Typical employee anxiety and confusion can be minimized if committee members familiarize each and every employee with his role and responsibilities during the move, with employee participation, productivity and efficiency kept at near-normal levels. Before selecting your mover, it will be necessary for the Move Coordinator and Move Committee to establish approximate moving dates and relocation requirements.
When establishing a moving date, your office Move Coordinator will need to consult with new building management and your office outfitter. Current leasing requirements also will need to be checked.
Newly built or redecorated quarters require additional flexibility in the moving schedule. Extra time to handle unscheduled events is a way that minimizes disruption to your overall move plan. Advanced planning is the key to a successful move.
Written specifications, provided by your committee to the mover, should include detailed accounts of items to be moved, services to be rendered, and by whom each service is to be provided (i.e., mover or company). Your company may choose to bring in a mover before establishing formal written specifications and responsibilities for the move. Then the mover becomes a direct consultant, an added committee member, another team player. When inviting carriers to bid on an office relocation, committee members and the Move Coordinator must look at the ability of the carrier to perform a smooth, quality office move. Movers with little experience in office and industrial moving may have difficulty delivering the service expected. So Atlas Van Lines recommends references be checked out thoroughly. Keeping your facility in mind, consider using a mover who has had experience in moving offices of similar type and square footage (for example, medical facilities, law offices, banks. etc.). Bid presentations submitted by the carrier/mover after the required walk through(s) at both the old and new sites, should include specific information about areas of responsibility for the mover. During the move, your carrier move supervisor will meet with the office Move Coordinator/committee to detail the responsibilities of all employees, and to review past and future phases of the move. Just as your moving committee must communicate plans and strategies to your employees, so must your mover. Working as a team, the moving committee and Move Coordinators see that all phases of the office move are covered, plans are made, procedures carried out. Move Coordinator/committee responsibilities may include:

Selection of the carrier (mover).
Issuing "request for Bid" to selected carriers.
Coordinating change of address on all forms (i.e., stationery, invoices, deposit tickets, etc.).
Forwarding change of address notices to banks and financial services, insurance carriers, credit card companies, newspapers, magazines and clubs.
Provide blueprints to the mover for origin and destination building sites.
Developing a scaled "Master Plan" with your mover on graph paper showing layout and placement, floor-by-floor, department-by-department. For each floor or department at the new office, show the location, size and assignment of offices and work areas. Position desks, file cabinets, office copiers, water coolers, vending machines, telephones, personal computers, etc. (tagging/marking information will be reviewed further under "The Mover...Roles and Responsibilities.")
Notifying utility and service companies of connection and disconnection dates: always after mover's loading date and before mover's delivery date.
Securing adequate liability coverage for employees and materials before, during and after the move.
Communicating to employees their roles during the move.
Working with designers and/or decorators to make sure the new office space is finished before moving day.
Coordinating delivery with new furniture and fixture suppliers on dates acceptable by the Move Coordinator and moving company (usually before the scheduled delivery date).

As we look further at employee and mover responsibilities, you'll see how planning and interaction are essential to an efficient, productive office move. Company operations continue with minimal work interference.
The Employee... Communication and Duties
Proper instruction and employee role designations are vital to assuring that the work areas and departments are prepared for mover loading and transportation. Movers usually offer help with drafting of employee pre-move instructions and procedures. Sometimes it is useful for the mover to conduct a pre-move employee orientation seminar.
Your Move Coordinator must take an active role in your office relocation. Cooperation is essential to meeting limited time schedules. The ultimate responsibility lies with the Move Coordinator and company supervisors for continuing direction. Through focused communication, employees are provided with step-by-step guidelines and move status reports. Management and employee anxiety is minimized, communication is maintained, time schedules are met.
Responsibility begins with each employee packing and marking items within his own work area. Desks, chairs, office equipment, wastebaskets, etc. must be tagged for identification. Your mover will provide all boxes, and tags as necessary for marking and identification purposes. Other suggestions for minimizing disruption in office routines:

Employees should discard unneeded items. Shipping them only adds to costs. Most employees can dispose of one or two full cartons.
Each employee will be provided with color-coded labels and tags for use in packing his/her office possessions. All articles of furniture, cartons and any separate items must have a tag or label. It is recommended that labels and tags be affixed to the side of the carton, not the top.
The department Move Coordinator is responsible for seeing that all items are labeled and tagged. Any item not labeled will not be moved. All office effects will be moved by number, according to the Move Coordinator's master plan, not the employee's name.
To save space, you may wish to have employees coordinate packing with those who will be working with them in the new office.
Desks and credenzas to be moved should be emptied prior to loading time. Each employee is responsible for emptying or arranging the removal of books, papers, letters and other desk-top items (pack all contents in cartons and color-tag with numbers corresponding to the desk's number). Drawers should then be locked and all keys kept by the supervisors.
Secretaries and typists with carriage typewriters should leave typewriter carriages locked and centered. Electric cords should be taped to the office machine. Cartons and wrapping paper provided by your mover should be kept on hand for packing standard size items and bulk-storage material.
Pictures, lamps, typewriters, bookcases, open files, libraries, etc. normally will be packed and unpacked by the mover. Each department should be prepared to empty any stationary cabinets, as they usually are not recommended to be moved with contents.
Traditionally, movers contract to move only company property. Movers are not liable for loss of personal property. If you need containers for personal property, your mover can provide them.
Electric calculators may be transported personally or wrapped well and included in a carton with desk contents. Many times, calculators over 12" (or a pre-agreed size) will be packed by the mover.
Hanging pictures and maps may be packed by the employee or the mover. Affixed items must be removed by company servicemen or the employee. In either case, pictures and maps to be shipped must be tagged.
Atlas recommends file cabinets and contents be left intact when the cabinet is to be moved: If cabinets are bolted together to form a bank, remove the bolts. Internal drawer plates should be tightened to hold contents in place. Leave it to your mover to do the packing and unpacking as necessary. If you decide to pack lateral files, label all cartons appropriately (be sure to tag banks of files in their proper sequence).

Small plants should be transferred personally. Special arrangements can be made to transfer larger plants. Movers are not responsible for the safe transportation of plants.
As with most jobs that require a great deal of planning and coordination, no one job is the same. Pre-move instructions provided by the mover may vary. These instructions/suggestions provide a basic summary of the employee's responsibilities. Consult your Atlas Agent for suggestions and procedures that apply to your office relocation.

The Mover...Roles and Responsibilities.
As roles become clearer it's apparent that no team member can succeed without the others. There is no cure for poor pre-move planning. It becomes the role of the professional moving consultant to cover all the plays. Unlike a football game, a team player who "fumbles" the ball has already lost the game. Unrecovered fumbles can only create additional cost, time delays, and above all, unsatisfied customers. In facilitating a game plan, your mover has many roles, including:

From the initial walk through, at both the old and new office sites, manpower, services, materials and office furniture traffic plans are developed.
Time schedules for pick-up and delivery are coordinated and loading schedules planned.
Move supervisors meet with the moving committee members to develop pre-move policy plans and to outline employee responsibilities.
Office floor and department plans are developed with the Move Coordinator and color codes assigned, with code numbers on the plan indicating individual work stations for employees. Colors and code numbers match equipment and furniture according to where the new piece belongs in the office, as shown in the Move Coordinator's master plan. Electrical and telephone outlets, along with new furniture placement, can be designated on the master plan for the new office. For the convenience of the employees and the mover, a full floor layout will be placed strategically in the new office. Direction signs will be posted to indicate the location of departments. Pressure-sensitive, color-coded designation decals will be displayed prominently near office entryways. Your mover will advise you where to position the coded stickers on each piece of equipment.
Extra tags, labels, and containers are provided to employees for items to be packed and/or disposed of at origin,
Lost-and-found areas are established for furniture and cartons that have missing labels and tags.
Contractors/decorators of new buildings are consulted to coordinate move-in plans.
On-site moving supervisors are assigned to oversee operations at both locations. Supervisors direct the flow of furniture and equipment to its proper location.
Building managers/owners, at both the old and the new office locations, are consulted to secure exclusive use of the elevators, hallways, entrances and loading docks or parking spaces.
Elevator capacities and clearances of doorways and stairways are investigated and protective shielding put in place by the mover.
Permits, when necessary, are obtained from the police/safety board to block streets during specific hours of the move. Some cities may require traffic directors. This, too, will need to be arranged.
Truck and office security patrols are arranged during loading and unloading at both the old and new office sites when requested or necessary.
Third party services (i.e., flatbed, gauging, plumbing, electrical services, etc.), may need to be arranged.
Contingency plans are needed in case of elevator breakdown. Electrical failure, truck/mechanical breakdown, etc.
Means of protecting floors, walls, elevators, etc. must be decided and communicated to the Move Coordinator and committee.
Special arrangements with telecommunications machine suppliers and office copier suppliers may be needed for connection and disconnection.
Special handling of bulky/heavy items (e.g., safes, fireproof files, conference tables, computers, libraries, record storage), should be moved before the main moving day to prevent congestion and slowdowns.
A post-move cleanup should be planned as requested by the Move Coordinator.
Housecleaning days should be planned days ahead of the moving date. Unnecessary files and other waste should be discarded before loading.

Touchdown... You Win!
Like a football game, an office move involves players who must follow a strict game plan. Each player has a role, each has tasks to accomplish. The interface of management, employees, mover and other third parties is essential to achieving our mutual goal, a successful move occurring in the time prescribed by management and within the cost estimate previously agreed upon. Employee productivity is maintained with minimal disruption. What once seemed like an overwhelming assignment becomes a series of detailed tasks. With pre-move planning, communication, a qualified mover and staff assistance and support, your office move becomes a study in efficiency and management.

Mountain States Moving & Storage Co., Inc.
2670 South 3270 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84119
Phone: (801)972-1414 FAX: (801)972-0683