Office & commercial
Commercial moves where the heavy kit is the hard part
Safes, server cabinets, plan chests and catering equipment, plus the ordinary desks around them. Surveyed, sequenced and moved in a window that does not cost you a trading day.
An office move is not a big house move. The furniture is easier and the consequences are worse — nobody minds a sofa arriving late, everybody minds the phones being dead on Monday. And the item that most often derails the schedule is the one nobody assessed: the safe in the corner, or the cabinet that will not fit the goods lift.
- Survey
Both buildings, with whoever signs it off
Desk count, the heavy kit, what is on a lease, and the access at each end. Lift capacity is checked rather than assumed — a goods lift with a weight limit is the constraint that decides the whole sequence.
- Plan
A numbered floor plan and a labelling scheme
Every desk, cabinet and machine gets a code matching a position in the new space. Heavy items get their own sequence so the lift is not blocked by them while everything else waits.
- Paperwork
Buildings told before the day, not on it
Managed buildings commonly want insurance documents, a method statement and a booked window. We send those in advance. On the heavy items, the method statement is the part that matters.
- Move
Out of hours, in the right order
Evenings and weekends as a rule. Safes and cabinets go last out and first in so they are not sitting in a corridor. IT crated and cable-bagged by desk.
- Set down
Positioned, not stacked by the door
Furniture to the coded position, crates at the right desk, heavy items sited where they are staying. Packaging cleared before we leave.
The heavy end
Commercial kit we are called for
Frequently by other firms, part-way through a job, which is a compliment of a sort.
How heavy items work- Safes and fireproof cabinets
- Server and comms cabinets
- Plan chests and map drawers
- Catering and commercial kitchen equipment
- Workshop machinery and test equipment
- Reception furniture and stone or solid tops
What a commercial quote covers
Crew and vehicles, crates and materials, the labelling scheme, the move window, the method for each heavy item, and what happens to anything you are not taking. It sets the scope in writing so there is no argument later about whether dismantling the meeting table was included.
What it does not contain is a figure from a price list. Commercial moves vary far too much for that to be an honest way to quote.
Moving further than the next town
Relocations across the country are common and are planned as distance moves — same crew both ends, loaded for motorway miles. If the business is relocating to Europe, the European pages set out the customs side.
Commercial moves — questions from the person signing it off
Can you move us without closing for a day?
That is the normal arrangement. Out-of-hours and weekend moves are standard, and we agree the window with you and with the building before anything is booked.
Do you move safes and server cabinets?
Yes — that is the part of a commercial move we are set up for. Both are concentrated weight, both usually live somewhere awkward, and both get assessed the way any heavy item does: route, floor, lift capacity, then method.
Do you handle the IT?
We crate and transport it — machines, screens, cabling bagged and labelled by desk, the comms cabinet handled separately. Decommissioning and recommissioning the network is for your IT people or ours working alongside them, and we coordinate with whoever that is.
What will our landlord or building manager want?
Usually insurance details and a method statement, and often a booked lift or loading window. Some buildings want a risk assessment for heavy items specifically. Tell us who to contact and we deal with it before the date.
Can you store what we are not taking?
Yes. Commercial moves shed furniture, and surplus can go into storage while you decide or be moved on to wherever you want it.
Do you move shops and workshops as well as offices?
Yes. Retail units, studios, workshops and small industrial premises. The constraints differ but the principle is the same — survey it, sequence it, move it in a window that does not cost you trading.
Planning a commercial move?
Send both addresses, the desk count and a note of anything heavy. We will arrange a survey and put a scope together.