Your 2021 Office Moving Guide

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has changed the face of everyday life. For the past year, health organizations have advised social distancing and limiting face-to-face interactions. In many countries and/or states, governments have enforced rules to make sure individuals heed that advice. These laws have affected every aspect of day-to-day life, including school, leisure time and especially, work.

With limitations on social gatherings and proximity, many individuals are working remotely full time or part time. Meetings are happening virtually. Lots of businesses are going online or gaining a stronger online presence. In many cases, the pandemic has even caused companies to relocate. With so many people working from home, offices are not as full as they were before. Business owners may decide they don’t need all that square footage anymore. For other business owners, the need to downsize is a result of financial strain caused by the pandemic’s effects on the national economy.

Whatever the reason - whether pandemic related or not - moving an entire office can be daunting. There’s large office furniture, sensitive equipment and important, irreplaceable items/documents that all need to be packed, organized and transported with great care. Commercial moving is a very technical job and can’t be entrusted to just any movers. Very different from residential moves, commercial moves are complex and require planning, experience and know-how. That’s why you should trust All Jersey Moving & Storage for the job.

With experience handling office moves for almost 30 years now, All Jersey Moving & Storage can provide you with an efficient and seamless office move. Drawing on years of experience, we will walk you through every stage of your office move from the planning and preparation stages to the final stage of unpacking and settling in. 

Ways that All Jersey Moving & Storage can Help

• Guidance

All Jersey Moving & Storage will assign an experienced Project Manager to work with you and your staff throughout the planning and operations stages of your move. In meetings prior to moving day, our Project Manager will walk you through every stage of your move. This will help ensure that moving day itself will run smoothly and efficiently. 

• Experienced Labor 

All Jersey Moving & Storage doesn’t employ casual or pick-up labor. All employees take part in our on-going training program that stresses proper moving procedures, packing techniques, and job safety. Our employees are an integral, consistent part of our team and will handle your move with experience and expertise.

• Packing Help

All Jersey Moving & storage can aid with your office packing by packing up common areas such as break rooms, libraries and storage closets. If you will be doing the packing on your own, our Project Manager will guide you with that, as well. He/she will fully discuss packing, explaining your responsibilities, our responsibilities, and the materials, equipment and procedures involved. He/she will also explain our labeling system, discussing color-coding, room diagrams and directional placards. Additionally, All Jersey Moving & Storage will provide all your packing needs, including special Tyga commercial moving boxes. 

• Furniture Disassembly 

We complete the disassembly and reassembly of virtually all makes of systems furniture.

• Expert Handling of Sensitive Equipment 

We move PCs (make sure they are fully disconnected with wires removed), data center/servers  and flat screen monitors. We bubble wrap sensitive equipment and often dedicate a truck and special crew to complete the movement of this delicate equipment both efficiently and safely.

• Storage needs

If you are buying new furniture and do not yet know what you are doing with the old, All Jersey Moving & Storage offers both long and short term containerized storage solutions. We have temperature controlled warehouses that can accommodate your storage needs until you decide what to do with your old furniture.

A Step-by-Step Office Moving Guide

Preparing for Your Move

Time Saving Tips

In a corporate move, time is of the essence. No company wants to spend more time than necessary on anything other than business. Therefore, a company’s number one priority during a move is to get settled and back to business as quickly as possible. To ensure a time-efficient move, there are a few things you can do:

• Make sure everyone in the office is aware of the company’s moving guidelines. Since there are generally many people involved in a corporate move, there needs to be clear communication and very clear moving guidelines (i.e. what should be packed, what cannot be packed, deadlines, special instructions for specific equipment, personal and departmental responsibilities, etc) that are made known to the entire company.
• Make sure you are familiar with the layout of your new space. Take measurements of the new rooms to make sure they will accommodate your furniture. The rooms might be shaped differently than your previous ones and you will then need to come up with new furniture configurations. You definitely want to sort all that out before the move since you may need to buy new furniture and leave the old stuff behind if it won’t fit into your new space. Create a floor plan of the new location and distribute it throughout the company. Remind everyone to assume responsibility over their own furniture and give a deadline by which personnel need to alert higher-ups if they will be needing new furniture for the new space. 

Administer a Company Wide “Pre-Move Purge” Campaign

It is highly recommended to do a good “house cleaning job” before your move. All personnel should sort through personal belongings and company materials to identify any items that can be discarded before moving. Getting rid of unnecessary things now reduces packing and moving charges later. It is possible to get permission from the city to have industrial size dumpsters placed in front of the building if you have an excess of garbage to throw away.

Here’s a breakdown of what to focus on when purging:

• FILES

Individual files should be sorted through folder by folder and anything no longer needed should be discarded. General files with predetermined retention periods should be transferred to a storage center. (Talk to your Project Manager about All Jersey Moving & Storage’s record storage options.)

• DESKS

Desks can accumulate a lot of small trash. Go through your desk and throw out anything you don’t truly need or use. Since you are responsible for the packing and moving of all personal items, remember to take them home! It will be easier to bring them home prior to the company move and then just bring them back in once you are settled into your new office space. 

• STORAGE CABINETS

Like desks, storage cabinets can also wind up housing a lot of forgotten or no longer needed items. Go through storage cabinets with the aim of reducing contents to a minimum.

Office Moving Instructions

Once you’ve discarded any unnecessary items, it’s time to pack up your office space. While All Jersey Moving & Storage can help pack common areas such as break rooms, libraries and storage closets, everything else (including personal items) should be packed by employees. For those companies that wish to do the packing themselves, below are general packing instructions as well as an itemized packing guide to help get you started. 

General Office Packing Instructions - How to Pack Tyga Boxes

All Jersey Moving & Storage will supply you with Tyga commercial move boxes to pack up your sensitive office equipment and/or items. Tyga boxes arrive nested in stacks for easy handling. The method for packing up these boxes is as follows:

• Select one crate and place it on the accompanying dolly. Roll the dolly close to the item you plan to pack.
• When packing, make sure that you leave enough space for the interlocking lid to close completely. Do not overfill. Fragile items will be safe within the sturdy container, but be sure to place padding between items to avoid damage.
• After packing a box, label it on the designated end (color-coded labels will be provided by All Jersey Moving & Storage) and place a second empty crate on top of the first. (The interlocking crates ensure that the crates stay safely in place.) Be sure to align the crates so that the labels all face the same direction. You may repeat this procedure with as many as four crates per dolly. 
• If needed, there are metal rails nested in the top flaps that can be removed and used inside the box to hang either letter or legal size folders.
• Tyga boxes are designed to interlock and maintain the integrity of their contents, but for added security, All Jersey Moving & Storage can supply randomly numbered security seals.

Itemized Packing Instructions

• Desks

Desks should be completely emptied. Gather any loose items - such as paper clips, pens or post-its - into ziplock bags before packing them. Pack up your current working papers, letter trays, books and other miscellaneous items. Anything glass or otherwise fragile should be padded with packing paper before being packed.  

• Filing Cabinets (Vertical)

While these cabinets can often be moved with their contents intact, speak to your Project Manager for specific instructions regarding yours. For example, if your move involves stairs, or if you own fireproof cabinets or wooden file cabinets, those cabinets would need to be completely emptied before moving. Some cabinets risk damage if moved without being emptied. Your Project Manager will be able to guide you regarding your specific situation. If you are directed to leave the contents intact, tighten the internal draw to hold the contents in place. If possible, lock the cabinet. Store the key in a safe place. If the file has a punch-in lock and you do not have the key, wrap tape around the lock to avoid accidental locking.

• Filing Cabinets (Lateral)

These cabinets cannot be moved with their contents intact. If, however, your move does not involve any steps, the contents of the bottom two drawers only may remain intact. In all other situations, pack all of the contents into boxes and lock the drawers if possible.   

• Bookcases

All contents should be packed in cartons. After emptying the shelves, remove them and tape them together. (You will be left with just the frame of the bookcase.) Remove the shelf pins and pack them in a ziplock bag and store in a safe place.  

•  Supply/storage cabinets

All contents should be packed in boxes. Lock/tape the cabinet doors.

• Coat Racks or Lockers

 Pack all contents, including hangers.

• Smaller Office Machines (Scanners, printers, etc.) 

DO NOT PACK THESE MACHINES. Disconnect the components and pack up any small items - such as power cords - into zip lock bags. Then, simply leave the machines out. We will take care of packing them up.  

• Pictures, Maps and Bulletin Boards

Take down any wall-hanging items. Anything that can fit into a box should be packed. Newspaper or packing paper should be stuffed into the empty spaces between the pictures to prevent damage. Anything that can not fit into a box should be left against the wall. We will take care of packing up the oversized items. 

• Special Equipment

Certain types of equipment, such as copiers or computer equipment require special servicing. Ahead of moving, you should contact the vendor of each particular machine directly. Depending on the machinery, you may require the services of an electrician, plumber or machinist to disconnect the equipment. Failure to reach out to the vendor, notifying them of the move, and receiving the required internal servicing might void service warranties on the product. 

Personal computers should be backed-up and separate components should be disconnected prior to moving.  Remove loose wires and pack in a ziplock bag. 

Copying, printing and reproducing machines containing liquid or fluid must be drained.

Tagging and Marking Instructions

Your Project Manager will discuss the tagging and labeling system at length with you prior to the move. It is important that a clear floor plan be drawn up for every room of the new office, detailing where each piece of furniture is to be assembled. Every piece of furniture (including the various components of a disassembled piece of furniture - i.e. a bookcase and its shelves, lamp shade and lamp base) should be clearly and uniformly labeled. You will receive color coded labels (each color representing a different floor) and you will write the room number on that tag. On the door to each room of the new office will be the floor plan, so that the movers will know exactly where to place and assemble each piece of furniture. Following your Project Manager’s guidelines regarding labeling and tagging will help the move run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. 

Here’s a simple checklist to make sure nothing get lefts behind or overlooked:

-Desk empty?
-Personal items taken home?
-Supply cabinets cleared?
-File cabinets cleared?
-File drawers locked?
-Wall items taken down?
-Breakable items properly packed?
-Computers and other machines disconnected?
-Vendors contacted regarding special equipment?
-Liquids drained from equipment?
-All items tagged and labeled?
-Directional placards and maps drawn up and posted on doors?

Choose All Jersey Moving & Storage for your Office Move

A corporate move is a big deal. It takes months to plan and requires tremendous attention to detail. It also requires the collaborative work of many different people. It can be stressful, especially since companies want to do it properly while also limiting the time spent doing it. That’s why it’s so important to partner up with the right movers. 

With All Jersey Moving & Storage, your corporate move will be smooth, cost-effective and time-efficient. Since 1992, we have been handling commercial moves and all they entail. We handle sensitive equipment with care and know-how. We are available after hours and on weekends so you don’t have to waste precious time during the work-week on moving and settling in to your new space. 

We offer hands-on guidance, experienced labor and provide you with all the supplies you will need to pack up your office. 

We also offer both long and short term storage for anything you may not have room for in your new space.  

No office move is too complex for us. We’ll help you get everything moved safely and efficiently, allowing you to get back to business in no time. Call All Jersey Moving & Storage today for your complimentary, no-obligation consultation. We’ll come down and prepare a comprehensive proposal detailing what we will do, when we will do it, and how much it will cost. We will present the proposal to you and answer any questions. We are here to make your office move as easy, stress-free and professional as possible.