Like every industry, the commercial office moving industry has undergone significant changes in recent years.  What has driven this change? Economics, technology, and societal trending. Hindsight shows us that some of these changes have proven to be good, some of them have proven to be bad. As economic recessions multiplied over the last 20 years, many office moving companies have simply become vacant shells of what they once were or have gone out of business altogether.

The successful major commercial office movers of today, firms like Move Solutions, have always been cultures of constant change. Change breeds innovation. Innovation breeds quality and efficiency. Quality and efficiency breeds a Darwinian survival of the fittest.

Two or three decades ago, commercial office moving was a much different ball game. Commercial office moving was a smaller-scale, more localized industry in which residential van line agents served their local business communities. Companies that relocated kept their furniture until it fell apart and technology was handled by expensive technologists. Companies were not nearly as mobile as they are today.

The advent of commercial real estate densification, collaborative space, new styles of furniture, and the broad use of technology in every corner of the room demanded that suppliers change. Move Solutions, recognized nationally as “the” innovator of tech enabled office move tooling and process, led the way. Today Move Solutions still leads the way to ever-greater efficiency and service levels.  

As cities have “grown up” and attracted  the relocation of companies of every size, commercial moving  services have had to be detailed and successful at every level of communication and expectation. Commercial office movers have had to invest in software and other sophisticated technology that moves data from the IT server room to every desktop to mobile devices. The office movers task also includes cybersecurity to protect clients. Way beyond moving objects, office moving of today requires real time, transparent, global communication that guarantees no surprises.

What the heck is a plenum?

As importantly as improving the ability to provide basic office moving services, the office moving industry has had to realize that the crushing impact of all of this change shows up in margins. Modern commercial office movers have become somewhere between a “one call, many solutions” to a “one throat to choke” accumulation of resources. We MUST be able to offer our clients multiple services and multiple solutions. Office furniture sales, liquidation, facility decommission, and technology services such as plenum clearance of low- voltage cable are just a few examples of we have changed to meet our clients’ needs.

Speaking of the word plenum, what does it mean? Simply put, it refers to the space above an office ceiling. Because it is part of the air handling space for the building, the property manager doesn’t want it to accumulate too much volume of low-voltage cabling, which is toxic when it burns. Part of returning a tenant space to a lease-compliant departure condition includes clearing the cables and electrical gear from the plenum. Thirty years ago, this would have never been discussed with the company you hire to do your move. But today  words like plenum are common, an example of change that is often an expectation.

Right in line with clearing the cabling in the plenum is the task of orchestrating the prep and moving everything related to IT. Move Solutions is an example of a firm that has invested in the vertical integration of all its resources to provide this service professionally and thoroughly with no surprises. It’s our job to expertly manage IT assets to disconnect, reconnect, and reconfigure PCs, servers, and every other kind tech equipment before and after your move. If that is not enough, how about a service that obsoletes your IT equipment with destruction certification? We do this, too.

What about your old furniture?

Your new office comes with a new look — new desks, chairs, workstations, conference tables and storage files. In the old days moving the furniture was part of the move task. Your reality is that the old landlord won’t let you just leave your old furniture behind! A full-service modern office mover should be able to help you remove it and dispose of it in a sustainable manner. Very little should end up in a land fill.  They should take an inventory of your old furniture and other previously used assets and then submit a liquidation proposal, taking into account current market values and trends. If the inventory value is more than the cost of removal, you end up with money in your pocket. If it doesn’t cover the cost of removal, there is a net charge. Either way it’s one less thing you have to worry about.

How to get your lease deposit back.

When you signed the lease on your old office you agreed to return the space to your landlord in tip-top shape, broom clean and lease compliant. The only acceptable deficiency is “normal wear and tear.” Among other tasks, already discussed, this means your old cables must be cut at the wall and removed from the plenum. Electrical connections must be disconnected by a license electrician. If you had power poles with your cubicles you may need to have the electrical conduit feeding them removed. Leading edge companies like Move Solutions offer decommissioning services covering all of these tasks, services that most office moving companies don’t have the time, the staff, or the knowledge to execute successfully.

Need to purge records, etc. to lighten your load? We can do that, and we’ll even certify that documents were disposed of securely.

Let’s face it, your landlord doesn’t want to clean up after you. That’s why most property owners have a clause in their lease requiring tenants to leave their vacated space in good condition. You MUST be lease return compliant to get your deposit back. Move Solutions will meet with you and your landlord on your behalf after the completion of our services to make certain all departure lease requirements have been met. Here is a brief list of the move-out services that competent Office Movers like Move Solutions provide:

• Patch, repair, and repaint damaged walls. Paint should match the existing paint color.
• Replace all damaged downspouts or interior roof drains.
• Replace any broken or damaged ceiling tile and grid-work.
• Replace any damaged carpet and/or floor tile.
• Repair/replace any damaged personnel doors, windows, mini- blinds, and door hardware.
• Repair/replace any damaged dock bumpers, levelers, and overhead doors.
• Clean the warehouse floor of any paint, tape, or other items. Repair or patch all holes in concrete floors.
• Remove any bolts or nails on the floor.
• Remove all trash and leave the facility in broom-clean condition.
• Janitorial clean all restrooms, kitchen floors, all cabinets, interior and exterior windows.
• Remove any signage on doors, windows or building exterior and repair any damage that may result from the removal.
• Provide documentation of annual inspection of fire sprinkler systems.

Office Moving Factoid: Today, Move Solutions is the only wholly-owned, vertically integrated, single-source service provider in the commercial office moving industry. All of our competitors offer only component parts to our total office solutions.

As the industry has blossomed, so have the “right” suppliers. Move Solutions is an example of a leading-edge firm whose teams smartly adapted to new opportunities, including those created by sophisticated real estate customers. Frequently we are asked to partner with commercial property leasing giants such as CBRE, JLL and Cushman-Wakefield. They lead the way and let great office move suppliers execute the work.

Typically, commercial office moves cost less than 1% of the total  project expenses. Price AND value mean everything when you hire the company that essentially is going to  take you out of business and put you back into business on time and on schedule.

How you handle your moving budget is exceedingly important. The poor use of money ends up costing you more money. You owe it to yourself to make sure the entire project — from soup to nuts and A to Z — is handled with expertise, efficiency, and great care.