What Makes Office Moves Different than Residential Moves?

When planning an upcoming office move, organizations will likely seek out moving companies within their local area to accomplish their transition from one location to another. However, many may be surprised to discover that not all moving companies who service local and long-distance moves can accommodate office moves as well.

This is due to several reasons, but mostly because of the difference in size and scope that office moves have in comparison to residential moves. Below, we’ve delved into the differences between office and residential moves to provide more insight into the equipment and crew required to assist companies in their upcoming move.

Office Moves Are More Complex

According to 2021 data provided by The Department for Professional Employees (DPE), 59.8% of the total U.S. workforce was comprised of professional employees in 2020. These employees include office positions, legal positions, community positions, and more. That’s over 63 million professionals, most of which who work in offices across the country. 

With 50% of employers looking to get their employees back to an in-office working environment by early 2023, the office workspace is becoming more valued by both employees and employers. There’s expected to be an influx of office moves as more employers encourage employees to return to a full-time in-office workweek.

As stated above, not all moving companies can service office moves because of their complexity. There are a lot of disparate components involved in moving a company’s headquarters from one location to another. As such, smaller or more specialized moving companies don’t always have the capacity and equipment necessary to service office moves. 

More People are Involved

An office can house anywhere from 25 to 2500 employees at any given time. Each of those employees typically has their own desk and work equipment such as monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, etc. And that’s not including the furniture in common areas, such as conference rooms, kitchenettes, and meeting spaces.

So, there are a lot more people involved in office moves than residential moves, even if they aren’t key players in the moving process. Careful planning and consideration need to be made by the moving company to ensure that everything is packed carefully, delivered to the right location, and unloaded in an orderly manner so employees can spin up their workspace quickly. 

The Equipment is Specialized

Beyond keeping everything organized and ensuring there’s enough crew to accommodate the size of an upcoming office move, most office moves require more specialized equipment than residential moves. To guarantee the safety of both the crew and the office employees, movers will use specialized equipment to transport larger items. This includes things like large tables, vending machines, organizational cabinets, and more.

In addition to supplying specialized equipment, moving companies will likely provide moving boxes and bins to facilitate an organized, efficient move. This allows employees to group together their workspace items and label them appropriately. 

Though residential moves aren’t lacking in their structure and transport of heavy furniture, the equipment required for office moves is just on another level. 

There Should be Collaboration Between the Movers and the IT Personnel

The typical residential move occurs like this:

1. A customer calls movers to request a quote.
2. The customer selects a mover and schedules their move date.
3. The moving company arrives on that date with a selection of crew and equipment.
4. The crew loads all household goods, transports them to the customer’s new address, and unloads the customer’s items.
5. The customer signs off on the order and the crew leaves to either return to the warehouse or service another residential move.

Though the process gets more complicated for long-distance moves across state lines and into different countries, residential moving doesn’t involve too many complexities for the moving crew to navigate.

In contrast, office moves often have a lot of equipment and components that require careful planning to be moved properly. Moving companies who service office moves will often work closely with management or IT professionals to execute the move. That way things are moved in the ideal order and equipment can be set up before employees begin to arrive. 

Residential Moves Typically Have Less Heavy Lifting

Finally, perhaps the biggest difference between office moves and residential moves is the amount of work involved for the moving crew. An average local two-bedroom apartment move takes about 3-5 hours to accomplish. Counter to that, an office move can take anywhere from 8 hours to 3 days to complete, depending on the size of the shipment of office goods.