You don’t undergo a business office relocation often, but when you do, the stress certainly gets to you.
Despite the size of your company, relocating a business office is no easy feat. The commercial relocation process, in general, always involves a range of complex tasks. If these tasks aren’t completed smoothly, your business move can become a disaster. Perhaps that’s why the nation’s largest firms only relocate after long time intervals.
There’s been much debate over why companies even relocate their offices in the first place. So, we won’t focus on that topic. Instead, let’s focus on how business office moves are actually conducted by professional movers.
What Is a Site Survey?
A site survey is a process of assessing the current condition and needs of a space or property. In the context of commercial relocations, an office site survey refers to the evaluation of a business office space’s moving requirements. Conducting a site survey, be it in-person or virtual, is often the first stage of a business office relocation.
Benefits of Conducting a Site Survey
Most professional business movers start off a move by surveying the space they’re relocating. That’s because a thorough site survey can enable them to smoothly complete the entire move. Here are some major benefits of conducting site surveys for commercial movers.
1. It Helps Movers Assess Equipment Needs
Does your office contain furniture or business equipment of any sort? If so, then the professional movers you hire will need to move these products. Manually disassembling and lifting heavy business products can be a tedious task even for experienced movers. So, the best alternative for them is to use specialty moving equipment designed to move heavy and bulky items.
An office site survey enables professional movers to assess the moving equipment needs of your office. By looking at the type and number of heavy items in your office, they’ll be able to assess which moving equipment they should bring.
2. It Gives an Idea of the Inventory and Job Scope
Every commercial relocation project has unique requirements. The services you’ll get from a moving company will depend on the scope of your business move. The number of commercial movers and workers the company will assign to your case will also depend on the project scope.
An office site survey gives professional movers an idea of the job scope. ‘Job scope’ simply refers to the number and types of jobs required for a specific project. Professional movers will be able to assign the right people to your relocation project with the knowledge of its scope.
3. It Determines Special Packing Requirements
Different types of office products need to be packed according to their unique features. Bulky furniture naturally occupies a much larger space when being transported. So, movers need to arrange the right type of packing materials and fleets for their relocation.
An office site survey enables professional business movers to determine the special packing needs of your items. They’ll be able to categorize different products as per their unique features, and use those categories to properly pack each type of item. Without a site survey, movers wouldn’t have a concrete idea of the tasks at hand. This can result in them using the wrong packing materials for your items, which might cause them to get damaged during transit.
4. It Highlights the Path of Travel for Movers
Most customers don’t realize this, but the path of travel for professional movers in your office plays a significant role in your office relocation. A path of travel encompasses every aspect that comes in the movers’ way when moving items in and out of your office. Office floors, doors, stairs, elevators, low ceilings, loading docks, parking, etc. all make a big difference.
Since no two offices have the same exact path of travel, movers have to get used to a new route every time. Conducting a site survey well in advance makes it easier for them to do so. It highlights the path of travel so that movers can get an idea of the space they’ll be navigating throughout the relocation.
5. It Streamlines the Logistics
Specialized logistics is an important part of business office moves. Moving companies often provide specialized transportation services to their customers to fully cater to their moving needs. If you’re gearing up for long cross-country hauls during your business move, the professional movers providing the service will need guidance, too.
Conducting an office site survey can give professional movers insight into the logistics required for your move. They can evaluate the weight, truckload, and mileage of your business office move through the survey. It’ll also help them understand how many transporters and fleets they’ll need to allocate for your specific business move.
How to Conduct an Online Site Survey
Sometimes, it’s not feasible to have professional movers conduct a site survey of your office in person. All hope isn’t lost, though! You can simply conduct an online site survey with them instead.
It’s quite easy to conduct an online site survey, too. All you have to do is find a company that offers this service, like ValleyRelocation. The full-service moving company allows customers throughout California to conduct virtual office site surveys.
