8 Weeks Before Your Move
Start by assembling your move team. Designate a move coordinator within your company and begin getting proposals from commercial movers. At Corporate Relocators, we recommend scheduling a free walkthrough at least 6-8 weeks before your target move date. During this phase, audit your current office inventory — furniture, IT equipment, files, and supplies. Decide what moves to the new space, what gets liquidated, and what goes to storage.
6 Weeks Before Your Move
Finalize your moving company and sign the contract. Work with your mover's project manager to develop a detailed floor plan for the new space. Order any new furniture that needs to be delivered and installed. Begin communicating the move timeline to employees — start communicating with your team at least 8 weeks before your move date. Set up a shared document or portal where team members can access move-day instructions, packing guidelines, and new office information.
4 Weeks Before Your Move
Coordinate with your IT team or provider on the technology migration plan. This includes servers, phone systems, internet service, printers, and individual workstations. Distribute packing supplies to employees — labeled boxes, tape, and markers. Begin packing non-essential items like archived files, decor, and seasonal supplies. Notify vendors, clients, and partners of your address change.
Planning a commercial move in Houston?
We offer free on-site walkthroughs and detailed proposals with no hidden fees.
Request a Free Walkthrough2 Weeks Before Your Move
Confirm all logistics with your moving company — truck schedule, crew size, access instructions for both buildings. Complete a pre-move walkthrough of the new space to verify that furniture placement plans match reality. Note: For moves over 20,000 sqft, schedule your new space walkthrough at the 4-6 week mark instead — by 2 weeks out, furniture is ordered and floor plans are locked, leaving little room for adjustments. Ensure parking, elevator, and loading dock reservations are confirmed. Update your Google Business Profile, website, and all online directories with the new address.
Move Week
Hold a final all-hands meeting to review move-day expectations. Employees should pack personal items and label everything clearly. Your move coordinator should be available throughout the move to answer questions and make real-time decisions. On move day, your moving company's project manager will oversee the entire operation. At Corporate Relocators, we handle everything from disconnect to reconnect — your team just needs to show up Monday morning. See how we executed this for Cheniere Energy's 151K sqft move.
Post-Move Checklist
Verify that all IT systems are operational. Walk through the new space and confirm furniture placement matches the floor plan. Check for any damage or missing items and report them immediately. Update remaining vendor accounts and subscriptions with the new address. Send a company-wide email with new office details including parking, building access, and emergency procedures.
Who Should Manage the Office Move
Every successful office move has two owners: an internal move coordinator and your mover's project manager. The internal coordinator is usually an operations, facilities, HR, or office manager — someone with authority to make same-day decisions about furniture placement, packing deadlines, and who gets which desk. The mover's project manager owns logistics: crew size, truck sequencing, dock and freight elevator reservations, building COIs, labeling systems, and the punch list. Departments should each name a floor or team captain so questions are answered locally instead of piling onto one inbox. On our Cheniere Energy move — 151,000 sqft across 9 floors — that structure is what kept a multi-floor phased relocation on schedule.
How to Announce an Office Move to Employees
Announce the move once the lease is signed and the date is firm — roughly 8 weeks out — not after rumors start. A good announcement covers six things: why the company is moving, the new address, the move date and what happens to work that week, what changes for commuting and parking, what employees are responsible for packing, and who to ask questions. Follow the all-hands announcement with a written recap by email, a shared FAQ document, and a floor plan showing the new seating. Send reminders at 4 weeks, 2 weeks, and the Friday before move week. Our employee communication plan has the week-by-week messaging you can copy.
IT, Phones, and Internet: Start Earliest
Technology has the longest lead time of anything in an office move, so it drives your calendar. Order internet and phone service at the new address 6–8 weeks out; carriers in Houston routinely need 2–4 weeks to provision, and a delayed circuit is the most common reason a move slips. Inventory every server, switch, firewall, UPS, workstation, monitor, printer, and phone with serial numbers and port mappings, verify backups are restorable before anything is disconnected, then plan disconnect Friday evening and reconnect Saturday so staff return to working desks. See our IT relocation best practices and server room moving guide.
How Far in Advance to Plan an Office Move
Use square footage and headcount to set your lead time. Under 5,000 sqft or fewer than 25 people: 4–6 weeks. 5,000–20,000 sqft: 6–8 weeks. 20,000–50,000 sqft or multi-floor: 8–12 weeks. Over 50,000 sqft, multi-building, or any move involving a server room, lab, or pallet rack systems: 12–16 weeks. Add time if you are buying new furniture (installation lead times run 6–10 weeks), building out the new space, or moving out of a Class A tower that restricts moves to nights and weekends. If your date is sooner than these ranges, request a walkthrough and we will build the compressed plan around it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you plan an office move?
Work backward from your move date in four phases: 8 weeks out, name an internal move coordinator, inventory furniture and equipment, and get walkthrough-based proposals from three commercial movers. 6 weeks out, sign the mover, lock the new floor plan, order furniture, and announce the move to staff. 4 weeks out, schedule internet and phone provisioning, distribute packing supplies, and notify vendors and clients of the address change. 2 weeks out, confirm crew size, trucks, dock and freight elevator reservations, and building insurance paperwork, then run move week with disconnect Friday and reconnect Saturday.
How far in advance should you plan an office move?
Allow 4–6 weeks for offices under 5,000 sqft, 6–8 weeks for 5,000–20,000 sqft, 8–12 weeks for 20,000–50,000 sqft or multi-floor moves, and 12–16 weeks for anything above 50,000 sqft or involving a server room, lab, or pallet rack systems. Add time if you are ordering new furniture or building out the new space.
Who is responsible for managing an office move?
Two people share it: an internal move coordinator — typically operations, facilities, HR, or the office manager — who makes decisions about seating, packing deadlines, and department questions, and your mover's project manager, who owns crew scheduling, trucks, labeling, building access, and the post-move punch list.
How do you announce an office move to employees?
Announce it about 8 weeks out, once the lease and date are firm. Cover why the company is moving, the new address, the move date and what happens to work that week, commuting and parking changes, what employees pack themselves, and who to ask questions. Follow up with a written recap, a shared FAQ, the new floor plan, and reminders at 4 weeks, 2 weeks, and the Friday before move week.
How do you move IT equipment and phones to a new office?
Start with the carrier: order internet and phone service at the new address 6–8 weeks out, because provisioning in Houston commonly takes 2–4 weeks. Inventory every server, switch, firewall, UPS, workstation, monitor, printer, and handset with serial numbers and port mappings, verify backups restore before disconnect, then disconnect Friday evening and reconnect and test over the weekend so staff return to working desks.
What should employees pack themselves for an office move?
Employees pack personal items and desk contents — photos, mugs, plants, personal files, chargers, and anything in drawers — into labeled boxes with their name and new desk number. Your movers handle furniture, monitors, docking stations, phones, servers, copiers, shared filing, and everything that needs to be disconnected, crated, transported, and reinstalled.
How long does an office move take?
Most Houston office moves happen over a single weekend. A 25–50 person office is typically loaded, transported, and reinstalled in one day; 50–150 people usually takes a Friday night through Sunday window; multi-floor and 50,000+ sqft relocations are phased over consecutive weekends so no department loses a business day.
Related Case Studies
Need Help Planning Your Move?
Request a free walkthrough and we'll put together a detailed proposal for your commercial relocation.
Request a Walkthrough