Most office moves go wrong not because the removal company drops something, but because the planning started too late, the budget didn’t account for the right things, or nobody told the IT team until the week before.
A well-executed office relocation is one of the most effective things a business can do — new premises, fresh start, better environment for your team. But the difference between a move that costs you three working days and one that costs you none is almost entirely in the preparation.
This guide covers everything you need to plan your office move properly — from the moment you decide to move, through to the week after your team has settled in. Eight chapters, one straightforward process.
At Bestway Relocation, we’ve managed office moves for small startups, legal practices, NHS-affiliated organisations, and everything in between. Everything in this guide comes from experience on the ground — not theory.
What This Guide Covers
- Chapter 1: Decide Whether You’re Really Ready to Move
- Chapter 2: Set Your Budget — Including What Most People Forget
- Chapter 3: Build Your Move Timeline
- Chapter 4: Choose the Right Premises
- Chapter 5: Appoint Your Removal Company
- Chapter 6: Handle the Notifications and Admin
- Chapter 7: Manage Your IT Relocation
- Chapter 8: Moving Day and Settling In
CHAPTER 1 · Decide Whether You’re Really Ready to Move
Chapter 1: Decide Whether You’re Really Ready to Move
Before you start viewing new premises, it is worth spending a few hours answering one question honestly: is a move the right solution, or is there a cheaper way to solve the same problem?
Common reasons businesses move include running out of space, lease expiry, rising costs, needing a better location for clients or staff recruitment, or upgrading to a building that supports hybrid working. All of these are valid. But for each one, there is an alternative worth ruling out first — a lease renegotiation, a floor reconfiguration, a flexible workspace arrangement.
If, after that review, a move is the right decision, the next step is to define exactly what success looks like. How many desks do you need today — and in two years? Does the new location need to be on a specific transport corridor? Does it need to support a hybrid schedule with fewer people in every day? Writing down clear objectives at this stage saves a significant amount of time when you reach the property search.
Questions to answer before you proceed
- What is driving the move — space, cost, location, or lease end?
- What does the new space need to have that the current one doesn’t?
- What is your headcount now, and what might it be in three years?
- What is your target date for being in the new premises?
- Who has final sign-off on the decision and the budget?
CHAPTER 2 · Set Your Budget — Including What Most People Forget
Chapter 2: Set Your Budget — Including What Most People Forget
The removal company is typically 15–20% of the total cost of an office move. The rest goes on IT, legal fees, fit-out, downtime, communications, and the dozen smaller costs that accumulate between decision and move-in day.
Build your budget around categories, not guesses. Here is a realistic cost breakdown for UK businesses:
| Cost Category | Small Office (up to 20 staff) | Medium Office (20–50 staff) |
|---|---|---|
| Professional removal company | £800 – £2,500 | £2,500 – £7,000 |
| IT disconnection & reconnection | £500 – £1,500 | £1,500 – £5,000 |
| Packing materials / crate hire | £100 – £400 | £300 – £1,000 |
| Legal / lease fees | £500 – £2,000 | £1,000 – £4,000 |
| Office clearance (old premises) | £300 – £800 | £600 – £2,000 |
| Communications update / signage | £100 – £500 | £300 – £1,000 |
| Contingency (10–15% of total) | £230 – £760 | £620 – £2,000 |
| Estimated Total | £2,530 – £8,460 | £6,820 – £22,000 |
Always include a 10–15% contingency. Emergency parking suspension permits, last-minute crate hire, unexpected dilapidations charges, or a delayed IT setup are not rare — they are standard features of most office moves. Budgeting for them in advance means they do not derail the project.
Bestway Relocation provides fully itemised, fixed quotes. The figure you receive is the figure you pay — no day-of-move additions and no surprises after the fact.
CHAPTER 3 · Build Your Move Timeline
Chapter 3: Build Your Move Timeline
The single most common cause of a stressful office move is starting too late. Solicitors, property agents, fit-out contractors, and IT providers all have their own lead times — and they do not align automatically just because your moving date is fixed.
For most office moves, begin the process at least four to six months before your target date. For larger offices, regulated environments, or moves involving significant IT infrastructure, six to twelve months is more realistic.
| Timeframe | Tasks | Who Leads |
|---|---|---|
| 6–12 months before | Review lease terms, set budget, define space requirements, brief senior team | MD / Finance Director |
| 4–6 months before | Search for new premises, shortlist locations, begin legal negotiations, appoint solicitor | MD / Office Manager |
| 3–4 months before | Finalise lease, appoint removal company, commission IT survey, brief department heads | Office Manager / IT Lead |
| 6–8 weeks before | Notify clients, suppliers, HMRC, Companies House, Royal Mail redirect, update all listings | Office Manager / Admin |
| 4 weeks before | Begin labelling, pack non-essentials, confirm floor plan for new space, book parking suspensions | All departments |
| 1–2 weeks before | Final IT backup, pack remaining items, brief removal team, confirm move-day schedule | IT Lead / Office Manager |
| Move day | Removal team on site, move manager coordinates, IT setup at new location commences | Move Manager / Removal Company |
| Week after move | IT sign-off, team settled, update Google Business Profile, confirm post redirect active | Office Manager / IT Lead |
Use the timeline as a living document — assign tasks to named individuals, set deadlines, and review it weekly in the two months leading up to the move. A dedicated project manager (whether internal or via your removal company’s move manager) is worth every penny for offices of 20 or more people.
CHAPTER 4 · Choose the Right Premises
Chapter 4: Choose the Right Premises
Location is not just geography. It is the commute experience for your team, the impression it makes on clients, the availability of parking and public transport, the proximity to amenities your staff actually use, and the practical access requirements for your removal team on moving day.
What to evaluate when shortlisting
- Floor size and layout — does it match your current headcount and your projected growth?
- Lease terms — break clauses, dilapidation obligations, rent review mechanisms
- IT and power infrastructure — fibre availability, server room provision, electrical capacity for your equipment
- Access for removals — loading bay, lift dimensions, parking for large vehicles, floor weight limits for heavy equipment
- Building management — out-of-hours access, security, facilities support
- Transport links — proximity to tube, rail, bus routes your team depends on
One often-overlooked factor is access for your removal company on moving day. A building with no loading bay, lift restrictions, or no parking suspension available can turn a one-day move into two. Visit the new premises with your removal company before you sign the lease — a professional commercial mover will flag access issues that a property agent will not.
CHAPTER 5 · Appoint Your Removal Company
Chapter 5: Appoint Your Removal Company
Book your removal company earlier than you think you need to. The best commercial removal specialists fill their calendars months in advance — especially for weekend and out-of-hours moves, which are in high demand from businesses that cannot afford weekday downtime.
What to look for when choosing a commercial removal company
- Specialist commercial experience — not a domestic removal company that also does offices
- A dedicated move manager assigned to your project, not a shared booking team
- Comprehensive transit insurance covering your equipment from collection to delivery
- Fixed, itemised pricing — not an estimate that can change on the day
- Membership of the National Guild of Removers or equivalent industry body
- Registration with the Removal Industries Ombudsman for independent dispute resolution
- Capacity for out-of-hours moves — weekends, evenings, and bank holidays
- Specialist capability if needed — IT equipment, server rooms, sensitive records, large-format equipment
Get quotes from at least two companies, but evaluate them on scope rather than headline price. A quote that omits specialist IT handling, crate hire, or out-of-hours access costs more in practice than a higher figure that includes everything.
Bestway Relocation provides free, no-obligation quotes for office moves of any size. Every quote is transparent, itemised, and fixed — and every project is assigned a dedicated move manager from start to finish. Call 0800 014 7676 or visit bestwayrelocation.co.uk/get-a-free-quote/.
CHAPTER 6 · Handle the Notifications and Admin
Chapter 6: Handle the Notifications and Admin
Failing to notify the right people and organisations about your address change is one of the easiest things to overlook — and one of the most disruptive when it goes wrong. Client invoices going to the wrong address, HMRC correspondence being missed, or your Google Business Profile still showing the old location weeks after the move are all avoidable with a structured notifications plan.
Legal and regulatory notifications
- HMRC — update your registered address for all tax references
- Companies House — update your registered office address within 14 days of the move
- Business rates authority — notify both the old and new local council
- Your landlord — comply with the notice period specified in your current lease
- Your bank and financial institutions
- Your insurance providers — business, contents, employer’s liability
Operational notifications
- Royal Mail — set up a post redirect for at least three months
- All clients and customers — email communication with your new address and effective date
- All suppliers, service providers, and contractors
- Your phone and broadband provider — ensure numbers port or transfer correctly
- Any trade bodies, professional associations, or accreditation bodies
Digital and marketing updates
- Google Business Profile — update address and verify the new listing
- Your website — update every page that shows the address, contact page, footer, schema markup
- LinkedIn company page, and all other social media profiles
- Email signatures across your entire team
- Printed materials — business cards, letterheads, brochures (order new stock in advance)
Start the notification process at least six to eight weeks before the move. Some organisations (Companies House, HMRC) have formal processes with their own timescales — do not leave these until the week of the move.
CHAPTER 7 · Manage Your IT Relocation
Chapter 7: Manage Your IT Relocation
IT is the most time-sensitive element of any office move. Your team cannot work without connectivity, and a network that is not live on day one is a business problem, not an inconvenience.
Treat IT as a separate project stream running in parallel to the physical move — not as something you hand to the removal company on the day.
What your IT plan should cover
- Full data backup — complete, tested, and verified before anything is disconnected
- Inventory of all hardware — every device, cable, server, UPS unit, and peripheral catalogued and labelled
- Connectivity at the new premises — fibre provision confirmed, broadband live, or bridging solution in place before move day
- Server room or comms room setup — floor plan agreed, power provision confirmed, cooling assessed
- Hardware transport — IT equipment requires specialist packing and handling; confirm your removal company has this capability
- Reconnection plan — who reconnects what, in what order, and by when
- Test window — allow time before your team returns to test connectivity, phones, printers, and all business-critical systems
- Disaster recovery — what is the plan if connectivity is not live on move morning?
Brief your removal company on IT requirements in advance. Bestway Relocation’s teams are trained to handle servers, UPS units, monitors, and networking equipment — but the more detail you provide before moving day, the smoother the process. For complex server room migrations, coordinate with your IT provider in parallel so both workstreams arrive at the new location ready to reconnect simultaneously.
CHAPTER 8 · Moving Day and Settling In
Chapter 8: Moving Day and Settling In
By moving day, the hard work should already be done. If your planning has been thorough, moving day is a logistics exercise rather than a crisis management session.
The day before the move
- Confirm arrival time and access arrangements with your removal company
- Ensure all boxes are labelled with destination room and department
- Confirm parking suspension is in place at both addresses
- Brief your team on where to be and when — and who should stay away
- Complete the final IT backup
- Charge all mobile devices — communication on move day depends on them
On the day
- Meet your Bestway move manager on site and walk them through the layout
- Assign one internal point of contact to work alongside the removal team
- Prioritise IT infrastructure loading — it needs to arrive first so setup can begin
- Do a room-by-room check before leaving the old premises — cupboards, ceiling storage, server rooms, roof terraces
- Photograph the old premises after everything has been removed — important for dilapidations purposes
- At the new premises, direct the removal team using your pre-agreed floor plan
The week after the move
The move does not end when the last box is unloaded. The week after your move is when the notifications you sent six weeks earlier start to matter, and when small issues surface.
- Confirm IT and phone systems are fully operational — escalate anything that is not
- Walk the old premises with your landlord and document the condition jointly
- Confirm your post redirect is active and Royal Mail is delivering to the new address
- Update Google Business Profile and verify the new location if prompted
- Send a final change-of-address notification to any contacts you may have missed
- Ask your team for feedback — what worked, what didn’t, what they need in the new space
Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance should I start planning an office move?
For most UK businesses, four to six months is the minimum. If your move involves significant IT infrastructure, specialist equipment, regulatory compliance, or a large team, six to twelve months is more appropriate. Early planning gives you negotiating leverage on lease terms, access to the best removal companies, and time to manage the notification process without rushing.
How much does an office move cost in the UK?
A small office move for up to 20 staff typically costs between £2,500 and £8,500 in total, including removal, IT, legal, and admin costs. A medium office of 20 to 50 staff should budget between £7,000 and £22,000. The removal company itself is usually 15 to 20% of total expenditure — the rest goes on IT, legal fees, packing, clearance, and communications. Always include a 10 to 15% contingency.
Can we move our office over a weekend to avoid disrupting the business?
Yes — and for most businesses, this is the right approach. Weekend, evening, and bank holiday moves mean your team walks into the new space ready to work on Monday morning. Bestway Relocation offers out-of-hours moves as standard. Book early, as weekend slots with commercial removal specialists fill up quickly.
Who should be on the office move team?
At minimum: a project manager or office manager with overall accountability, an IT lead responsible for the technology workstream, a finance lead overseeing the budget, and department representatives who can manage their own teams’ packing and labelling. For larger moves, appoint a dedicated internal move coordinator who works alongside your removal company’s move manager.
What should I do about IT before an office move?
Complete a full data backup before anything is disconnected. Catalogue all hardware. Confirm fibre or broadband is active at the new premises before move day. Ensure your removal company is equipped to handle IT hardware — not all of them are. Allow time for a full connectivity test before your team returns to work. Treat IT as a separate project stream, not an afterthought.
Final Thoughts: The Move That Costs You Nothing
An office move that is properly planned should cost you no more than a weekend. Your team arrives on Monday, the IT is live, the desks are in the right place, and the only visible evidence of the move is better premises and a post redirect confirmation in someone’s inbox.
That outcome is achievable — but it requires starting early, budgeting accurately, briefing the right people in the right order, and working with a commercial removal company that treats your move as the business-critical project it is. Every element of this guide reflects what Bestway Relocation does on every office move we handle — from the initial survey through to the final sign-off.
If you are planning an office move in London, Surrey, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, or anywhere across southern England, get a transparent, fixed quote from Bestway Relocation. No surprises. One point of contact. And a team that has done this, for businesses exactly like yours, thousands of times.
