White Paper
10
Steps to a Successful Office Move
HELP!
WE'RE MOVING
Introduction
The office is moving and it's
your responsibility to choose the right mover. "Simple," you say.
"I'll just get the phone book and let my fingers do the walking."
Wrong. Unfortunately, you can't judge a mover's quality of service by the size
or content of their ad in the yellow pages.
Did you know the forte of most moving
companies is their long distance household division while their weakest area is
commercial moving?
An experienced office mover knows that the
difference between a residential and a commercial move is as great as the
difference between night and day. Yes, many will get you to your new location,
but will it be on time, within the budget, and without mishap? Unfortunately,
probably not.
Your goal is to accomplish this move as a
hero; not end up the scapegoat. So instead of playing "Russian
roulette" with the phone book (and maybe your career), ask the building
managers at both your present and new locations to recommend two or three
moving companies. Property management people have extensive first-hand
experience with movers and are as anxious as you to have the move be a success.
Therefore, they are a great place to start your selection process.
Another avenue is to visit your new office
building and ask some of the tenants if they would recommend their last mover.
Perhaps your attorney, accountant, insurance agent, or other supplier may be in
a position to suggest an office mover. Since they don't want to jeopardize
their relationship with you, they will be careful whom they recommend.
After you have selected and pre-qualified
potential bidders, take the time to meet individually with each mover's
representative for an analysis of the move. Be certain you fully understand
what will be done and how the move will be carried out. Get at least three
estimates. However, if it's a large move, you may want to solicit five bids.
Have someone of authority (not
just an information gatherer) from your company meet with each mover during the
inventory process. Inform the mover about your needs and ask how he proposes to
meet them. The same representative from your company should meet with all of
the movers. During the initial walk-through or inventory process, determine whether
you or the mover will be responsible for handling the movement of fragile items
such as lamps, paintings, and plants.
Identify any additional services such as the
packing of common areas like the supply room or library, the balancing and
bolting of lateral file cabinets, and the disassembly of modular furniture.
After the salesman completes his inventory
process, set a time for him to return and make his formal presentation. At that
time he should bring a list of the last five companies whose offices his
company moved with contact names and phone numbers. Tell him not to furnish you
with a list of references (which he naturally would pick and choose to create a
favorable impression). If your move is very large, request that he provide you
with a list of comparable size moves he has done in the last 12 months. Ask him
to also present at that time his Certificate of Insurance, as well as actual
pictures of the type of moving equipment he will be using on your move. Some
movers have been known to simply copy pictures and drawings of equipment they
find in other moving company brochures and represent it as their own.
The next step will be to interview your
mover. Allow enough time for your mover to make his formal presentation and to
answer the following questions:Similar in size to the Office Legal Tote, the plastic crate (brand names such as Rent-A-Crate®, Tyga-Box and E-Crate) offer an efficient alternative to the conventional moving carton. Because of its strength and shape, the plastic crate can be stacked 4 high without crushing the boxes below or their contents. Stacking the boxes 4 high reduces your contents volume by approximately 15% thereby lowering your total moving costs. Less volume means that movers make fewer trips to and from the moving van and can even reduce the number of truckloads.
The plastic crate has overcome the risk of
lifting heavy boxes full since they have devised an ingenious method of
stacking their containers on a unique dolly during the loading and unloading
process.
2.
How will you move our computers
and electronic equipment?
The preferred manner is to first
wrap each computer component with two layers of bubble wrap (with the bubbles
facing the bubbles) and then place
the protected components into a container for safe transport. A new patented
technique, using a device called a Comp- U-Wrap®, has all of the advantages of
bubble wrap but none of the disadvantages. It’s faster, easier to use and more
efficient than bubble wrap. Since it’s reusable, it doesn’t fill landfills and
is much more efficient. Regardless
of which method your mover chooses, do not allow him to “blanket-wrap” your
computers with furniture pads. According to an article written in PC World
magazine, Chuck Miller warns about harmful dust particles entering your CPU.
and causing it to crash. Movers’ furniture pads are full of dust, dirt and
fibers and, therefore, should not be wrapped around the CPU.
Have the mover under your
close supervision load your books onto book bins, which look
like bookcases on wheels. This procedure greatly reduces your downtime because
it gives you 100% access to your books immediately before and after the move.
The Dark Ages method for moving a library is to pack the books into mountains
of boxes where they can easily get mixed up. This system is very labor
intensive and puts you out of business before and after the move.
4.
How will you protect the office
building from damage?
To protect carpet, a new product covers
carpet with a 6-mil-thick vinyl that has a light adhesive on one side. It has
all of the benefits of Masonite yet none of the problems. It is easy to handle,
store and apply. Where Masonite® is very labor intensive and expensive to
install, the vinyl carpet cover rolls down in minutes. Another new product,
called the DentPrevents®. protect passenger elevator
frames when passenger elevators are used to haul furniture.
5.
How will you load the furniture
onto the moving van?
You can immediately measure the level of
sophistication of your mover if he uses the "floating" method for
loading the furniture instead of the stacking method. The floating method keeps
the furniture on the dolly on the floor of the moving van. It is fast, safe,
and efficient. The old-fashioned way is the stacking method where the mover
undollies the furniture onto the truck and stacks it floor to ceiling. This
procedure (used on most long distance household moves) can cause considerable
crushing damage to anything at the bottom of the pile. It is also slow and very
labor intensive.
6.
What provisions do you have for
contingencies such as a truck breakdown, an elevator failure, or the need for
additional men or equipment?
The best answer is that someone of authority
from the moving company will be accessible during your move. Such a person
should be an owner or the general manager. Usually, the salesman has no
decision-making authority in an emergency or last-minute change of strategy.
7.
What type of insurance coverage
do you have?
John Shubert, president and CEO of Southern
States Insurance, Inc., cautions, "The one with the insurance often
becomes the one who pays." You may be contingently liable for accidents if
your mover isn't adequately covered. "For your protection, you
should demand current certificates of insurance listing workers' compensation
as well as general liability coverage - $2 million
for general aggregate and a $5 million umbrella," advises
Shubert.
If you obtain replacement value insurance,
don't think that it is a substitute for a good mover. This type of coverage
normally does not cover valuable papers (your files) or recorded electronic
data; and if you're put out of business while you're waiting for the insurance
company to settle your claims, replacement coverage does not pay for your
downtime and lost business. (Insurance companies have between 60 and 90 days to
settle claims.)A small minority of movers has a habit of billing for movers who are never on the move, i.e. "ghost movers." Will his company permit you to examine the payroll and cost records to verify all moving charges if you deem it necessary?
Ask for a list of the last five
office moves with contacts and telephone numbers. Call all five contacts and
ask the following questions:
A.
When did the mover move you? If the moves
occurred more than 6 weeks ago, be suspicious.
B.
Ask how well the mover protected their
furniture, p.c.'s, and contents.
C.
Ask if and how the mover protected their
offices against damage.
D.
Ask if the mover completed the job in the
time allotted, and if the bill exceeded the prices quoted.
10. Last; "a mass walk-through" does not
save time.
This "herd" concept has
become very popular in recent years but often undermines the entire selection
process. First, movers on a mass walk-through will be afraid to raise vital
questions for fear of informing their competitors how they propose to do the
move. The mass walk-through also encourages unrealistically low bids by
intimidating those who participate into second guessing their competitors'
bids. Finally, the mass walk-through penalizes those movers who are thorough
and detailed, and, subsequently, slower in taking their inventory. In order to
keep pace with the pack, they are forced to take shortcuts or overlook
important details.
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