Business relocation in Adelaide without losing your customers

This page is written for owners and managers of small and mid-size businesses moving premises: a professional practice, an agency, a trade business with an office and a yard, a studio, a shop. For the detail of moving desks and workstations, see office removalists in Adelaide. For larger organisations with several floors or sites, see corporate relocation in Adelaide.

Business relocation Adelaide owners can plan in four parts

Every business relocation has the same four parts. The removal is only one of them, but it is the one that sets the timetable for the others.

Part	What it covers	Who usually owns it
The move	Furniture, equipment, stock, files, trucks, the move window	Moveall for Business, with your office manager
The premises	Lease end at the old site, fit-out and access at the new one	You, your landlord and your fit-out contractor
The systems	Phones, internet, computers, point of sale, security	Your IT and telecommunications providers
The people	Staff, customers, suppliers and the new address	You

We plan the move against the other three. Tell us the lease end date, the date the new fit-out is handed over and the date your IT provider can reconnect, and the move window falls between them.

Keeping the business running through the move

The real cost of a business relocation is the time you cannot trade. Ways to keep it short:

• Pick the quietest point in your trading cycle. For many businesses that is not the end of the month or the end of the financial year, when accounts and invoices are busiest.
• Move in stages if you can. Back-office and storerooms first, then the teams or counters that serve customers, so the business is never fully shut.
• Pack ahead. Archive boxes, spare stock and anything not used every day can be packed and labelled well before the move.
• Reconnect before you unpack. Have phones and computers working at the new premises first; cartons can be emptied while the business trades.
• Tell us the hours you need. If your lease, landlord or building only allows a move at certain times, put it in the brief. We will say in writing what we can do for those hours before anything is booked.

Staff, customers and suppliers

A move goes better when the people around the business know what is happening. A short communication plan:

1. Staff first. Tell staff the date, the new address, how to get there, where they will sit and what they need to pack. Give each person their new desk code for labelling.
2. Customers. Tell regular customers the new address and the dates any service will be limited. Update your website, your Google Business Profile, email signatures, invoices and quote templates.
3. Suppliers. Give every supplier the new delivery address and the date to start using it, and ask them to hold deliveries over the move.
4. Mail and couriers. Arrange mail redirection and tell your regular couriers.
5. Registrations and records. Ask your accountant or adviser which business registrations, licences and insurance policies need the new address, and by when.

The office relocation checklist puts all of this in order, stage by stage.

Leaving the old premises

The old lease matters as much as the new one. Before you set the move date, read the lease for what it says about the end of the tenancy: the date you must hand back the keys, whether fixtures you installed must be removed, and the condition the premises must be left in. Many commercial leases call this make good. If shelving, partitions or signage have to come out, book the trades who will remove them for after the removal, so they are not working around trucks and cartons.

Decide early what is not coming with you. Old furniture, surplus stock and equipment you are replacing should be sold, given away or collected before moving day, or clearly marked as staying, so nobody loads it. The inventory for the quote should list only what moves to the new premises.

A business relocation in order

1. Lease and fit-out dates confirmed; the brief sent to us with the inventory and both addresses.
2. Written quote agreed, move window set, building access booked at both ends.
3. IT and telecommunications booked to disconnect and reconnect around the window.
4. Staff, customers and suppliers told; new address on the website, invoices and listings.
5. Archive, spare stock and storerooms packed early; desks packed and labelled last.
6. The move, in the stages the plan sets; reconnection; unpacking while the business trades.
7. Old premises handed back as the lease requires.

What moves on a business relocation

A business relocation usually moves a mix of office furniture, equipment and the things particular to the trade. The inventory should cover all of it, because Moveall’s fixed-price quotes rely on the inventory list and extra items found on the day can cost extra:

• Desks, workstations, chairs, pedestals, filing cabinets and meeting tables (see office furniture removals).
• Reception counters, display units, shelving and shop fixtures.
• Computers, screens, printers and phones, wrapped and boxed; your IT provider disconnects and reconnects them.
• Stock, samples and archive boxes, packed and labelled by zone.
• Kitchen and staff-room items.
• Artwork and signage that is being reused; hanging artwork is one of the extra tasks Moveall for Business offers.
• Anything heavy or bulky. Moveall’s Supercharge option adds team members and specialty equipment for heavy and bulky items.

Moveall’s terms ask for loose items to be packed in cartons and furniture emptied before it is moved, so drawers, pedestals and filing cabinets should be cleared unless the quote says otherwise. Moveall’s Wrap & Pack service supplies boxes and packing materials and can do the packing; ask whether it suits your premises when you send the brief.

Moving the business interstate

Some relocations leave Adelaide altogether, or bring a business to Adelaide from another state. Moveall Interstate handles door-to-door interstate removals into and out of South Australia, moving entire contents, specialist furniture and cargo across Australia by road and rail freight. Road distances from Adelaide, measured on OpenStreetMap road data from the GPO in King William Street:

Adelaide to	Road distance	Main roads
Melbourne	726 km	Dukes Highway in SA, Western Highway in Victoria
Sydney	1,374 km	Sturt Highway, Hume Motorway
Brisbane	about 2,000 km	via Hay, Dubbo and the Newell Highway
Perth	about 2,700 km	Eyre Highway across the Nullarbor

Interstate drivers of heavy vehicles must take rest breaks under the national fatigue rules, so a truck takes longer than a car. Delivery timing is set in the interstate quote. Staff moving with the business may need a household move as well; corporate relocation in Adelaide covers staff moves to and from the city.

Accounts for businesses that move more than once

If the business moves furniture or stock regularly, between sites, to clients or for fit-outs, a Moveall for Business trade account may suit you better than one-off quotes: end-of-month accounts, a dedicated account manager, a custom online booking portal and priority for trade clients. The terms are on trade accounts.

Cover and the written quote

Moveall holds $20 million public liability cover. Ask us about transit insurance for your business contents when you request the quote, and check what your own business insurance covers during a move; our article on insurance questions before a business move lists what to ask. The quote itself sets out what moves, the window, the trucks and team, and any extras, before anything is booked. For the full list of what we take on and what belongs to other trades, see office relocation services in Adelaide.

Business relocations are planned within and between the 28 suburbs on Moveall’s list, from Adelaide City to Mount Barker; the areas page lists them by region.

Questions businesses ask