Almost every professional office removals specialist will have tales of troubles they’ve encountered with unexpected large items that were considered to be part of an office move.
True, a site inspection should always take place first but it’s far from unknown for ‘surprises’ to arise on the day of the move itself. That usually involves someone in the office concerned suddenly saying something like “Oh, didn’t you know that was to be moved?”
Here are three categories of item that are well-known to cause difficulty, particularly when not highlighted in advance to your professional office removals specialist.
Safes
Safes aren’t designed to be easily moved. If they were, thieves would be very happy.
In fact, some were originally built into the fabric of older buildings and just can’t be moved short of demolishing part of the building. Even those that are theoretically movable are usually far too heavy to manhandle and specialist lifting equipment is usually required.
So, discovering for the first time on the morning of a move that a safe has appeared ‘from nowhere’ could be a major obstacle and possibly a showstopper.
Note that sometimes, with larger safes, there is no real alternative other than to hire a crane and move the item out through a window or sometimes even the roof.
Printing Machines
Today people assume that ‘printers’ are all desktop devices attached to a PC.
However, they can also be very large and very heavy pieces of machinery if they’re designed for large-volume printing. These are sometimes ‘overlooked’ in advance site surveys because the machine is stored in the basement or another ‘print room’ location away from the main office in order to reduce noise when in operation.
Once again, these can be a major challenge because of their size, weight and fragility. They often require specialised handling, packing and transportation.
Odd-Sized Items
Problems arise here because some items weren’t identified in advance and although not heavy, they’re going to pose major challenges to transport.
Examples here include:
- A dismantled ornamental antique bannister rail, that was far too long to go onto a standard vehicle
- A vast metallic wall mural with razor-sharp edges, which was far too tall to go into a van
- A chandelier set into a very high ceiling which could not be reached without specialised steps
Solutions
Just about anything can be moved from one office to another, providing it is recognised in advance and planned for accordingly.
What causes headaches are situations where surprises are sprung at the last moment.
These problems are easily avoided. Just make sure that your office removals specialist performs a full site survey as part of their quotation and planning session. During their walk-around, make sure you accompany them and draw explicitly to their attention anything that to you looks large, heavy, awkward or difficult to reach.
You might be worrying unnecessarily but let them decide that. It will ensure you won’t have those looks of total bafflement on the day you’re trying to move out of your old office premises!