---
title: Office Relocation Checklist | AG Moving & Storage
description: "An office relocation checklist for a small suite in LA or Orange County: what to settle six weeks out, and the checks that decide whether Monday works."
image: "https://agmovingservice.com/og-image.png"
---

# An Office Relocation Checklist Ordered by What Cannot Go Offline

A useful office relocation checklist is ordered by what has to keep working, not by what has to be carried. Telephones, internet, mail and the filing system decide whether your employees are productive on Monday morning. Desks are the straightforward part, and they travel last. This one is for a small suite in Los Angeles or Orange County: one floor, one landlord, and a team small enough that everybody recognizes their own monitor.

Sealed and ready: tell us what moves

[Get a quote](https://agmovingservice.com/contact/#quote) [(818) 391-8215](tel:+18183918215)

By[Sandy Uali](https://agmovingservice.com/about/) Owner

November 11, 2026

![Paper-craft illustration of three bare folded-paper desks in a row with a kraft paper box standing on the nearest one](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/4dt76agm/production/16e7c0d6a6e5acb4ea3d84480f4f8e96d7723658-1264x848.jpg?w=1264&h=843&fit=crop&auto=format)

## At a glance

- Work backwards from the hour the new suite has to be operating; every other date hangs off it.
- The internet installation and the telephone port carry the longest lead times, so arrange both first.
- Carrying handsets does not carry the 911 location record. Somebody has to update it, then verify it.
- File the forwarding order early, then notify the senders that matter individually. Forwarding expires.
- Purge and shred three weeks out, because every carton you keep is one you pay to carry twice.
- Load in reverse order of opening: whatever has to work first goes onto the truck last.

## Build the office relocation checklist backwards from your opening hour

Build the checklist backwards from a single fixed point: the hour the new suite has to be working. Write it at the top of the page, then schedule every other commitment against it. Six weeks is comfortable for a single-floor suite, three weeks is workable when both buildings cooperate, and under two weeks you buy the shortfall back in overtime.

**A phased move** is a relocation split into waves, so part of the business keeps trading while the crew carries the remainder. Whether yours needs one is a walkthrough question worth asking before you pay for either version. Our [office and commercial moving page](https://agmovingservice.com/services/office-moving/) explains how we plan and quote both.

## Six weeks out: the lease dates and both buildings

Six weeks out you are collecting dates and building requirements rather than cartons. Three settle the rest of the calendar.

First, the lease dates. Put the day you receive keys and the day the old lease terminates on one calendar, then buy a few days of overlap if both landlords permit it. Overlap is the cheapest insurance in a relocation. If the new suite is not ready, crew-handled storage holds the load until the keys change hands.

Second, both buildings. Ask each property manager the same four questions in writing. What insurance certificate do you require from the mover, does the freight elevator have to be reserved, which hours is a move permitted, and where does the truck stand? **A freight elevator** is the service car a building reserves for deliveries and relocations, usually padded and allocated in blocks. **A dock window** is the period when the loading bay belongs to you, and a building manager allocates it from a list. The [certificate your building wants](https://agmovingservice.com/blog/certificate-of-insurance-for-movers/) and the [elevator reservation](https://agmovingservice.com/blog/elevator-reservation-moving/) take longer to organize than people anticipate.

Third, the curb. Some cities require a permit to hold street space for a truck and some require nothing at all. Telephone the city's parking desk about your address, or call us on [(818) 391-8215](tel:+18183918215) and we will check it with your quote. Santa Ana, for example, publishes a [permit parking page](https://www.santa-ana.gov/permit-parking/).

## Phones and internet: the two long lead times

Phones and internet are the two items capable of missing your opening hour by weeks. Everything else here takes days.

Order the circuit at the new address as soon as you sign the lease. The provider schedules that installation, not you, and a building requiring a conduit pull can absorb weeks nobody mentioned. Request the installation date in writing, then ask what happens when it slips. Keep the old line live for several days afterwards; an overlap beats a clean cutover. Number porting runs on the carrier's calendar too, so request the port date and book nothing else on it.

The 911 record is the component people forget. Carrying handsets to a new suite does not relocate the address a dispatcher sees, and that record belongs to whoever manages your telephone system. The [FCC publishes what multi-line telephone systems have to do](https://www.fcc.gov/mlts-911-requirements); read it, or forward the link to your provider and ask them to confirm the new address. Then verify it: telephone your local dispatch center on its non-emergency line and ask how they prefer a test call handled.

## Mail, and every record with your address on it

Mail keeps arriving at the old suite unless two things happen: a forwarding order, and a list worked by hand. File the [change of address](https://www.usps.com/manage/forward.htm) as soon as your dates are firm.

**A change-of-address order** is the instruction the Postal Service forwards your mail on, and it buys time rather than solving anything. First-Class mail forwards for approximately a year and magazines expire sooner, so read the current terms on the USPS page rather than assuming.

The list does the real work: bank, insurer, payroll provider, landlord, licensing board, and every vendor still mailing paper invoices. Anyone who mails you a check belongs at the top of it. The IRS accepts a business address change on [Form 8822-B](https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8822-b), and California's Secretary of State asks for an updated [Statement of Information](https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/statements) whenever your details change.

## Three weeks out: purge, shred and scrap

Three weeks out you decide what is not travelling on the truck, and the purge is where an office relocation becomes cheaper.

Have your records owner identify which files you must retain and which may be destroyed under your retention policy and any legal hold. Arrange secure disposal for the approved records and a secure transfer for those you need to keep. Consider the lateral cabinet nobody has opened since 2019: two drawers are old intake forms and two are catalogues, and only one requires a service.

Obsolete monitors, printers and battery backups are electronic waste rather than ordinary trash, and both counties operate collection sites. Sell, donate or haul away the furniture you are not taking. A desk still standing on move morning gets loaded, because nobody wants to make that decision at 8am.

## Two weeks out: cartons, labels and who packs what

Two weeks out the packing begins, and the labels matter more than the cartons. Purchase small cartons for anything dense, and large ones only for lightweight bulk.

Paper is the heaviest material in an office. A file carton packed full outweighs a large box of cushions, so file cartons stay small and get taped along the bottom seam. Reserve the large ones for signage, kitchen equipment and anything soft.

Label for the destination, never the origin. A carton marked "Accounting, desk 12, carton 4" lands where it belongs, while one marked "misc" gets opened three times and then carried again. **A speed-pack carton** is the single box one person empties their own desk into, labeled with their name, so the same carton returns to the same person. Cables deserve their own rule: one bag per machine, labeled and taped to that machine's carton, plus a photograph of the back before anything is unplugged.

Your staff powers down and unplugs its own computers, and the crew then pads, boxes and carries them like anything else fragile. If nobody has the hours, [packing services](https://agmovingservice.com/services/packing-services/) can absorb the files and the supply room. Keep live files in sequence, labeled by cabinet and drawer instead of by department.

## Move day: last on, first off

Move day operates on a single rule. Whatever has to work first at the new address goes onto the truck last, and we establish that order at the walkthrough, not on the morning.

1. **Archive, stock and back-of-house load first.** They ride at the nose of the truck and come off last, and nobody is waiting on them.
2. **Shared furniture and shelving load next.** Tables, cabinets and the kitchen can be positioned while people work around them.
3. **Working desks and live file cartons load last.** They come off first, so the desks and files that run your week are standing while the rest is unloaded.

Two things on your side save more time than any packing tip. Tape a numbered floor plan to the wall at the new suite, and number the cartons to match. Then nominate one person at each end who answers a telephone and can decide things alone.

Our crews work 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, so a Saturday date is an ordinary booking rather than a favor. A safe or another heavy specialty item moves as part of the relocation itself, never as a standalone booking, so name it at the walkthrough.

## Where office moves go long in Los Angeles and Orange County

Office relocations go long at the building, not on the road, and the access reality changes by city.

- Downtown [Los Angeles](https://agmovingservice.com/service-areas/los-angeles/) towers allocate the freight elevator in blocks and the loading dock from a list, and several allow moves only outside business hours.
- Older blocks in [Long Beach](https://agmovingservice.com/service-areas/long-beach/) load from an alley or a side street, which makes the walk between tailgate and door the longest part of the day.
- Business parks around Irvine, Anaheim and Cerritos offer flat floors and demanding documentation: dock doors, gate codes, and weekend access on a card requested days ahead.
- Suites above retail in Pasadena and Glendale arrive with one staircase and a turn at the top. Measure it before committing to a desk that does not come apart.
- Single-story suites in Torrance, Downey and Norwalk are the straightforward version: your own parking lot, a ground-level door, and a truck in front of it.

## What to send us when you ask for a price

Send us the constraints, not merely the two addresses. Five of them determine the crew size and the hours.

- **Desk count and square footage**, at both ends.
- **Access at both ends.** Dock or no dock, elevator or stairs, and the hours each building permits a relocation.
- **The hour the new suite has to work.** We build the loading order backwards from it.
- **What is not moving.** Anything sold, scrapped or surrendered to the landlord.
- **Who packs what.** Your people, our crew, or a split down the middle.

We quote office work after a walkthrough, as an hourly figure or as one project price, and the written estimate sets out the agreed work and how it is priced; ask how any added work will be charged before it starts. A local move is quoted the same way, with the crew sized to the job and priced into the free written estimate, and [what moves that number](https://agmovingservice.com/moving-costs/) explains the remainder. There is no deposit on standard bookings; same-day and last-minute bookings may require one, confirmed with your quote.

Call [(818) 391-8215](tel:+18183918215) or [send us your dates and both addresses](https://agmovingservice.com/contact/#quote). AG Moving & Storage is family-owned, working across Los Angeles and Orange County. Our registration and license identifiers are USDOT 3610341, CAL-T192465 · CA 602741 and MC 1525501, and [who we are](https://agmovingservice.com/about/) covers the rest.

## Frequently asked questions

### How far ahead should I start planning an office move?

Six weeks is comfortable for a small suite, and three weeks is workable when both buildings cooperate. The two items that set that timeline are the internet installation at the new address and the telephone number port, because both run on a provider's schedule rather than yours. Cartons, shredding and furniture decisions all fit inside the final three weeks.

### Do movers disconnect and reconnect computers?

No. Your staff powers down and unplugs its own machines, and the crew then pads, boxes and carries them like anything else fragile. Put the shutdown on the schedule as a task with a name against it, because a machine still running when the crew reaches that desk stops the room.

### Who updates the 911 address when office phones move?

Ask your telephone-system administrator and service provider to confirm who updates the location record for your setup. Carrying handsets to a new suite does not move the location record a dispatcher sees, so the system itself has to be updated for the new address. Once your provider confirms the change, telephone your local dispatch center on its non-emergency line and ask how they prefer a test call handled.

### Can an office move happen on a weekend?

Yes. Our crews work 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, so a Saturday or a Sunday is an ordinary booking date rather than a special request. A weekend date is the usual answer for a business that cannot afford to close on a Tuesday.

### How much does a small office move cost?

Office work is quoted after a walkthrough rather than off a price list, as an hourly figure or as one project price. We size the crew to the job in a free written estimate. Whichever shape your quote takes, the written estimate sets out the agreed work and how it is priced, so ask how any added work will be charged before it starts.

## More from this series

- [HOA Moving Rules: The Gate, the Window and the Deposit](https://agmovingservice.com/blog/hoa-move-in-rules/)
- [Your First Apartment Checklist, in the Order Things Actually Happen](https://agmovingservice.com/blog/first-apartment-move-checklist/)
- [Booking an Elevator Reservation for Your Apartment Move](https://agmovingservice.com/blog/elevator-reservation-moving/)

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