The most obvious and most over looked is tossing out junk from that black hole of a storage closet. Think about donating out dated manuals or books to a trade school or local school. Old computer equipment is not to be thrown in the trash but companies are set up for responsibly destroying those assets. A reminder is to destroy the hard drive on old CPU’s before turning them over to be destroyed. Worst case with large items or excess furniture is to have it hauled to the local county disposal facility. Remember this long time mover’s proverb…Chuck It, Don’t Truck.

Another savings is thru King Office Services QuickCube estimating software that helps the mover create a efficient move plan and optimized move crew size. Once your inventory of items to be moved and the building logistics are inputted, QuickCube provides the most efficient crew size saving you paying too much because of someone’s math error. Quickcube takes the guess work from estimating your relocation project providing you the best possible price.

Lastly and very important step is to set up a task list and assign duties to your move team. With some planning upfront certainly can save you once your move crew shows up and they can get right to work. Hold move meetings with your staff to explain what needs to happen to make the move efficient for everyone involved. Creating a office layout helps the movers place the furniture without taking time to ask questions or looking for someone to give direction on placement of furniture. All employees need to be prepared and packed up on move day so the move crew can get right to work saving potential hundreds of dollars not having the move crew waiting.

This is Kevin Crofoot, VP of Sales for KCS Office moving again.  I am writing today because I got a great phone call the other morning.  The lady asked me “How do you qualify an Office Moving Company?”  Based on that question I decided that I would write this short blog and produce the corresponding video which you can see on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/houstonofficemover.

FIVE EASY QUESTIONS

1.  Do they own their own equipment?  This tells you if they will be ready for the job.

2.  Do they provide storage?  If they do it means they have a stake in the game and they are not a fly by night company.

3.  You might also ask what Associations do they Have.  We are a member of CRN, the Commercial Relocation Network, United Van Lines, BBB, IFMA and CoreNet, Houston’s Premier Commercial Real Estate Network.

4.  Do they offer Valuation?  Valuation is in addition to carriers liability or Basic liability.

5.  Lastly is do they provide Fixed Bids?  A company that is willing to provide a fixed bid is confident in there ability to deliver consistent service and they know how to bid a job.

WRAP-UP

I hope this blog has been helpful.  My name is Kevin Crofoot and I am VP of Sales for KCS Office Moving.  This was a quick look on How to Qualify an Office Mover.  You can request a quote or find more information at www.kcsofficemoving.com;  www.youtube.com/houstonofficemover.

Thanks,

Kevin Crofoot

kcrofoot@kcsalley.com

KCS Office Moving

www.kcsofficemoving.com

Houston Office Movers, Office Move Organization, Office Moving Houston, Office Movers, Preferred Office Movers, Facility Movers, Commercial Moving, Free Office Moving Checklist, Free Office Moving Quote, KCS Office Moving, How to Quality an Office Mover

Today I am writing about getting you organized for your Office Move Organization.  A worthwhile move plan for a company with 10 employees or 200 involves similar procedures.  Three 3 Basic steps include Breaking to Move into Manageable Phases, Providing Move Packets & Performing Pre Move Meetings.

MANAGEABLE PHASES

All moves have obstacles.  The key to organizing a move is identifying the largest constraint and working around it.  Common Constraints include:

• After Hours Moves
• Stair Carries & Small Elevators
• Limited Truck Access
• Large File Rooms
• Difficult Pieces of Furniture (Granite, 1 Piece Conference Tables)

We solve these common problems by breaking out the inventory into smaller manageable labor phases.  Performing Pre Move Labor with a smaller crew allows us work during business hours. For example, we might Disconnect and Dolly-up furniture prior to sending the larger crew to begin transportation after hours.  We can also Moving Cubicles or File Rooms prior to moving the offices.  Often we will disconnect cubicles during the day, move cubicles after hours starting at 5PM. Reconnect cubicles the following morning prior to receiving the main shipment of furniture at destination.

MOVE PACKETS

The 2nd step in organization is move packets.   Move packets consist of:
• Pre-Printed labels and Signage for each room at destination.
• Furniture Layout Guides indicating to the Movers where to place the furniture in each room at destination.
• Written Instructions, each employee can utilize as a reference guide.
• PC bags that hold Computer cable, mouse, phone, speakers
• Monitor Covers that protect flat screen monitors
Office moves often have crew sizes 4 to 10 times larger than household goods moves.  Therefore, communicating to the crew where items go is critical to a successful move.

PRE MOVE MEETINGS

The final basic step is a Staff Move Meeting.  This meeting typically coincides with your material delivery 4-5 business days prior to the first phase of labor, and takes between 15-30 minutes.  Discussed in the Pre Move Meeting is the Move Packets, labeling systems and proper use of the moving crates.  We also review items commonly found in offices and what to do with filing cabinets, pictures, pc’s, packed boxes, metal shelves and so forth. Often I am asked who should be involved in the Pre-Move Meetings; my answer is always as many people as possible.  The more that hear the basic steps the more successful the move goes.

WRAP-UP

I hope this blog has been helpful.  My name is Kevin Crofoot and I am VP of Sales for KCS Office Moving. This is the second in a series of six blogs and corresponding videos.  The next video and blog will be on “Equipment and Operations,” in an office move.  You can request a quote or find more information at www.kcsofficemoving.com www.youtube.com/houstonofficemover.

Kevin Crofoot
KCS Office Moving
www.kcsofficemoving.com

Houston Office Movers, Office Move Organization, Office Moving Houston, Office Movers, Preferred Office Movers, Facility Movers, Commercial Moving, Free Office Moving Checklist, Free Office Moving Quote, KCS Office Moving

If you are  considering relocating your company, Clancy Moving Systems has office moving tips for you.  In today’s office moving tip we give you important considerations, which are most helpful BEFORE  you create a move plan.

First, make a list of all the pros and cons so you and your staff clearly understand the underlying need for the move and what it should accomplish.  Second, consideration should be given to the following:

·         When is the best time to move?

·         Are there seasonal fluctuations or other considerations that could affect this decision?

·         How much will the move cost?

·         What percentage are you and your staff going to do yourselves?

·         How will this relocation impact the employees

·         What effect will it have on overall productivity?

These questions need to be addressed during the earliest planning phases.  Once you start a plan, it is hard to redesign the plan to include these important considerations.  That is why upfront planning is one of our most important office moving tips.

Suggestion: Select a “move team” at least three months before the actual relocation.  You may also want to select people to manage specific areas such as office furniture and equipment, electronics and communication, plants, employee relocation (if needed), and budget.  Often several of these responsibilities can be given to one person, but make sure each of these areas is assigned to someone.  Managing the move budget is a critical activity.  It is a good idea to make department managers responsible for their individual budgets, and ultimately passing departmental budgets to the decision makers. However you organize your move team, whether it consists of one person or 20, the issues and decisions are similar.   Depending on the scale, moving can be expensive, and unforeseen expenses tend to be the rule, rather than the exception.  At the same time, there are ways you can save money.  Allow enough time to weigh your options, and don’t forget one very important office moving tip…all moving expenses are tax deductible.

About Clancy Moving Systems – Clancy Moving Systems has been providing professional moving and storage services since 1921.  Clancy has offices in Putnam(NY) , Dutchess(NY) and Fairfield(CT) Counties as well as New York City. Clancy serves a who’s who of fortune 500 clients and manages projects on a global scale.

About Ron Cognetta – Ron has been a member of Clancy Moving Systems since 2000.  Ron resides in Fairfield County and works in Clancy’s Stamford, CT office.  Ron is a member of several organizations including CRN, IFMA and BOMA.

Make phone and data lines a priority in your office move planning.  As movers, we often have the “pleasure” of seeing up close the types of factors that cause a customer of ours to have to delay their office move by several days and, sometimes, weeks.  Phone and data lines can take much longer than anticipated.

In today’s business office environment, phone and data lines come in many different varieties and countless providers can provide these utility services.  Having your phone and data lines installed and ready prior to your move into a new office location can be delayed by several causes.  Our point is don’t take for granted that these services will be readily available in the time frame you need them.  They really can cause a delay to your office move.

There are many reasons.  With knowledge of some of the most common ones, we hope you avoid delays to your office move by working proactively with your phone and Internet providers.

First, when moving into an existing office space, try to find out how many phone lines were installed in your space for the previous tenant.  If the previous tenant had 12 phone lines and your company needs 50, you need to make sure the phone company confirms they have the necessary infrastructure in the building to handle your needs.  Phone companies usually build enough infrastructure in buildings to handle overall needs.  But some of the more expensive components of phone service infrastructure are added as they are needed.  Requiring additional phone or data infrastructure can add time to the phone and data line install.

Second, the phone provider your company uses may be a competitive provider.  In other words, they are not the big behemoth phone company like Verizon, SBC or Qwest.   These companies can bring phone or data service to your new location in one of two ways.  The first way is they can utilize the big behemoth phone company’s phone lines to connect your office to their phone switch.  When you notify them of your needs at a new office location and place an order, you can expect at least one month before those phone and data lines are installed.  There is just too much red tape that goes on between the two phone companies and it will take 30 days or longer.

The second way is for your competitive phone and data provider to extend their own network into your new office location.  (always over fiber optic cables)  If the competitive phone company is already in the building, great!  You just avoided a “build-in” process that would have taken 3 months.  We have even seen the process take 6 months in some cases.

Relatively new on the scene to business phone and data services is your local cable company.  They have the right-of-way to get to the curbside of most buildings, but getting in the building is a whole other story.  It takes time to get permission and plan an entrance into a building,  Depending on the owner of the building, your phone and data provider can be delayed for a few weeks or, worse, a few months.  If your employer owns the building, you will obviously have an easier time getting any phone or data lines in the building.

Depending on the size of a move, the responsibilities of the move may be split amongst different departments.  It is common for the IT staff to be involved in larger moves because of these and other complexities associated with phone and data lines.  In such a case, make sure you remember to keep updated on their progress.

As experienced office movers, we often communicate with the IT staff on a variety of subjects,  We take every opportunity to understand how they are doing with preparing the new office space’s phone and data lines.   Remember, even though an IT staff may know a lot about the phone and data needs, moving is not something they do every day and these potential delays are largely beyond their control.

If you are responsible for your company’s upcoming office move, make the smart move and add phone and data line installation to your list.

About Jim Carey – Jim Carey is a moving professional with Clancy Moving Systems, based in the New York and a member of the Commercial Relocation Network.

 The poor soul assigned to handle their company’s office move is in trouble according to CRN.   The biggest issue seen by office moving professionals is the office manager’s failure to orchestrate numerous tasks in a correct sequence and extremely short timeframe.  The result of this failure – A disruption to a business operation that far exceeds the time that was expected to resume a normal mode of business.  The task is complex.  The move manager  has to coordinate multiple suppliers.  They need to create a relocation plan with IT professionals, Furniture Installers, the phone vendor, the phone company, the Internet service provider and more.  All these suppliers need to do their job in a timeframe that is, many times, as narrow as one weekend.  Unfortunately, the person given the task of “office move manager” often pays an enormous personal price.  Never again are they entrusted with important tasks.  Prospects for advancement to the next level in the organization mysteriously vanish and, in some of the worst cases, the office move manager’s regular job is unexpectedly downsized (this really happens)

 “We are not ready to move”  These words are repeated many times by the office move manager.  As the move date approaches, those brave office move managers are taking on their regular job with mounting pressure every day to get everyone and everything prepared for the upcoming move.  It may be one month, one week or one day before the planned move date.  Whenever it is, the move manager discovers something that they didn’t realize before.  Then they realize “We can’t possibly get ready in time for the move date.”  Then the fateful visit is made to the boss. 

What could cause your company to not be ready?  The answer is just about anything.  Maybe the new space is not ready because the data line for internet service will not be installed for several more days or weeks.  Perhaps the carpet that has to go down before the new furniture installation is back ordered – causing a chain reaction of delays.    Sometimes you find out at the last minute there is no electricity where you need to locate the copier or there are not enough data lines for every new workstation being installed.  The reasons are numerous and varied.

 Hiring a move consultant is a great idea.  But many times it is not in the budget.  But they offer one very big benefit – EXPERIENCE.  In our business, we work with move consultants on a regular basis.  They may use project planning software or they may handle moves in an old-school fashion.  Either way, they have something most short term office move managers don’t – EXPERIENCE. 

 If you have just been given the task of coordinating your company’s office move, do yourself a favor.   Seek the advice of a move consultant or an office moving professional.  They’ll transform the process from a series of gut-wrenching surprises to a forecast of predictable events with practical solutions.  And you can transform the prospect of losing your status or, worse, your job, to gaining a foothold on the empty corner office at your new office space. 

 About CRN – The Commercial Relocation Network is a membership organization made up of the largest and most successful office and industrial relocation companies in the country. The group is administered by an executive committee of industry professionals dedicated to having only the “Best in Class” service providers involved in the group. The criteria and process to become a member of CRN is more stringent than joining any other industry company or organization.   

 About Steven Langsdale – Steven Langsdale is a member of CRN and an office moving professional with Mohawk Moving Systems, based in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region.

The gravy sandwich should be moved to the forefront of inspirational icons in the data center moving world!

Did you ever meet someone who said something so profound it just stuck with you forever?  I’m sure you did.  In my case it was my former college rugby teammate and roommate Michael Smith.  (better known as Smitty)  Back then, Mike was a happy go lucky guy and amused us, as well as himself, with clever sayings.  Of all those sayings, the one that stuck was “Smooth as a gravy sandwich”

What did he mean?  Well, if we were getting ourselves out of trouble with our landlord (she was not fond of us) and the interaction went really well for us, Smitty would say afterwards, “That went as smooth as a gravy sandwich”   If the police came to visit us to discuss the noise level in our house, and the discussion went along okay, Smitty would say afterwards, “That went as smooth as a gravy sandwich”

Whether it was an easy biology exam or shoveling 3 feet of heavy snow from our driveway, Smitty liked to declare when this went as well as he hoped it would – “That went as smooth as a gravy sandwich”

Why a gravy sandwich?  You see, according to Smitty, there is nothing smoother in this entire world than a gravy sandwich.  Who could argue his point?  Fresh bread, stale bread, toasted bread, burnt bread –  It doesn’t matter, when you add gravy and make it into a sandwich, it goes down smooth.  We find this logical declaration of the gravy sandwich to be irrefutable and inspirational.

So if you are a data center manager and you have the daunting task of planning a complete migration to a new location, how would it make you feel to realize the guy you hired is inspired by a gravy sandwich?  It ought to make you feel great.  You see, that person has on his mind, above all else, the goal of the data center migration going smoothly – In fact, Gravy Sandwich Smooth!  And for a data center migration to go “gravy sandwich smooth, there are no shortcuts.  There are no errors.  There are no excuses.  Even the slightest glitch or worry from the customer would kill the chances of achieving “gravy sandwich” status.

Where can you find people experienced in data center relocation, who also strive for ‘gravy sandwich smoothness’ on every job?  At Clancy Electronics Services.  That’s where.  Long live the gravy sandwich.

Clancy Electronics Services is a division of Clancy Moving Systems.  Clancy Electronics Services provides server relocations, data center migration, data center support services, installs raised floor cabling, office phone and data cabling and is supported by a transportation fleet that can move electronics anywhere in the world.  Follow us on twitter - http://twitter.com/server_move

Joyce Burrows, Crown’s Vice President of Finance, was recognized for her 30 years of employment by the company CEO, Robert Bowen, at a company party held in her honor. Bob applauded Joyce for her many years of loyal service, having started in the accounting department in 1980 as a junior accountant and working her way up the ladder to become the company’s CFO.   Joyce was presented with a $5000 check in appreciation for her 30 years with Crown.  Bob also recognized eight other employees having over 20 years of service and another twelve with over 10 years with the company.  Bob pointed out that collectively Crown’s administrative staff has worked for the company a combined total of 651 years, an impressive yard stick of loyalty and commitment.  We are very proud of our employees and thankful for their dedication and hard work.   Our customers are certainly the beneficiary of our employees many years of experience and wealth of knowledge.   It is both refreshing and comforting to have a team of employees we can rely on year after year.   I can say unequivocally, we are here to serve our customers and we are here to stay.

We have a new 40,000 sq ft fully climate and humidity controlled facility. In addition to storing household furnishings we house commercial and industrial product. We are conveniently located at the intersection of interstate 77 and 85 and are less than 15 minutes from the center of Charlotte.