Service
Office relocation
Floor-by-floor corporate moves planned against a Friday shutdown and a Monday open, with a named project manager from survey to punch list.
Overview
How this scope works
An office move is a sequencing problem before it is a lifting problem. We build the schedule backwards from the hour your staff badge in on Monday, then work out how many crews, trucks and elevator hours that requires. Most Houston tenants between 8,000 and 60,000 square feet move on a single Friday-evening-to-Sunday-afternoon window.
Every project runs on a numbered floor plan. Each destination workstation, office and storage room gets a zone letter and a seat number, and every crate, chair and monitor leaves the origin with a matching label. Crews place by label, not by memory, which is what makes an unpack predictable rather than a scavenger hunt.
What is included
- Pre-move survey of both sites, including dock, elevator and door measurements
- Numbered destination floor plan and a colour-coded labelling system per department
- Crate delivery seven to ten days ahead, collection five business days after the move
- Workstation disassembly and reassembly, including monitor arms and height-adjustable bases
- Masonite floor protection, door jamb guards, elevator pads and corner protection at both ends
- Post-move punch list walked with your facilities lead before the crew leaves site
How we run it
- 01
Survey and scope
A project manager walks both sites, measures access, counts seats and lists every item that is not a desk or a chair. You get a written scope, a crew plan and an estimate type you choose.
- 02
Plan and permit
We lock freight elevator windows, submit certificates of insurance to both building managers, book dock time and issue the labelling plan to your move champions.
- 03
Move the window
Crews load in sequence by zone. A supervisor stays at origin, another at destination. Trucks are dispatched in waves so the destination is never waiting on a truck or blocked by three.
- 04
Open and close out
IT is live and tested, workstations are built, crates are staged for collection, and we walk the punch list. Anything outstanding has a name and a date against it.
Why clients pick it
One accountable manager
The person who surveyed the space runs the move and signs the punch list. No handover to a dispatcher you have never met.
No surprise access charges
Stair carries, long carries and shuttle needs are identified at survey and priced in the scope, not added on the invoice.
Buildings say yes faster
Certificates of insurance, method statements and crew rosters are issued in a format building managers already accept.
Staff know what to do
We supply a one-page desk pack, labels and a short brief for your move champions so packing does not fall apart on Thursday.
What drives the price
| Factor | What it means |
|---|---|
| Seat count and square footage | The single biggest driver. Plan roughly 1.6 to 2.2 crew hours per workstation for a standard open-plan move. |
| Access at both ends | Freight elevator size and hours, dock height, distance from truck to lift and any stair flights above the first. |
| Move window | Weeknight and weekend windows carry a premium over weekday hours because crews are on overtime and buildings charge for after-hours engineers. |
| Furniture type | Benching systems and panel cubicles take far longer to break down and rebuild than freestanding desks. |
| Crate volume | Rental crates are charged per crate per week. Delivering early is cheap; holding them for a month is not. |
Sample planning range: $95 to $135 per workstation for a straightforward local weekend move with standard access. Final pricing follows a site survey.
Niche scope: insurance and access
What the building will ask for
Property managers approve moves, not movers. These six things decide whether your window is confirmed or bounced back five days before the date.
COI lead time
Most Houston Class A buildings require the certificate five business days before the move, with exact additional insured wording. We issue within 24 hours of receiving the requirement, which leaves room for a rejection and a reissue.
Freight elevator reservation
Booked in blocks, usually four hours minimum, outside 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. Downtown towers are commonly reserved four to six weeks ahead, and an after-hours building engineer is billed to the tenant by the hour.
Dock windows and truck limits
Dock slots are allocated by the hour and shared with retail and food deliveries in mixed-use towers. Several Uptown docks cap vehicles at 26 ft length or 13 ft 6 in clearance, which changes the truck plan.
Floor and wall protection
Masonite over finished floors, ram board in corridors, corner guards on every turn, elevator pads hung by the building engineer, and door jamb protection at both ends. Photographed before and after.
Crew rosters and badging
Security desks want full legal names 48 hours ahead, sometimes with photo ID numbers. Every mover on our payroll is background checked, so rosters are not returned for a failed check on move night.
Method statements
Anything rigged, anything over 800 pounds and anything in a regulated space moves under a written method statement naming the crew, the equipment, the route and the abort conditions.
Limits we carry as standard
| Cover | Limit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial general liability | $1,000,000 each occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate | Owner and property manager named as additional insured |
| Automobile liability | $1,000,000 combined single limit | Any auto, including hired and non-owned |
| Workers compensation | Statutory, Texas | Waiver of subrogation in favour of the building |
| Employers liability | $1,000,000 each accident | Standard for Class A tenancies |
| Umbrella or excess | $5,000,000 | Frequently required above 20 floors |
| Cargo and contents | Declared value basis | Separate from carrier liability at 60 cents per pound |
Higher limits arranged on request. Certificates issued within 24 hours of receiving the building requirement.
Building and insurance requirements
Questions
Office relocation: common questions
Not answered here? The full FAQ has twenty-six more.
Read the full FAQTwelve weeks is comfortable for anything over 50 seats, because freight elevator windows in Class A Houston towers are often booked four to six weeks out. We have delivered 30-seat moves on three weeks' notice, but the schedule gets tight and after-hours premiums rise.
Staff pack personal items and desk contents into the crates we deliver, which keeps cost down and keeps people in control of their own things. Our crews pack everything shared: filing, storage rooms, kitchens, print rooms, libraries and server rooms.
For most tenants under about 40,000 square feet, yes. We load Friday evening after your shutdown, place and build Saturday, and hold Sunday for IT testing and the punch list. Larger footprints are usually phased across two or three weekends by floor.
We can broom-clean, remove abandoned furniture and coordinate the landlord handback. That is quoted as a decommission scope, which is priced separately from the move itself.
Next step
Book the survey before you book the date
Freight elevator windows in downtown towers are commonly reserved four to six weeks out. The survey is what tells you whether your date is real.