All the work orders need to be completed ahead of time if you plan to use a General Contractor, Architect, or other key professionals. They all need to be aware of the timeline you are working with. And expect that everyone will take longer than anticipated, so plan more time than you estimate you need – a good rule of thumb is to increase time and resources by 25%.

Here is how our project contacts usually look like:

We also recommend that you plan for your new location to be ready at least two days prior to your move in. If at all possible, move all of your data and telecommunication services at least 1 day prior to your move. Typically, you can make alternate arrangements: for example, phone calls can be forwarded to cell phones for a day.

Make sure the data service at the old site is not brought down until after the move. Go one step further and arrange it so that for a short period of time, both your old and your new sites are active at the same time. This lets you test the new site for your data and Telco (Telephone Company) capabilities before the actual move. I have unfortunately seen businesses try to save a few dollars by cutting over on the day of their move and end up being down or finding themselves at a vastly reduced level of service for up to two weeks due an unanticipated failure of one or more of the participants or resources.

Try to discover if vendors can actually meet their commitments, and do not tolerate it if they do not live up to their own timetables.

Is the physical space ready? Make sure you have verified that everything that you know you need is going to be in place. Recently, we had a client whose landlord did not hire a General Contractor so he decided to manage the tear-down, build-out and contracted tenant improvements himself. Upon first entry after the initial build-out, we noticed there was no Minimal Point of Entry (MPOE) for the data and telephone equipment.  It been ripped out in the tear-down phase but had not been replaced in the build-out phase.  And to add to the problem, the municipal telephone company in the city where this occurred required at least 1 month putting a new MPOE in.  However, in our inspection, we found this out when the building was still being worked on, several weeks ahead of the move.  The landlord was not pleased when they had to pay rush charges and the unanticipated cost of the MPOE.  But our client was very happy that they could move in when scheduled.

Are there enough electrical outlets with the right type of interface and specifications?  Will the outlets need to be dedicated or shared? Are data and telephone locations in the right places?  In many cases, doubling the number of outlets or jack for data and telephone typically will be a 1/3 increase in cost. Post-move installs are far more expensive and disruptive.

Is the physical space organized by room or other location designation so that items can be tagged with a number to indicate their target destination?

Is your new address clear, or will vendors who may come to your facility only once have difficulty finding you? Whoever is managing the subcontractor needs to be there when they show up. We had a situation recently where a telephone company came out to install a data line, but the suite number they had was wrong, so when they went in and asked if the occupants had ordered a line, they where told “no”. Of course, they canceled the order, and our client discovered that it actually took longer to get a reorder than it did an original installation since it had to go though the whole system twice. 

What about your furniture – do you know where all your furniture is going to go?  It is great if you can get new furniture with your new location. This makes your move much easier because you do not have to move as much, and you can have the new location set-up ahead of time.

Of course, it is not always possible to get new furniture along with your move, but the more you can actually see the space with the furniture in it, the better off you are.  The biggest and most disruptive aspect of moving in to your new space is how the cables and power will run to the equipment where they are needed. The moment cables or wire have to run across a floor, they become a hazard.  Monuments are a data/power/Telco hookup normally flush mounted in the middle of where furniture is anticipated to be.  This is very nice when the furniture ends up being where it was planned, not so good when it does not.  Sometimes the best solution is to pre-run cables to the furniture layout, and mocks the furniture locations. Use chalk on floor, butcher paper cutouts – whatever works for you, but please, whatever you do, try to figure out and confirm furniture placement ahead of time. If you can visualize well then maybe drawings are sufficient, but do not just figure out where the furniture will go, figure out where the power cords and cables will go also.

Last but not least there are a few items that are absolutely necessary in order to get everything up and running. Power strips are a classic example. The computer, telephone and furniture have arrived, but there is no way to make them work with the two outlets nearby.  So, place crucial items in special boxes that are tracked separately from the others. Power strips, for example, do not need a room number so they can be placed in a box marked “Power Strips – DO NOT STACK ITEMS ON TOP OF THIS BOX.”  Few things are more frustrating than having to rummage through boxes looking for the small items you need to get operational.

So now you should be a little closer to saying, “Sure I am prepared – been that way for days.” Hopefully we have provided some information that saved you some time, money and emotional distress.

By Jerry Ware, IT Solutions Fellow

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