Moving & Relocation

Coordinating a company move can be nerve-wracking and overwhelming. In any given company, the individual in charge of a move is likely to find himself faced with quite the major decision when it comes to finding the right moving company to tackle the process.

Bobby Hughes is the marketing coordinator at Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., a full service moving and storage business that has been proudly serving the Philadelphia area since 1973, and according to him, it’s important to approach a corporate move with the proper planning and strategy. Here, he offers the following tips on how to orchestrate a smooth corporate move:

Get Assistance from Your Employees
If you’re in charge of your company’s move, then it’s good idea to look to your employees for their assistance and support throughout the process. You can let them know about the moving plans in question as soon as possible. In addition, if you expect your employees to help with the packing process or work overtime to make up for an unavoidable lapse in productivity while the move is in progress, then make them aware of such facts sooner rather than later. The more time your employees have to adjust to the notion of a new office, the more cooperative they are likely to be.

Have Your Staff Pitch In
While you might have no choice but to oversee the process of moving and unloading company files and equipment, there’s no reason why your employees can’t help along the way. You should provide your employees with boxes so that they can pack up their desk contents and personal belongings.

Use Color-Coded Labels
The easier you make it on your movers to know where to put things, the quicker the unpacking process will be. Therefore, it’s a good idea to give color-coded labels to each of your departments. This way, your movers will know that anything green goes into the accounting area, anything red belongs to the marketing department, and so forth.

Schedule Your Corporate Move Properly
By being smart about the timing of your corporate move, you can help your business avoid any unnecessary losses. Ideally, you should schedule your move during your company’s “off-peak” months. Along these lines, it’s generally a bad idea to schedule it at a time that is known to be your industry’s busy season. If you own a travel agency, then avoid moving at a time when most people are planning their winter and spring breaks; and if you work for an accounting firm, then don’t schedule a move during tax season.

Inform Your Clients in Advance
If you are a business owner or person in charge of operations, then the last thing you’ll want is for a company move to interfere heavily with general client relations. Therefore, it’s a good idea to inform clients and outside associates in advance of any potential downtime that your company might encounter over the course of your business move. Remember, even if your actual move takes place at night or over a weekend, it is still going to take some time for your employees to sort through their belongings and get their computers up and running. To keep your company’s reputation intact, alert clients to the fact that you’ll be moving and send a reminder a day or two before the actual moving date.

Managing a corporate move can sometimes be more difficult than you expect, and it takes a fair amount of effort and coordination to pull one off without a hitch. By following these expert suggestions, you can do your part to make your upcoming corporate move an overall success. Coordinating a company move can be nerve-wracking and overwhelming. In any given company, the individual in charge of a move is likely to find himself faced with quite the major decision when it comes to finding the right moving company to tackle the process.

Bobby Hughes is the marketing coordinator at Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., a full service moving and storage business that has been proudly serving the Philadelphia area since 1973, and according to him, it’s important to approach a corporate move with the proper planning and strategy. Here, he offers the following tips on how to orchestrate a smooth corporate move:

Get Assistance from Your Employees
If you’re in charge of your company’s move, then it’s good idea to look to your employees for their assistance and support throughout the process. You can let them know about the moving plans in question as soon as possible. In addition, if you expect your employees to help with the packing process or work overtime to make up for an unavoidable lapse in productivity while the move is in progress, then make them aware of such facts sooner rather than later. The more time your employees have to adjust to the notion of a new office, the more cooperative they are likely to be.

Have Your Staff Pitch In
While you might have no choice but to oversee the process of moving and unloading company files and equipment, there’s no reason why your employees can’t help along the way. You should provide your employees with boxes so that they can pack up their desk contents and personal belongings.

Use Color-Coded Labels
The easier you make it on your movers to know where to put things, the quicker the unpacking process will be. Therefore, it’s a good idea to give color-coded labels to each of your departments. This way, your movers will know that anything green goes into the accounting area, anything red belongs to the marketing department, and so forth.

Schedule Your Corporate Move Properly
By being smart about the timing of your corporate move, you can help your business avoid any unnecessary losses. Ideally, you should schedule your move during your company’s “off-peak” months. Along these lines, it’s generally a bad idea to schedule it at a time that is known to be your industry’s busy season. If you own a travel agency, then avoid moving at a time when most people are planning their winter and spring breaks; and if you work for an accounting firm, then don’t schedule a move during tax season.

Inform Your Clients in Advance
If you are a business owner or person in charge of operations, then the last thing you’ll want is for a company move to interfere heavily with general client relations. Therefore, it’s a good idea to inform clients and outside associates in advance of any potential downtime that your company might encounter over the course of your business move. Remember, even if your actual move takes place at night or over a weekend, it is still going to take some time for your employees to sort through their belongings and get their computers up and running. To keep your company’s reputation intact, alert clients to the fact that you’ll be moving and send a reminder a day or two before the actual moving date.

Managing a corporate move can sometimes be more difficult than you expect, and it takes a fair amount of effort and coordination to pull one off without a hitch. By following these expert suggestions, you can do your part to make your upcoming corporate move an overall success. Coordinating a company move can be nerve-wracking and overwhelming. In any given company, the individual in charge of a move is likely to find himself faced with quite the major decision when it comes to finding the right moving company to tackle the process.

Bobby Hughes is the marketing coordinator at Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., a full service moving and storage business that has been proudly serving the Philadelphia area since 1973, and according to him, it’s important to approach a corporate move with the proper planning and strategy. Here, he offers the following tips on how to orchestrate a smooth corporate move:

Get Assistance from Your Employees
If you’re in charge of your company’s move, then it’s good idea to look to your employees for their assistance and support throughout the process. You can let them know about the moving plans in question as soon as possible. In addition, if you expect your employees to help with the packing process or work overtime to make up for an unavoidable lapse in productivity while the move is in progress, then make them aware of such facts sooner rather than later. The more time your employees have to adjust to the notion of a new office, the more cooperative they are likely to be.

Have Your Staff Pitch In
While you might have no choice but to oversee the process of moving and unloading company files and equipment, there’s no reason why your employees can’t help along the way. You should provide your employees with boxes so that they can pack up their desk contents and personal belongings.

Use Color-Coded Labels
The easier you make it on your movers to know where to put things, the quicker the unpacking process will be. Therefore, it’s a good idea to give color-coded labels to each of your departments. This way, your movers will know that anything green goes into the accounting area, anything red belongs to the marketing department, and so forth.

Schedule Your Corporate Move Properly
By being smart about the timing of your corporate move, you can help your business avoid any unnecessary losses. Ideally, you should schedule your move during your company’s “off-peak” months. Along these lines, it’s generally a bad idea to schedule it at a time that is known to be your industry’s busy season. If you own a travel agency, then avoid moving at a time when most people are planning their winter and spring breaks; and if you work for an accounting firm, then don’t schedule a move during tax season.

Inform Your Clients in Advance
If you are a business owner or person in charge of operations, then the last thing you’ll want is for a company move to interfere heavily with general client relations. Therefore, it’s a good idea to inform clients and outside associates in advance of any potential downtime that your company might encounter over the course of your business move. Remember, even if your actual move takes place at night or over a weekend, it is still going to take some time for your employees to sort through their belongings and get their computers up and running. To keep your company’s reputation intact, alert clients to the fact that you’ll be moving and send a reminder a day or two before the actual moving date.

Managing a corporate move can sometimes be more difficult than you expect, and it takes a fair amount of effort and coordination to pull one off without a hitch. By following these expert suggestions, you can do your part to make your upcoming corporate move an overall success.

There’s no question that corporate moves can be challenging on multiple levels. After all, the longer a business move takes, the more of a financial impact it is likely to have on the company in question. For this reason, it’s important to find the right moving company to tackle the job at hand.

As the marketing coordinator at Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., a full-service moving and storage business that has been serving the Philadelphia area since 1973, Bobby Hughes understands the challenges inherent in corporate moves. He therefore suggests that anyone in search of a corporate moving company look for the following traits:

Rich Experience
Corporate moves are different from residential moves. When you embark on your search for the right corporate moving company, make sure to ask each sales representative you meet with about his company’s experience in this particular field.

Time-Related Needs
If you are in charge of a corporate move, you are likely to be all too familiar with the notion of time constraints. As you search for the best corporate moving company in town, make sure that your sales representative gives you a good sense of how well his fellow employees can adapt to time-related needs.

Flexible Timing
Ideally, your corporate move should not interfere tremendously with your business. To make this happen, you’ll want to find a corporate moving company that offers flexible scheduling. After all, it will be much easier on your company to have its move take place after hours or over a weekend, when business is not likely to be affected.

The Skill to Set Up Cubicles
Any good moving company employee is able to move desks and furniture, but if your office has a cubicle setup, then you’ll want to find a company whose employees also know how to assemble and disassemble cubicles. If time is a factor, then you shouldn’t hire a team that will operate by trial and error.

Network Relocation Services
Like most modern-day companies, your business probably relies on computer networks for efficiency and functionality. So it’s a good idea to choose a corporate moving company that offers network relocation services as part of its moving package. This way, you can rest assured that while your filing cabinets and furniture items are being transported, your computer network will be brought back up.

Of course, in most cases, it won’t be your actual movers who are working on your network, but rather, a team of outside consultants with whom your moving company partners. While you could go out and hire two separate teams to tackle these various aspects of your corporate move, you can benefit by using one company to move your office’s physical belongings and coordinate your company’s technical restoration on your behalf.

It is a challenge to tackle a corporate move, but the right moving company can turn an otherwise anxiety-inducing situation into one that is smooth and simple. So when you interview sales representatives in order to find the best company to handle your business move, make sure to take the time to ask the right questions and get all of the information you need to arrive at the best decision.

After months of searching, you’ve finally found the perfect apartment which truly has everything, from high ceilings to spacious closets to the ever-coveted included washer and dryer. Best of all, the price fits your budget, and there’s even enough money left over to allow you to do some decorating. There is, however, one minor problem: The building you’re moving to doesn’t have an elevator, and your new apartment isn’t exactly on the ground floor. On the contrary, it can only be accessed via four strenuous flights of stairs.

Living in a walk-up apartment might not be that bad. After all, you’ll get some exercise without even trying. And if all goes well, you’ll soon be able to cancel that expensive membership plan at the local gym. Bobby Hughes is the marketing coordinator at Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., a full service moving and storage company that has been serving the Philadelphia area since 1973, and according to him, the real challenge with a walk-up is actually working around it to successfully move your stuff.

Hire Professionals
Hughes suggests that anyone moving into a walk-up consider hiring movers to tackle the physical task of transporting his belongings. Although the idea of lugging your own stuff up four flights of stairs might seem rather daunting, for a professional mover who lifts and transports heavy items for a living, the presence of four continuous flights of stairs is not going to make much of a difference. After all, plenty of household moves involve climbing up and down stairs. So what’s a couple more flights to a bunch of movers who are clearly bursting with muscles?

Budget for Your Move
If you decide to hire a team of professionals for your walk-up move, then you should account for the costs accordingly. First of all, you will need to realize that most local moves are charged by the hour. If the process involves climbing up and down multiple flights of stairs, then the act of transporting your belongings is obviously going to take longer than a one-story move. Therefore, when mapping out your moving budget, you should plan for the added expense. This way, you won’t be caught off-guard when the bill is presented to you at the end of the day.

Along these lines, you should also plan on saving a little bit extra to cover the cost of a generous tip. Sure, movers get paid to do what they do, but you’ve got to feel for the people who get stuck working the four-flight bonanza. If you’re the type of person who believes in karma, then set some extra cash aside to do the right thing.

Measure the Stairwell
Elevators tend to be more spacious than stairwells; therefore, you should investigate the situation prior to your moving date. Bring a tape measure to measure the width of your soon-to-be stairwells. Then compare it to the size of your furniture. If the numbers don’t add up, then you might consider making plans to sell your larger items.

Although the idea of moving into a walk-up might seem overwhelming, with proper planning and preparation, you can do your part to make the process go as smoothly as possible.

Here is a situation that few people face but many fear: Before your new home is available for occupancy, you had your moving company put most of your belongings into storage. Finally, you get your new house ready and schedule the second part of your move. A few days later, your possessions arrive at your new abode, much to your delight. However, when you start unpacking, you begin to notice that a couple of your boxes aren’t there. And once you’re able to take a final inventory, you realize that several electronic items are missing as well. What should you do?

Bobby Hughes is the marketing coordinator at Philadelphia’s Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., and according to him, this type of scenario is extremely rare as far as his company is concerned. Usually, the storage system is fairly simple and well-maintained. When a customer’s stuff is placed into storage, it remains in a single unit until the company gets the call to unload it and transport it to its final destination. Since the process is so streamlined, rarely does it occur that a number of pieces end up getting lost or going missing. On the other hand, Hughes will admit that from time to time, mishaps do happen, and when they do, it’s important for customers to know what steps to take.

Contact your moving company immediately.
According to Hughes, if you come to realize that some of your stuff has not been delivered out of storage, then the first thing to do is to contact your moving company as soon as possible. Any reputable moving company will do its best to locate your items that somehow did not make their way out of storage. First, a representative of the moving company will check the back of the moving truck that transported your belongings to see if they were perhaps inadvertently left behind. If that doesn’t work, then someone will do a search of your former storage unit to see if the missing items perhaps got stuck in a corner. Remember, it’s in your moving company’s best interest to locate any items that have gone missing rather than have to deal with the claims process. So if you come to discover that some of your possessions did not make their way towards your new abode, do not hesitate to contact your moving company immediately.

Describe your missing stuff in detail.
When you call up to report your missing items, be prepared to supply as much detail as possible. If a box of kitchen supplies is missing, then try to describe how large the box was, how it was labeled, and what its contents were. And if you find that you’re missing a dining room chair from your antique set, then be sure to indicate what color wood it is made of and what its upholstered seat cushion looks like. The more descriptive you are, the better your chances are of having your items located and properly returned.

File a claim for missing belongings.
If, unfortunately, your missing items are unable to be located, then you will be able to file a claim with your moving company’s insurance policy. Most full service moving companies have an employee on staff whose job is to deal with the claims filing and follow-up process, so chances are, the burden involved in the paperwork will not end up falling on you. Although filing a claim for missing belongings is likely to result in a degree of compensation, Hughes warns that unless you paid for extra insurance, you might end up being a bit unhappy with the results of the process.

In fact, if you decided to stick with the standard, built-in insurance, then the automatic coverage that most moving companies offer generally maxes out at 60 cents per pound of property. If your box of kitchenware weighed 10 pounds and only contained plastic storage containers, then the idea of getting $6 might not seem so bad as compared to the overall value of the contents. However, if you’re missing a 15-pound dining room chair whose replacement value tops the $200 mark, you will probably be extremely disappointed when a check comes in for nine measly dollars (although your homeowners insurance policy might end up paying you the difference).

Fortunately, the right moving company can ensure that your property will remain safe while it is being stored. But if some of your stuff gets lost occasionally in storage, the best way to help yourself is to stay calm until the matter is resolved.

If you are going to move someday in the near future, perhaps the most anxiety-inducing aspect of it is the idea of packing up all of your belongings and transporting them securely. After all, far too many people each year end up making the mistake of packing poorly and damaging their valuable possessions as a result. Therefore, it’s important for you to take a smart approach to the process of packing.

In fact, when it comes to packing, you do have options if you don’t want to tackle the task on your own. Most moving companies offer professional packing services for the purpose of sparing you the time and trouble, and assuring that your items are packed in a manner that will keep them safe in transit. However, some people think that paying for packing services is akin to wasting money. After all, packing, as time-consuming as it may be, isn’t exactly rocket science.

As the marketing coordinator at Hughes Relocation Services, Inc., a company that has been serving the Philadelphia area since 1973, Bobby Hughes thinks that people ought to reconsider this line of thinking when approaching their moves. If you’d rather not spend the extra money on outside packing services, then you can pack up most of your belongings, but leave certain key items to the professionals. After all, books, clothing, and linens are unlikely to get damaged over the course of a move. So if you have the time to box them up, then there’s no sense in paying to have them packed. However, Hughes suggests that you consider not packing the following items yourself:

Fine Art and Mirrors: Fine art pieces and mirrors can be challenging to pack because of their valuable and fragile nature. By hiring an outside service that knows how to pack and transport such items securely, you’ll be doing your part to protect some of your most precious belongings and investments.

Expensive Electronics: Your flat screen TVs are likely to be some of your most prized possessions, so to keep them free of damage during your move, have a packing service box them up. In addition, any expensive electronic equipment you might have (such as computers, stereos, and speaker systems) will need to be packed up with care. To ensure that these items stay safe throughout the moving process, leave them in the hands of those who pack for a living.

Sharp Objects: Although some of your kitchenware might be less fragile than other pieces, sharp objects have the potential to damage other items or get damaged themselves over the course of a move. The act of packing up knives, slicing and dicing equipment, and any other appliances with a blade can be tricky and somewhat dangerous, as one wrong move could send you straight to the emergency room. Additionally, items with blades and sharp edges need to be packed meticulously. So to keep your kitchen tools safe, consider leaving them to the professionals.

High-End Kitchen Items: Kitchen items such as china and glassware can be some of the trickiest things in a household to pack. Not only are such items incredibly fragile, they can also be uniquely shaped, which can make the act of properly fitting them into standard boxes all the more challenging. Since china and crystal can be expensive to replace, you might be better off saving those items for the professionals as far as packing goes.

Another thing to realize is that kitchenware doesn’t necessarily have to break in a million pieces in order for it to get ruined. Pitchers, glasses, and fine silverware can easily get scratched in transit, and while such visual imperfections won’t deem these items unusable, they can be upsetting nonetheless. To avoid this problem, leave your high-end kitchen items for an outside packing service to handle.

While packing services will add to the cost of your move, the professionals are more likely to pack up your belongings properly. In addition, if any of your stuff gets damaged as a result of improper packing, then your moving company will be on the hook for financing your replacement items. On the other hand, if you choose to pack up your belongings yourself and they end up getting scratched, broken, or banged up due to poor packing techniques, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.