Office Removals in Rochdale

Covering Rochdale, Heywood, Milnrow, Newhey, Norden, Bamford, Castleton and Wardle.

Paper is the heaviest thing in most offices and the least thought about.

The filing cabinets are the surprise

Ask anyone to estimate their office move and they will describe the desks.

Then the cabinets get opened, and it turns out four of them are full, one has not been opened since before the current lease, and there is a stack of archive boxes in a cupboard that everybody had stopped seeing.

Paper is dense. A drawer of files weighs more than the drawer looks like it should, and a room that seemed like a small job stops being one. It is the single most common reason a business move takes longer than the estimate suggested.

None of which is a problem if it is mentioned. It only becomes one when the first person to properly assess the paperwork is the person carrying it.

Small boxes, and why it matters

The most useful practical thing on this page.

Paper goes in small boxes. Not medium ones, and definitely not the large ones that feel more efficient. A large box filled with files becomes something nobody should be lifting, and it is the most common cause of a box giving way at the worst moment.

The rule of thumb is that a box of paper should still be liftable comfortably by one person. If you are packing it yourself, that means filling boxes about two thirds full and resisting the urge to top them up.

Books, catalogues and sample folders follow the same rule for the same reason.

Label for the person unpacking, not the person packing

Archive boxes all look identical, and at the other end they will be in a stack.

What makes the difference is labelling the side rather than the lid, since stacked boxes hide their lids, and writing what is actually in it rather than a code that made sense on the day.

Two other things worth doing while you pack rather than afterwards:

Note which room it came from and which room it is going to. These are frequently different, and the second one is what matters.
Mark anything that will be needed in the first week, and keep those boxes together. There is always a handful, and they are always at the bottom of the stack otherwise.

Decide what is sensitive before the day

Most offices hold some paper they would not want left in an open box on a landing. Personnel files, client records, anything financial.

The useful step is identifying it in advance rather than during. Put it together, keep it separate from the general packing, and decide who is responsible for it during the move. For a lot of businesses the simplest answer is that it travels with a named person rather than in the load at all.

If you have material that needs handling differently, tell us when you get in touch and we will talk it through rather than assume.

What you are actually required to keep, and for how long, is a question for whoever looks after your records. It varies by the kind of record and the kind of business, and it is worth asking them before a move rather than after, because a move is when things get decided quickly.

If you have been meaning to scan it, do that first

A lot of businesses treat a move as the moment to finally digitise the filing.

It is a good instinct and the timing is wrong. Scanning during a move means paper in two states, half of it boxed and half of it out, at exactly the point when everything needs to be findable. It is also the phase where the project reliably stalls, leaving the awkward half to move anyway.

Either do it well before, or do it well after, and move the paper as it is.

Jobs that need arranging rather than booking

We have standard services and for most office moves one of them is the simplest way to book.

Plenty need arranging instead. Archives going into storage while the new office is fitted out. Paperwork moving on a different day from the furniture. Files going to one address and the office to another. A move where most of the paper is being dealt with and only some of it is travelling.

Say so and we will tell you what can be arranged around it.

If either building is managed, mention it, since lifts and loading are usually arranged by the building rather than by you.

The quickest route is the form. Give us the outline and we will come back to you.

Get a price for your Rochdale office move

Tell us the size of the office, roughly how many filing cabinets and archive boxes are involved, and the access at both ends.

Full name

Phone

Moving from (postcode)

Moving to (postcode)

Property size

Preferred date

Access, stairs and parking

Where we cover

Rochdale town centre
Heywood
Milnrow
Newhey
Norden
Bamford
Castleton
Smallbridge
Wardle

Across the OL postcodes. We are based at Swan Street in Manchester city centre, so Rochdale is a straightforward run. Office relocation services further out are arranged too.

Questions people ask

We have a lot more paperwork than we thought. Does that change the quote?

It changes the job, so it is worth saying before rather than after. Weight and box count matter more than floor area for a paper-heavy office.

Should we pack the files ourselves?

Tell us what state things will be in and it gets factored in. If you are packing them yourself, small boxes, two thirds full.

Can the archives go into storage instead of the new office?

Mention it at quote stage and it can be looked at as one job rather than two arrangements.

Some of our files are confidential. What do we do?

Tell us what you have when you get in touch and we will talk it through with you. A lot of businesses keep the sensitive material with a named person rather than in the load.

Can the paperwork move on a different day from the furniture?

It is a common request. Raise it early so both dates are planned together.

Get a price