Office relocations are amongst the most ‘complex’ projects a business can deliver and easy to underestimate the impact to your business. Behind every office move lies a web of dependencies: leases, fit-outs, IT networks, and people, which is where an experienced project manager can add a lot of value.
Key Insights
- Fixed timelines and interdependent streams make relocations uniquely complex, high-risk projects.
- Underestimating scope multiplies financial, operational, cultural, and compliance risks exponentially.
- Successful relocations hinge on managing human transition as much as physical logistics.
When leaders first hear the words “we’re relocating the office”, most picture a fairly straightforward sequence of events.
You choose a date, call the removalists and let the teams pack up their gear then unpack at the other end. In practice, things are usually a lot more complex than that. Even a move that looks modest on paper can demand six-to-nine months of planning to avoid costly mistakes and disruption to the business, when done at scale.
Unlike internal IT projects where deadlines can sometimes be pushed, an office relocation runs on a fixed timetable. Once the lease is signed, delays carry real commercial consequences. Fit-out schedules can slip, IT cutovers can be held up by service providers and building managers may impose strict access rules. Meanwhile, leaders are dealing with staff who are feeling anxious about how their lives will be affected.
What seemed like a simple move from A to B now has the hallmarks of a complex project, with risks that can spill into higher costs, operational disruptions or cultural impacts if they are not managed well.
What makes office relocations complex
Anyone who has moved house knows how quickly a plan can unravel. Many of us have experienced that last-minute mad scramble to get everything working on the same day. An office relocation has the same dynamics, only magnified: hundreds of people involved, multiple contractors and in most businesses, no tolerance for downtime.
The practical tasks are often underestimated. Coordinating IT, service providers, removalists and building managers looks straightforward, until one schedule slips and the rest follow. In government relocations we have managed, even the basics came with added weight. Thousands of confidential files had to be accounted for, moved securely and made accessible the next morning so staff could continue their work with minimal to no disruption.
Technology brings its own risks. In one corporate relocation we supported, delays in completing the fitout at the new building left just eight weeks to relocate both staff and IT infrastructure into a new head office. Without tight management, the outcome could easily have been weeks of double rent and critical systems offline.
Finally, there are the people who have to live with the decision. Relocations change commutes and disrupt habits. They can be unsettling for staff who are already under pressure. We’ve heard of organisations that describe a move as “successful” because it finished on time, only to discover shortly afterwards that a large portion of their workforce chose not to follow them to the new site. The people impact is often the hardest part to manage, and it’s the focus of our article Why Change Management Matters in Relocations.
Any of these streams (logistics, technology and people) is hard enough to manage. When they all collide at once, that’s when office relocations unravel.
Consequences of underestimating your office move
When leaders underestimate relocations, the consequences can flow into cost, operations and culture. Here are some of the most common office relocation risks and their longer-term impacts.
| Risk Area | What Can Go Wrong | Longer-Term Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Financial | Double rent, rushed contracts, unplanned remediation | Cost blowouts, wasted investment |
| Operational | IT cutovers missed, critical services offline, lost files | Business downtime, reputational damage |
| People & Culture | Staff unsettled by new commute or workspace, poor communication | Attrition, morale dips, loss of trust |
| Compliance & Security | Confidential material mishandled, access controls not in place | Regulatory breaches, legal exposure |
Where a relocation project manager can help
Office relocations typically come undone because no one is watching the whole thing. A project manager is there to hold those threads together.
Often the job starts with someone internal, such as an EA or facilities lead who has other work to do. They can carry it for a while, but the job keeps growing as you get closer to moving day. At that point, it stops being a side task and becomes more of a full-time job.
A good project manager who has overseen other relocations knows where moves typically go wrong, and plans for them. There is always at least one surprise: a fit-out that runs late, a cutover that takes longer than expected, or staff frustrated by poor communication. With the right planning, the business keeps running while the relocation plays out.
It doesn’t remove every problem, but it changes the experience. Instead of firefighting when things go wrong, you’re working to a plan that already has contingencies built in. It’s a critical role that can keep relocations from dragging into double rent, downtime, or lost staff.
By the time you’re asking “do we need a project manager for this office move?”, the answer is usually obvious. You do, because the complexity has already revealed itself.
Need help with your office relocation?
Relocations always look easier on paper than they turn out to be. If you’re in the middle of planning an office relocation and already hitting roadblocks or simply want to sanity-check whether you’ve covered the risks, we’re up for a conversation.
Quay Consulting is a professional services business specialising in the project landscape, transforming strategy into fit-for-purpose delivery. Meet our team or reach out to have a discussion today.
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