Office Relocation Checklist for Canadian Businesses

Office moves are not residential moves with more desks. The physical loading is the smallest part. The hard part is keeping the business running through the transition — keeping clients happy, employees productive, and IT systems online while every piece of physical infrastructure moves to a new address.

Below is the 90-day playbook we've seen work for Canadian small and mid-size businesses. Skip steps at your own risk.

90 days out — strategic foundation

Confirm the move makes sense

Map out cost differential, employee commute impact, parking and transit access, client proximity. Office moves are surprisingly expensive — $2,000–$8,000 per employee is industry average when you account for everything (movers, new furniture, IT cabling, downtime, lease overlap).

Sign the new lease

• Confirm move-in date and any holdover provisions
• Verify what's included: cabling, partition walls, signage, parking spots, after-hours access
• Confirm building rules: insurance requirements, allowable working hours, freight elevator booking process, holiday restrictions
• Negotiate any landlord buildout (cabling, painting, broadloom)
• Get certificates of insurance lined up for both buildings

Notify the current landlord

Most commercial leases require 90–180 days written notice. Send it certified. Confirm:

• Surrender date and any holdover penalty
• Restoration requirements (paint, carpet, removal of partitions)
• Security deposit refund timing
• Move-out inspection scheduling

Assemble a move team

For offices over 10 people, designate:

• A move lead (owns the project)
• An IT coordinator (owns the technical migration)
• A facilities lead (owns building logistics)
• An employee liaison (owns communication with staff)

60 days out — vendor coordination

Hire the moving company

• Get 3 written quotes from commercial moving companies (not residential). Office moves require:
  • Commercial liability insurance ($2M+ standard)
  • Experience with office furniture disassembly
  • Experience with server and IT moves
  • Building-manager paperwork (COI, security clearances)
  • After-hours and weekend availability
• Confirm the move date with the moving company
• Schedule a pre-move walkthrough at the current office

Plan IT migration

The single highest-risk part of any office move.

• Inventory all hardware: servers, switches, routers, phones, desk PCs, monitors, printers, conference room equipment
• Get an internet circuit installed at the new office (allow 30+ days — Bell/Rogers fibre orders for commercial circuits can take 6–8 weeks)
• Order new ethernet and phone cabling at the new office if needed
• Plan server downtime: ideally zero (if you can fail over to cloud), realistically 4–24 hours
• Plan VOIP/phone forwarding so business calls don't drop during the transition
• Back up everything twice in the week before move: full server backup off-site, plus user-level cloud backup

Order new furniture and supplies

If you're ordering new desks, chairs, or shelving, lead times in Canada are 6–10 weeks. Order now or you'll be sitting on the floor on move-in day.

Update business records

• Corporate registry: Service Ontario or equivalent
• CRA business address change
• Provincial sales tax / GST/HST registrations
• WSIB / workers' comp address update
• Commercial insurance policies

30 days out — communication and logistics

Notify customers and vendors

• Email to all customers (template, sent personally for top accounts)
• Update website, Google Business Profile, social media bios
• Update email signature for all employees
• Update invoicing software with new address
• Update business cards, letterhead, marketing materials
• Update bank, credit card processor, payroll provider
• Notify SaaS vendors with billing address tied to office
• Update Google Maps and other location listings
• Order new signage for the new office (lead time 3–4 weeks)

Plan employee logistics

• Floor plan finalized — every employee knows their new desk
• Parking arrangements communicated
• Transit and bike commute information shared
• Updated keys/fobs/access cards prepared
• Working-from-home plan for transition week

Schedule professional services

• Cleaners for current office (post-move) and new office (pre-move)
• Locksmith for new office (rekey or change all locks day-of)
• Any equipment installation specialists (security cameras, AV, kitchen appliances)

2 weeks out — the final stretch

Pack non-essentials

Anything not used in daily operations can be packed now: archives, marketing samples, off-season decor, conference room supplies.

Label everything

Color-code by department:

• Each department gets a color (blue tape for sales, green for engineering, etc.)
• Stick matching colors on the new office floor plan and door frames
• Every box, monitor, and piece of equipment gets a colored sticker

Distribute moving boxes and labels to employees

Each employee packs their own desk. Provide:

• 2–3 small boxes per person
• Tape, marker, packing material
• A label template (Department / Name / Box # / New Desk Number)
• A clear deadline: "Everything packed by EOD Friday before move"

Plan the actual move sequence

For most offices, the optimal sequence is:

1. Thursday evening: IT team backs up servers, shuts down non-essential systems
2. Friday afternoon: Final business operations finish. Servers/phones decommissioned at end of day.
3. Friday evening: Movers load. IT team unloads servers at new office and starts setup.
4. Saturday: Furniture moved and placed. IT team finishes setup. Test internet, phones, printers.
5. Sunday: Employees pop in to test their desks, troubleshoot any issues.
6. Monday morning: Business resumes. IT team on-site to fix issues.

Move week — execution

Tuesday/Wednesday: critical tasks

• Confirm mover arrival time, truck size, crew count
• Confirm freight elevator bookings at both buildings
• Confirm COI received by new building's property management
• Final IT pre-checks (network at new office, server backups verified)
• Send all-staff email with: move details, working-from-home plan, IT support contact, location of essential supplies

Move day morning

• Move lead and IT lead onsite at both buildings
• Walkthrough with the moving crew foreman
• Confirm count of items leaving (boxes, desks, chairs, monitors)
• Pin floor plan at new building so movers know where each labeled item goes

Move day evening

• Walkthrough of old office to confirm nothing left behind
• Hand keys to landlord or new tenant
• At new office: confirm count of items received matches departure
• IT team verifies network, server, phones
• Note any move damage in writing immediately

The week after the move

• Issue any remaining COIs needed for ongoing building access
• File any insurance claims for move-related damage (most policies have 7-day notice windows)
• Verify all systems functional: VPN, phones, printers, building access cards, parking validation
• Update internal documentation (employee handbook, vendor contact sheets)
• Schedule a team lunch in the new office — celebrate the move
• Run an old-office post-mortem with the move team — capture what you'd do differently

Common pitfalls

1. Internet circuit not ready. Most expensive mistake. Order 60+ days before move.
2. Underestimating IT downtime. Plan for 2x what your IT team estimates.
3. Insufficient mover insurance. Residential movers often don't carry the $2M+ commercial coverage office buildings require.
4. Failing to address sound levels at new office.Open-plan can be louder than expected. Test before committing to layout.
5. Forgetting employee emotional impact. Office moves affect morale. Communicate early, often, and concretely.

Getting a commercial moving quote

For Canadian offices in the GTA and Ontario-Quebec corridor, we run commercial moves alongside residential. We have $5M commercial liability, experience with weekend office moves, and partner with IT specialists for server relocations.

Request a commercial moving quote — include square footage, employee count, IT complexity, and ideal move date and we'll send back a detailed estimate.