Office Relocation in Nairobi
Packed cardboard boxes and wrapped furniture ready for a house move

Office Relocation in Nairobi

The measure of an office move is whether your team can work on Monday morning. We plan backwards from that, and we move outside your trading hours.

Downtime Is the Real Cost

The lorry is the cheap part of an office move. The expensive part is a team of people unable to work while somebody looks for the box with the router in it.

So we plan the move around the reopening, not around the loading. Desks are numbered to a floor plan of the new office before anything is packed, so each crate goes to the position it belongs at rather than into a pile in reception. IT equipment is kept together, labelled by user, and offloaded first.

We also need to know about the things that are easy to forget: server shutdown times, who signs off on lift access, whether the new landlord requires certificates before anyone can move in, and what happens to the old furniture you are not taking.

Delivery truck unloading goods at a warehouse
The process

How We Plan an Office Move

01

Site visit, both ends

We see what is moving, what is being disposed of, and the access, lifts and loading restrictions at both buildings.

02

Floor plan and numbering

You give us the new layout. Every desk, cabinet and crate is numbered to a position before packing starts.

03

Move outside hours

Evening, overnight or weekend. Servers and IT come down last and go back first.

04

Set up and check

Furniture is reassembled, crates are at the right desks, and we walk the floor with you before we leave.

Before the day

Planning Checklist

The items that most often derail an office move, and when to deal with them.

ItemWhenNotes
New office floor planThree weeks outEverything else depends on this. Numbering cannot start without it.
Building access and lift bookingTwo weeks outBoth buildings. Many Nairobi office blocks restrict goods lift use to specific hours.
Internet and phone lines at the new officeThree weeks outThe longest lead time of anything on this list and the most common cause of a delayed reopening.
IT shutdown and restart planOne week outAgree who powers down, who transports servers, and who signs off that it is back up.
Disposal of unwanted furnitureOne week outDecide early. Old desks left behind can cost you your deposit.
Staff briefingTwo days outEveryone packs their own personal items and labels their crate with their desk number.

If you are also handing back the old premises, book the post-move clean at the same time. Commercial leases are usually strict about the condition it is returned in.

How We Reduce the Risk

An office move has more ways to go wrong than a house move, and most of them are avoidable with planning.

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Most of our office moves run Friday evening to Sunday, so staff arrive Monday to a working office. Tell us your reopening time and we plan backwards from it.

We transport them, kept together and labelled by user. We strongly recommend your own IT provider handles shutdown and restart, and we coordinate the timing with them directly.

Tell us at the site visit and we will quote for removal and disposal separately. Do not leave it to the last week, it is a common reason deposits get withheld.

Yes. Files are moved in sealed crates and we can restrict handling to named crew. If you have specific chain-of-custody requirements, raise them at the site visit.

Three weeks is comfortable for a small office. Larger moves need more, mainly because internet and phone provisioning at the new premises takes longer than anything we control.

Nairobi and the towns around it: Westlands, Kilimani, Lavington, Kileleshwa, Runda, Ruaka, Karen, Lang’ata, South B, South C, Embakasi, Ruiru, Kikuyu, Ngong, Kitengela and Syokimau. Ask us about moves further afield.

Plan your office move

Tell us your headcount, both addresses and your target reopening date. We will arrange a site visit.

Other services

See all relocation services, or combine your move with cleaning or fumigation of the new property.