Planning an office move in Berlin

What to consider when moving an office

The keys to an office move are an early timeline, one person in charge and a clear inventory of what is coming with you.

Unlike a home move, business usually goes on during an office move. Clients want to reach you, employees need their desks, and files must not end up in the wrong hands.

• Inventory: Which furniture, equipment and files are moving? What will be disposed of, and what will stay?
• New location: A floor plan with a number for every workstation, plus elevator, door and stair dimensions.
• Responsibilities: Who decides, who packs, who looks after IT and phones?
• Deadlines: Lease, handover of the old premises, appointments with building management and service providers.
• Communication: Tell employees, clients and suppliers in good time.

Timeline: what to do before your office move

Starting about three months ahead gives you time to bring in quotes, building management, IT and your employees.

1. 13 months before: Appoint a move coordinator, take inventory, request quotes and draw up a floor plan for the new office.
2. 26 weeks before: Confirm the date, notify both building managers, plan the IT and phone move with your providers and arrange disposal of old furniture.
3. 32 weeks before: Hand out boxes, explain the labeling system, book the elevator and access, and tell clients and suppliers your new address.
4. 41 week before: Pack the archive and rarely used files, run a full backup, and sort out keys and access cards for both buildings.
5. 5Moving day: A contact person on site and the floor plan on every door; we disassemble, load, transport and reassemble according to the plan.
6. 6Afterward: Check every workstation, collect open issues, update your address everywhere and hand over the old premises.

If anything is still unclear after you send us the details, we will look at the premises on site beforehand.

Confidential files and sensitive documents

Confidential files are best packed and sealed by your own staff, recorded on a list, with a note of who takes over each box and when.

Personnel files, contracts, accounting records or patient and client documents often contain personal data. Your company remains responsible for protecting that data during the move as well (GDPR, known in Germany as DSGVO). So check with your data protection officer in advance what is required. These precautions have proven useful:

• Pack confidential material separately in clearly marked boxes, with no description of the contents on the outside.
• Use lockable or sealable boxes or containers and seal them yourself.
• Keep a list: box number, department, quantity; check each one off when unloading.
• Issue and collect keys, access cards and cabinet keys in a controlled way.
• Hand over or transport the most sensitive items in person.
• Do not mix confidential boxes with other items; have them loaded together.
• Ask for written confirmation of who will be on site on moving day.

IT equipment and workstations

Agree with your IT provider who will dismantle, move and reconnect computers, servers and network equipment. Plan the setup sequence at the new office in advance.

To make sure everything works on the first day in the new office, a few simple steps by you or your IT team help:

• Make a full backup and test that it can be restored.
• Photograph the cabling at every workstation before anything is unplugged.
• Label devices, cables and power supplies with the workstation number and pack them together.
• Put monitors and laptops in padded boxes of their own, small parts in labeled bags.
• Order internet and phone service at the new location early so it is ready on moving day.
• Note in the floor plan which devices belong at each workstation.

Office furniture: disassembly, transport, reassembly

We disassemble desks, cabinets and shelving, move them protected and reassemble them at the new location according to your floor plan.

Our own team handles the disassembly, transport and reassembly.

To make sure every piece ends up in the right room, we work with your numbering: whatever is labeled 2.14 at the old desk goes where the plan shows 2.14 in the new office.

• Empty cabinets and pedestals beforehand; remove and label the keys.
• Clearly mark furniture that is not coming along.
• Post the floor plan with workstation numbers at both locations.
• We take down and rehang lamps and connect them by plug only; hardwired connections are a job for a qualified electrician.

Office, meeting and phone booths

We dismantle soundproofed office, meeting and phone booths, move them in individual parts and reassemble them at the new location.

Booths are made of heavy wall, glass and ceiling elements that are labeled, padded and loaded upright. To estimate the work, we need the model, outer dimensions, photos and, if possible, the assembly instructions. Also check that the elevator and corridors at the new location can take the largest single part.

Booths can also be dismantled and reassembled outside business hours.

• Full process: Office and phone booth moving.
• Further reading: Guide to moving office booths.

Keeping downtime to a minimum

Downtime stays short if you move in stages, set up the most important workstations first and tell clients about the changeover in advance.

• Move department by department instead of everything on one day.
• Have the archive and rarely used furniture moved ahead of time.
• Set up call forwarding and an out-of-office reply for the moving period.
• Agree on a changeover window with IT and plan a backup workstation.
• Pick a quiet time in your business year, for example outside closing or trade-fair periods.

We agree on the moving date with you when you request a quote.

For office, meeting and phone booths: dismantling and reassembly are also possible outside business hours.

No-parking zone, access and elevator booking

Sort out access, loading zone and elevator with both building managers early, and check whether a temporary no-parking zone (Halteverbot) is needed outside either building.

On many Berlin streets the truck will otherwise not find space near the entrance. A temporary no-parking zone has to be applied for in good time at the responsible borough office (Bezirksamt); the rules differ from borough to borough.

Temporary no-parking zones are part of our services; we will clarify how the application works in your borough when you request a quote.

• Book the elevator for moving day and ask for its inside dimensions and load capacity.
• Clarify the loading zone, courtyard entrance or parking garage and its clearance height.
• Have floors, walls and the elevator car protected as building management requires.
• Have access cards and keys for both buildings ready.

Address changes: who needs to know

After an office move, your new address has to appear everywhere your business is officially registered or found by clients.

• Authorities: Trade office (Gewerbeamt) re-registration, tax office (Finanzamt); registered companies file the new address with the commercial register (Handelsregister).
• Online: Website legal notice (Impressum), Google Business Profile, business directories, social media profiles.
• Print: Letterhead, business cards, invoice templates, stamps, email signatures.
• Partners: Clients, suppliers, bank, insurers, tax advisor, phone and internet providers.
• Mail: Set up mail forwarding (Nachsendeauftrag) so nothing gets lost.

Which filings your type of business needs is best checked with your tax advisor or the Chamber of Commerce (IHK).

Disposing of old office furniture

Anything that is not going to the new office is best sorted out a few weeks before the move.

We take old office furniture and bulky waste (Sperrmüll) away with the move.

Check beforehand whether any furniture is leased or rented and has to be returned, and whether pieces in good condition can be sold or donated.

• Old electrical equipment does not belong with bulky waste; take it to a suitable collection point.
• Before disposal, arrange secure erasure or destruction of hard drives and other data carriers through a suitable specialist.
• Arrange data-protection-compliant destruction of files you no longer need to keep through a suitable provider.
• Check legal retention periods with your tax advisor first.

Informing employees and coordinating the move

Appoint one person to coordinate the move and inform your employees early, in writing, about the date, the process and their tasks.

The move coordinator is the contact for us, building management and IT. They keep the floor plan up to date and make quick decisions on moving day. In larger companies, an extra contact person in each department helps.

• Send a memo with the date, new address, directions and floor plan.
• Explain what each person packs themselves: desk, personal items, documents.
• Set one labeling standard: name, department, room and workstation number.
• If you have a works council (Betriebsrat), involve it early; check legal questions with your legal advisor.

Office move checklist

This checklist sums up the most important tasks before, during and after your office move.

• Move coordinator appointed, date set
• Inventory done: furniture, equipment, files, booths
• Floor plan with workstation numbers for the new office
• Quote received and scope agreed (disassembly and reassembly, booths, disposal)
• Building managers informed, elevator and access booked, no-parking zone sorted
• IT, internet and phones planned with providers, backup done
• Confidential files packed separately, sealed and listed
• Employees, clients and suppliers informed
• Address updated with authorities, online and in print
• Old premises cleared and handed over

Common mistakes when moving an office

Most problems in an office move come from planning too late and missing agreements, not from moving day itself.

• Starting too late: Appointments with building management, the IT provider and the phone company are often already taken.
• No floor plan: Without numbers, furniture and boxes end up in the wrong room.
• Vague labels: “Office” on a box helps no one; a room and workstation number does.
• Forgetting IT: Without internet at the new location, business stops even though the furniture is set up.
• Files packed openly: Confidential documents belong in sealed, listed boxes, not loose in moving crates.
• Not checking dimensions: Large cabinets or booth parts do not fit through every elevator and door.