Office removals in London

What an office move costs in London

The table on this page is the London market for a typical office move, with our starting point set below it. Up to 10 desks is usually one evening. Ten to 30 desks is an evening plus a day. Thirty to 60 desks takes a weekend. Anything above that, or a move across several floors, is phased over two weekends and priced after a survey.

What moves the number: floor level and lift access at both ends, whether a parking bay has to be suspended, how much IT needs disconnecting and reconnecting, crate hire, and whether you need storage between leases.

What is included

• Free on-site survey across London and Hertfordshire, and a written fixed quote
• Crate hire, delivered before the move and collected after
• Packing and unpacking, full or partial, including desk-by-desk labelling
• IT equipment disconnected, transported, reconnected and tested
• Furniture dismantling and reassembly: desks, pedestals, boardroom tables, storage walls
• Out-of-hours moves: evenings, weekends and bank holidays
• Storage between leases in sealed containers, so one company handles both
• Old furniture and IT cleared as a registered waste carrier, see office waste removal

How an office move works

1. Survey. We walk both sites with you, count desks and comms cabinets, check lifts, loading bays and parking, and ask the one question that sets everything else: how long can you be off the network?
2. Fixed written quote. Priced for the whole job, including any parking suspension and crate hire, so there is one number to sign off.
3. Crates and labels. Crates arrive a few days ahead. Every desk, crate and cable bag gets a label matching a floor plan of the new office.
4. Move night. Usually a Friday evening. IT is disconnected and bagged per desk, furniture is dismantled where it needs to be, and the vans run until the old office is empty.
5. Reconnect and sign off. Desks go where the plan says, IT is reconnected and tested, crates are collected once you have unpacked. You open on Monday.

The parts of a London office move that go wrong

Parking. A removals lorry needs a suspended bay in most of London, and it is never same-day. In the London Borough of Barnet a suspension is £69.63 per bay per day plus a £171.39 admin fee and needs at least 7 days notice; in Brent it is £67 per bay per day with 14 days notice, plus a one-off £133 fee if booked later. Those are the fees at the time of writing and they change every April. Central boroughs charge more and ask for more notice. We apply on your behalf and build it into the quote. Booking a move without one is how a job turns into a long carry or a parking ticket.

Goods lifts. Managed buildings almost always require a lift booking and proof of insurance filed with building management, often two weeks ahead. We send our insurance certificates straight to your building manager.

Dilapidations. Your outgoing lease will hold you to making good. Wall fixings, cable trunking and floor boxes are the usual arguments. We photograph condition at both ends before we touch anything.

The IT window. The real constraint is rarely the furniture, it is how long you can be off the network. We work backwards from that, and it is the first question at survey.

What a 20-desk move looks like

A 20-desk office moving from a serviced building near Wembley Park to a first-floor unit in Watford is a typical job for us. Survey on a weekday, crates delivered the Tuesday before, parking dispensation booked for the loading bay at the old site and a suspended bay at the new one. On the Friday the team arrives at 6pm, has the desks down and the comms cabinet bagged by 9pm, and the last van is unloaded in Watford by midnight. Saturday is reassembly and reconnection, Sunday is a walk-round with the office manager to check every desk boots. Staff arrive on Monday to their own monitor, their own chair and a working network. Priced in the 10 to 30 desk band, from £2,300.

Where we work

Based at 19 Uphill Drive, London NW9 0BU, so we cover north and north-west London from our own yard: NW9, NW4, NW7, NW11, HA8, HA7, HA0, HA9, HA4, EN4, EN5, and across central London to the City, Westminster, Camden, Islington, Shoreditch and Canary Wharf. Into Hertfordshire we regularly work Watford, Borehamwood, Elstree, Radlett, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead. See all the areas we cover.

Hertfordshire parking is cheaper and simpler than London’s. Hertsmere (Borehamwood, Elstree, Radlett) issues a commercial dispensation at £20 per day or £40 per week with 48 working hours notice, and Three Rivers (Rickmansworth, Croxley Green) charges £35.50 per bay per day with 10 days notice, at the time of writing. Business parks and units with their own loading bays usually need nothing beyond a word with the site manager.

Why Sal Removals

Checkatrade member. Fully insured. Our own professionally trained team in our own branded vans, not agency labour, which matters more on an office move than any other kind because the crew who packed the comms cabinet on Friday are the ones plugging it back in on Saturday.

If your business is also moving its registered address, our guide to updating your address when you move covers the personal side for your staff.

Call 020 3475 0377, Monday to Sunday 8am to 8pm, or request a free office survey and we will call you back to book it.