Business Moves and Commercial Removals in Manchester

Offices, shops, workshops and storage units across Manchester and the surrounding towns.

A house move ends when the boxes are in. A business move ends when the business is working again.

Why a business move is not just a bigger house move

The furniture part is the easy half.

What makes a commercial move different is that something has to be working at the other end, usually by a particular morning. Staff need somewhere to sit. Phones need to ring. Whatever the business actually does needs to be possible again.

That changes what matters. On a house move the question is how much there is. On a business move the question is what has to be running first, and everything else is arranged around the answer.

The first thing worth deciding, before anybody quotes, is this: what has to work on the first morning?

For one business that is six desks and the internet. For another it is a stockroom and a till. For another it is a workshop with the machines plugged in. Tell us that at the start and the rest of the planning has something to organise itself around.

The kinds of premises we are asked about

Business removals vary more than domestic ones, which is why a description is more useful than a category.

Offices. Desks, screens, chairs, storage, a server cupboard or a comms cabinet. Usually the most people and the most cables.
Shops and retail units. Fittings, displays, counters and stock. Stock is almost always the part that is underestimated.
Workshops and light industrial. Benches, tools, materials, and often something heavy that needs its own conversation.
Storage units and stockrooms. Frequently moved on their own, separately from the main premises, and frequently forgotten until late.
Serviced and managed buildings. These come with their own arrangements for lifts, loading and access hours, set by the building rather than by you.

If your premises is a mix of those, say so. Most are.

The three decisions that shape the job

Almost every commercial move comes down to the same three, and having answers makes everything quicker.

When. Most businesses want the quietest possible window, which often means a weekend or outside normal hours. Say early if that is what you need, because it shapes availability more than anything else.
What is actually coming. Commercial premises accumulate more than homes do, and a move is the one honest opportunity to deal with it. Anything undecided tends to travel by default.
Who needs telling. Landlords and building managers at both ends usually have requirements of their own. Finding out what they are early is the single biggest cause of straightforward days.

None of that needs solving before you get in touch. It is simply what the conversation will cover.

The parts people worry about most

Anything that plugs in. Computers, servers, tills, phone systems. What needs planning is the order it all comes back on in, and who is doing that. If you have an IT provider, the useful step is putting them and us on the same timeline early.
Anything wired or plumbed in. Machinery, catering equipment, anything hard wired. That needs someone qualified to disconnect and reconnect, arranged separately, and it is worth flagging at quote stage rather than on the day.
Files and records. Most businesses hold more paper than they think, and some of it is sensitive. Tell us if any of it needs treating differently and we will talk it through.
The things nobody has looked at in years. The back of the stockroom, the cupboard by the fire door, the mezzanine. Twenty minutes with a torch before we quote is worth more than any description.

What happens to what you are not taking

Almost every business move leaves something behind, and it is usually furniture that suited the old space and does not suit the new one.

It is worth deciding early rather than on the day, because three piles make everything simpler: coming with you, going elsewhere, and staying put. Anything still undecided by moving day tends to get loaded, which means paying to move something nobody wanted.

If some of it is going to a different destination, or into storage while a decision gets made, that is ordinary and can be quoted as one job. Just mention it at the start.

Leaving the old place

The move out is half the job, and the half that gets planned last.

Most commercial leases have something to say about the state the premises is returned in. What that means in practice varies enormously, so it is worth reading what yours actually says before assuming.

Whatever it turns out to require, knowing it before the move is booked is better than discovering it afterwards. If it affects what needs moving or when, tell us and it gets built into the plan rather than bolted on.

When the move has to be shaped around the business

We have standard services and for most business moves one of them is the simplest way to book.

Some do not fit. A move split across two weekends. Part of the premises going into storage while a refit finishes. Two sites combining into one. An overnight move because the business cannot close. A stockroom going one way and an office going another.

Say so and we will tell you what can be arranged around it. The quickest route is the form. Give us the outline and we will come back to you.

Get a price for your business move

Tell us the type of premises, roughly how big, what has to be working first, and the access at both ends.

Where we cover

We are a Manchester removals company based at Swan Street in the city centre, so most of Greater Manchester is a short run rather than a journey. Commercial removals further afield are arranged too, including moves out of the region.

Questions people ask

Can you move us at a weekend or overnight?

It is one of the most common requests for commercial removals, and it is worth raising at the first conversation because it affects availability more than anything else.

How far ahead should we book?

Sooner is better for business moves than domestic ones, because the date is usually fixed by a lease rather than by choice. Ask even if it is short notice.

Can you move us in stages?

Yes, and plenty of businesses do. Mention it at quote stage so the whole thing is priced as one job rather than two.

Do we need to empty the desks?

Tell us what state things will be in and we will factor it in. It is a normal question, not a test.

What about our IT?

Tell us what you have and who looks after it. If there is an IT provider involved, the earlier everyone is on the same timeline the better.

Can you take things we are not keeping?

Tell us what it is and where it should go, and we will tell you what can be arranged.

Get a price