How long does it take to move offices in the UK?

Moving offices in the UK can take anything from a single weekend to several months, depending on the size of the office and the complexity of the move.

The truth is, an office move is rarely just the day the vans turn up.

Office moves involve a lot of planning; teams have to coordinate access to both buildings, pack and label equipment, install furniture and make sure IT systems are live and ready to go.

From the outside, it often does look like a couple of busy days and a lot of boxes. Behind the scenes, though, most office moves are made up of dozens of decisions, lead times, and organising people, buildings, technology, and suppliers.

It's because of all of these reasons that the timeline for an office move has very little to do with the distance between locations and everything to do with the company.

Most office moves are not just about packing up one site and unpacking another. They also involve making sure phones are live, meeting rooms work properly, and systems are set up and secure from day one.

If you're planning an office move in the UK and need a company that offers professional office moves with project management included, get in touch with SFI today for a free quote.

What affects the timeline of an office move?

 

Most delays in office moves come from the same handful of issues.

The good news is that they are usually predictable. If you spot them early, you can plan around them, rather than scrambling to fix problems in the final week.

 

1) The type of workspace you are moving into

The kind of office you choose to move into has a huge impact on timing.

A serviced office is normally ready to use almost straight away, with furniture, power, and connectivity already in place. A leased office is a very different story. Once fit-out works are involved, timelines can quickly stretch by weeks or even months, especially if you need landlord approvals or specialist contractors.

 

2) How complicated your IT setup is

IT can be one of the biggest drivers of office move timelines. If you are moving servers, network racks, specialist hardware, or secure systems that can't just be unplugged and switched back on, the move needs careful planning and testing. 

In many cases, a phased approach is the best option to make sure the whole team isn't offline at the same time.

If downtime would be expensive for your business, working with a specialist IT removals company is highly recommended.

 

3) Multi-site or phased moves

When more than one site is involved, or when teams need to move in stages to keep the business running, the move stops being a single event.

Instead, it becomes a bigger project to manage, with multiple move days, planned handovers, and sometimes temporary business storage or swing space in between.

These moves can take longer overall, but they are often a lot less disruptive when managed properly. 

 

4) Building constraints and access rules

Buildings can quietly slow a move down. Lift availability, loading bay access, parking restrictions, security, and limits on out-of-hours working all affect how quickly furniture and equipment can be moved by teams. 

These details are easy to overlook, but they can add days to a move if they are not checked properly in advance.

 

5) How much you are taking with you

Most offices carry years of accumulated furniture, files, and equipment that no one really needs anymore. Moving all of it costs time and money.

Decluttering before the move reduces packing time, speeds up installation at the new site, and makes the whole move feel more organised.

Explore: commercial office clearance and recycling

 

A realistic office move timeline

 

It helps to think about an office move in two separate parts.

There is the project timeline, which covers planning, preparation, and IT, and then there is the physical move, which is the packing, transport, installation, and testing.

Both matter, but most delays happen in the project stage, long before the first box is packed.

Phase 1: planning and scoping (around 2 to 6 weeks)

This is where good office moves are set up for success. The aim is to have everything laid out early, reduce risk, and agree on a plan that everyone understands and can stick to.

At this stage, businesses are usually:

• Agreeing what success actually looks like, including deadlines, acceptable downtime, budget, and non-negotiables
• Appointing a clear move owner, plus internal leads from IT, HR, and facilities to help with certain parts
• Creating a realistic inventory of what is moving, what will be replaced, and what can be disposed of
• Confirming building requirements at both sites, like access times, lift bookings, loading rules, and security passes
• deciding whether the move will happen in one go or be phased to protect day-to-day operations

This stage often feels easy, which is why it gets rushed.

Using an office move checklist early helps make sure nothing important is missed when things start to speed up. 

Phase 2: move planning and project management (around 2 to 8 weeks)

For smaller, easy moves, this phase often overlaps with the initial planning. For bigger offices, multi-floor relocations, multi-site moves, or IT-heavy businesses, it becomes a whole new phase in its own right.

This is where an experienced moving company can take pressure off internal teams by taking the lead with coordinating suppliers, schedules, access and departments.

Work at this stage includes:

• Producing a clear move plan with milestones, owners, and deadlines
• Confirming final floorplans in the new space so furniture and equipment are installed in the right place first time
• Setting packing and labelling rules, often desk-by-desk or department-by-department
• Deciding what moves first, like archives, non-essential furniture, or spare equipment
• Building a detailed IT plan, including testing windows and options if something does not work as expected

This is often the difference between a calm move and one where decisions are being made in a loading bay at the last minute.

Phase 3: IT and connectivity (often 4 to 12+ weeks)

This is the part many businesses underestimate.

An office can look finished and still be unusable. Until systems are live and tested, work cannot really begin.

At a minimum, teams need:

• Stable internet
• Reliable Wi-Fi coverage 
• Phones or softphones properly working
• Meeting room screens and AV working
• Security systems fully live

If your move includes servers, network racks or specialist devices, the stakes are higher.

Secure transport, planned reconnection and thorough testing all need to be built into the timeline. 

 

Phase 4: the physical move and installations (from 1 day to 2+ weeks)

This is the part most people picture, but it is not always a single day.

As a rough guide:

• Small offices of up to 20 people often move in 1 to 2 days, as long as they have a basic setup
• Medium offices of 20 to 80 people usually take 2 to 5 days, depending on access and how complicated they are
• Bigger offices, multi-floor moves, or IT-heavy moves can take 1 to 2 weeks or longer, especially if done in phases

If desks, storage, office pods, or specialist furniture need installing, this should be planned properly rather than treated as an afterthought. 

Phase 5: Fixing final issues (around 3 to 10 working days)

An office move is rarely finished when the last box is unloaded.

There is usually a settling-in period where teams:

• Fix Wi-Fi dead zones or connectivity issues
• Tweak meeting room layouts and technology
• Fix small furniture or installation issues
• Check everyone has what they need to work comfortably
• Finalise removals from the old site and complete handover tasks

Making sure that all of these elements are checked properly straight after the move can help avoid more time-intensive issues further down the line.

 

How long does the office move itself take?

 

If you mean the actual packing, loading, transport, and unloading, it can be surprisingly quick with the right plan.

A well-run move for a small or medium sized office can be completed over a weekend, but only if:

• Building access is confirmed
• Your layout is finalised
• Your packing system is consistent and easy to find
• IT has been planned and tested
• Furniture is installed in the right order

Moves tend to take longer when the business needs to stay up and running throughout the transition, or when IT systems cannot be taken offline in one go. In those situations, a phased approach is normally the safest and least disruptive option.

 

How to shorten your office move timeline without making it stressful

 

If you want to move faster without creating chaos during your office move, the key is to plan early, rather than rushing at the end. 

We recommend that businesses:

• Start with a clear brief. Agree what the move needs to achieve, what cannot slip, and what is flexible. Fewer late changes means fewer delays and far less stress.
• Run workstreams in parallel. Legal sign-off, layout planning, and IT preparation should move forward together. Waiting for one to finish before starting another is one of the fastest ways to cause a delay.
  
• Declutter before you pack. Moving less saves time twice over: fewer items to transport, and far less to unpack and reinstall at the new site.
• Use a phased approach when downtime is risky. If systems or teams cannot all move at once, phased relocations are often faster overall than trying to recover from a rushed “big bang” move.
• Treat the move like a project, not an admin task. Office moves involve big teams, deadlines, and risk. Proper project management keeps everything moving in the right order.

Why businesses use SFI for complicated office moves

 

When an office move is multi-phase, multi-site, or reliant on specialist IT, success comes down to coordination. Every part of the move needs to work together, from people and buildings to furniture, technology, and access.

SFI has over 30 years of experience planning office moves with hands-on delivery and specialist office furniture installation, helping businesses move with little disruption. 

If you are planning an office move and want a professional team behind you, get in touch with SFI today for a free quote.