The thousands of decisions that face an average relocation manager resemble a minefield. You can’t see where the hazards are until you step on them. Sadly, there are an almost unlimited number of ways to make costly mistakes. We will focus on the seven major areas where the most common mistakes are made. Then, we will discuss strategies you can use to prevent these mistakes from happening.

1. Bad Vendor Selections

The most common and most costly mistake is bad vendor selection. There are many vendors you will hire to help you relocate your office. These include architects, general contractors, project managers, interior designers, telephone systems and services vendors, computer systems and networking vendors, cabling installers, security system vendors, furniture system vendors, and moving companies, just to name the main ones. If you work for a larger company, the vendors you hire for the move may total more than 100. If you don’t allow enough time to properly plan a move, you end up making your vendor selections in haste. Hiring a bad vendor can jeopardize the entire move. Vendors who don’t deliver on time or as promised can delay the move, costing thousands in unnecessary expense.

Selection of competent vendors always seems easier than it really is. Most novice relocation managers will resort to the price and three references method of selection. This means that potential vendors are invited to submit a price for goods and services. Since it is assumed that all vendors are created equal, the temptation is to hire the vendor with the lowest price. Just to cover themselves, relocation managers will also require three references of satisfied customers who have successfully used that vendor. Simply by phoning those references and asking them if they were satisfied with the vendor should yield a risk-free selection, right? Nothing could be further from the truth! Do you really believe that a vendor will furnish names of dissatisfied customers? Vendors will supply only good references. Now, what do you do?

There are many areas of focus that will help you find the right vendor, and they go way beyond the price and three references approach. First, you need to determine the typical project size and scope in which your potential vendors have the most experience. You want to match your project as closely as possible with your vendors’ experience. Does the vendor work on projects of your size, or do they suit a different size of customer? What about the scope of the project? Have they performed many very-similar projects successfully, or is this one a stretch for them? Is your vendor a specialist in this specific requirement, or are they a generalist who attempts to satisfy many needs? The choice is ultimately yours, and there is no right or wrong answer.

Once you have shortened the list of potential vendors, you can arrange to take a tour of a customer site. This will give you a good idea of the vendors’ real life experiences. Some vendors may not be able to set up a tour at all. They either can’t find any satisfied customers, or they can’t show any similar project experience. Either way, this is what you want to find out now, not after you hire them. By the way, insist that the customer contact person be present during the tour. You want to ask the questions.

2. Poor Coordination

The second deadly mistake, poor coordination, is responsible for delays and cost overruns. Letting your vendors run wild without tight supervision is a formula for disaster. You are in charge. You will run this show. Too often, relocation managers will allow their architect or general contractor to handle the coordination issues, and manage the schedule. This usually results in a schedule that meets their needs, not yours. You have to hold their feet to the fire.

Why should you coordinate the project? Because if you don’t, you will be the referee for every fight and disagreement between the various vendors. Any time there are a dozen or more vendors involved, there are going to be conflicts. Every time the schedule is amended, all the other vendors are affected. If you are constantly reacting to these amendments, you will become unpopular in short order. Rather than playing Solomon, wouldn’t you rather oversee a calm, orderly project?

The vendors hired for a relocation project usually fall into two broad categories; construction related, and non-construction related. The construction related vendors are obvious. The first of these is the architect that designed the interior space, specified the materials and furnishings to be used, wrote the RFP to find a construction contractor, and applied for the permits. Possibly, you hired an interior design firm that works in conjunction with the architect. Next, the general contractor will oversee the actual building of the interior space. He hires and manages all the sub-contractors whose products and services include electrical, HVAC, plumbing, carpentry, drywall, carpet, resilient flooring, acoustical ceiling, millwork, paint, signage, and possibly others. If you have hired a project manager to oversee the construction project, this person will also fall into this category. He would be responsible for the timely completion of the construction project on budget. His effort, however, would be limited to the construction project.

Not every vendor you hire is directly tied to the construction project. You will likely be looking for vendors to provide and install a telephone System, access control security System, computer networking equipment, communications cabling, Systems (modular) furniture, telephone services (including dedicated data lines, ISDN, DSL, and T-1), and a furniture-moving vendor. While these vendors need to coordinate their efforts to maintain your project schedule, they are not considered to be construction-related. And here is where the coordination becomes critical.

Every change in the construction schedule potentially impacts the non-construction related vendors. If the general contractor discovers that the carpet you want is back-ordered, the modular furniture vendor cannot begin installation on time. The cabling vendor and electrician can’t wire the cubicles until they are installed. The phone and computer vendors can’t install and test their equipment until the cabling is finished. So, you can see how arbitrary changes made to the schedule would have a domino affect on every other vendor. You can’t allow one of your vendors to make changes to the schedule, no matter how minor, until you have assessed the impact on all other vendors. Your project completion could be delayed beyond the move-in date!

3. Insufficient Staffing

Inadequate supervision or poor coordination is usually the result of the third deadly mistake -- that of insufficient staffing, or the inability (or unwillingness) to delegate tasks. If you have no help, you can’t possibly manage the entire move. You need an orderly approach to managing the relocation.

First, recognize that you need help. You will have to recruit employees from within your organization who can carry part of the load. You will be the big cheese , or move director. Select the members of your team based on their area of expertise. These need not be department heads. In fact, most middle and upper management types are not good choices. They are unaccustomed to taking direction, and tend to argue with you about your decisions.

Specialized knowledge is the key. You want team members who have good working knowledge on their particular area of expertise, and access to certain corporate records. Here is a short list to get you thinking about the areas of expertise you will need on your move team:

Telephone Systems and Services
Computer Systems and Networking
Copiers and other Office Machines
Communications Cabling
Electronic Security
Furniture (including modular furniture)
Warehousing (materials management)
Postage Meters and other Mail Room equipment
Printing Services
Employee Roster
Customer Lists
Vendor/Supplier Relationships
Records Storage and Archiving
Construction Issues
Colors and Fabrics

You will not need a team member for each of the above items. Many of your team members will have multiple areas of knowledge.

Select your internal team early, and put them to work on specific tasks with firm dates for completion. You will have to set up a standing weekly meeting where everyone reports on his or her progress. Pick a time for the meeting when interruptions by phone or pager are less likely. Set an agenda each week, and stick to it. Set milestones for completion of each task. Have someone keep minutes of each meeting so there is no confusion about what was agreed, or about who said what. Don’t end the meeting until everyone is clear about his or her responsibilities for the next week. Begin each meeting with a review of what was agreed last week.

After you have established your internal team and meeting schedule, you will need to appoint or nominate a coordinator or liaison for each department within your organization. These are not members of your team, and will not attend the weekly meetings. They will simply represent their department for planning and coordination purposes. Just to start you thinking about it, some departments may include Executive, administration, human resources, product development, manufacturing, assembly, editorial, copywriting, marketing, sales, data processing, programming, information technology, MIS, communications, accounting, finance, customer service, order entry, fulfillment, installations, delivery, operations, shipping and receiving, materials management, claims, training, or credit union.

Your department coordinators will be responsible for knowing what items are to be moved, trashed, archived, and warehoused. It is helpful to create a database for the items in each category. This will come in handy later when you are obtaining estimates.

Your department coordinators will also be responsible for the layout of their department’s space. This includes the layout of individual offices and rooms within the space. It is important to have each office occupant sign off on their office layout before installing electrical outlets and cabling jacks on the wrong side of the office.

The department coordinators will have to tell you exactly where they want to place computer equipment, fax machines, copiers and printers. This must be known in advance of designing the electrical and cabling Systems. Many electrical outlets will need to be dedicated, not shared. You want to know this now, not after the electrician is sweeping up.

4. Starting Late

The fourth most common mistake is starting late. An office move takes many months, even after a site has been selected and a lease has been signed. Too many companies paint their vendors into a corner by allowing too little time to prepare a decent proposal, and even less time to deliver or install the goods and services purchased. A rushed vendor makes mistakes. Don’t place your move in jeopardy by expecting miracles.

5. Compressing the Schedule

Closely related to starting too late is the fifth deadly mistake, compressing the schedule. Trying to make up for lost time or a late start by reducing the allotted time for completion is very dangerous. Plan for enough time to allow each vendor to complete his task as agreed. Just because it takes nine months to make a baby, does not mean that nine guys can make a baby in one month!

Your vendor planned for this project, based on information you provided during your competition. They were selected based in part on their ability to get the project completed on time and on budget. Now, you must reduce the available time because of some schedule slippage caused by another vendor or unforeseen event. How can your vendor get the same quality job done in less time? One way is by throwing extra bodies at the project. Another is by working overtime (longer days, double-shifts and weekends). You can’t expect your vendor to eat this additional cost, since it is beyond their control. They will expect to be paid extra for this.

6. Inadequate Budgeting

The sixth mistake most commonly made is inadequate budgeting. Many companies have no idea what they will have to spend on their office move, and have no firm budget established. Others will establish an arbitrary budget that has no relation to reality. Both strategies are doomed. Without guidance, entire Systems are forgotten until the last minute, and must then be procured with unbudgeted funds. Constantly repeating its not in the budget serves no ones interests. If you expect your vendors to perform free services, you can pretty much imagine the quality of employee your vendor will give you. There are many places to look for help in getting budget estimates for all the goods and service required.

7. Poor Communication

Lastly, poor communication can sink your ship as surely as the iceberg sank the Titanic. You must keep your employees informed about the relocation, of course. But, most relocation managers stop there. You also have a responsibility to keep your customers and suppliers informed, as well as all vendors you have hired for the job. Uninformed customers and employees will leave you. Vendors can’t perform to your requirements if you don’t communicate them.

At a minimum, you should consider the following letters and memos to keep everyone informed. Some of these can be combined into one letter or memo:

Customers
Notify customers that you plan to move
Provide customers with new address and phone numbers after you move

Vendors/Suppliers
Provide date when relocation is planned
Provide new address and phone numbers after you move

Move Vendors
Weekly memos keeping everyone informed of move progress

Employees
Notify employees of your moving plans
Provide orientation at new site before move-in
Provide public transportation schedules and parking rules
Provide lists of local services (banks, restaurants, day-care centers)
Provide instructions for packing office contents
Provide employees with name of department coordinator

The hardest part of this is remembering all the vendors, suppliers, and service providers that need to be informed of your plans. It is easy to leave out someone important. Here is a list to stimulate your memory:

Vendors and Suppliers
Equipment manufacturers
Distributors
Copier/FAX dealers
Computer/Networking vendors
Telephone System vendors
Specialized equipment vendors (Mail handling, printing press. etc.)
Furniture vendors
Local telephone service provider
Long Distance telephone service provider
Leased line service providers (ISDN, DSL, T-1)
Commercial printer
Office supply vendors
Business forms suppliers