Office Move IT Considerations: The Complete Technology Checklist

The AMVIA Team | 9 min read · Mar 2026

Why is IT the critical path in an office move?

Most office moves fail not on furniture vans but on IT. New circuits take weeks to provision, phone numbers take weeks to port, and servers need careful sequencing. Leave IT to the final month and you arrive on day one with no internet, no phones and no shared drives.

Connectivity is the long pole. A business leased line typically takes 30–90 working days from order to go-live, because the order triggers an Openreach survey, possible civils work and equipment provisioning — none of which can be rushed. Openreach publishes its Ethernet and FTTP delivery process, and lead times stretch where new fibre has to be dug (Openreach). Plan IT first, then build the rest of the move around it.

If you run lean and want one accountable partner from survey to go-live, our managed IT support team treats the IT relocation as a project with a critical path, not an afterthought.

What should you plan 12 weeks before relocation?

Twelve weeks out, your job is to know what the new building can deliver and what you already own. Confirm connectivity availability before you sign the lease, audit every piece of hardware, and produce a network layout. These three tasks set the budget and timeline for everything that follows.

Assess the new site's connectivity options. Before contracts are signed on the premises, establish:

• Is a business leased line (Ethernet) available, at what speed and cost?
• Is full-fibre (FTTP) on site, or is it still FTTC or ADSL? Ofcom's connected-nations data shows full-fibre availability varies sharply by postcode (Ofcom).
• Are there existing ISP circuits in the building you can assume?
• What is mobile signal strength for 4G failover and staff devices?

If the address is underserved, the Government's full-fibre programme may change what is available locally (Project Gigabit, gov.uk).

Audit your existing IT infrastructure. Before anything is unplugged, catalogue physical servers (location, role, age, virtualisation), network switches and patch panels, desk and DECT phones, printers and MFDs, UPS and rack power, and any long-lead specialist kit such as firewalls.

Plan the new network layout. Work with your provider or cabling contractor on data points per desk and meeting room, server-room power and cooling, wireless access-point positions, the structured cabling schedule (CAT6/CAT6A runs), and patch panel and switch counts.

Structured cabling in a new office costs roughly £80–£150 per data point installed (typical UK 2026 range), depending on complexity. Getting it right at fit-out is far cheaper than retrofitting once desks are occupied.

What needs ordering 8 weeks before the move?

Eight weeks out, orders go in. Place every connectivity order, decide your telephony future, and flag which workloads move to the cloud. These are the decisions with the longest lead times, so committing now is what protects your move date.

The table below sets realistic lead times for the three connectivity routes:

Order connectivity. Place leased-line orders 8–12 weeks before go-live and size for current needs plus 30% headroom for growth. Order a temporary business broadband or 4G bridge so you are never offline on day one.

Plan telephony migration. An office move is the right moment to drop a physical PBX rather than relocate it. If your staff already use Teams, Microsoft Teams Calling with Direct Routing removes the on-premise phone system entirely. Number porting to a hosted business VoIP platform typically takes 2–4 weeks (typical UK 2026 timeline), so start at least six weeks out.

Assess cloud migration. Physical servers add cost and risk at a new site. Move file storage to SharePoint and OneDrive, migrate any on-premise Exchange to Microsoft 365, check whether line-of-business apps have cloud versions, and confirm backups are cloud-based, not tied to a NAS or tape that has to travel. Microsoft 365 gives a single cloud platform for files, mail and identity (Microsoft 365, microsoft.com).

What should you confirm 4 weeks before move day?

Four weeks out is for confirmation and preparation, not new decisions. Get go-live dates in writing, test the new site's lines and kit before staff arrive, and make sure every endpoint is backed up. This window is where a calm move day is won or lost.

• Chase every connectivity order and confirm expected go-live dates in writing.
• Arrange an engineer visit to test line quality at the new site before move day.
• Configure and test the router, firewall and switches at the new premises in advance.
• Back up all laptops and desktops to cloud storage before they are physically moved — the NCSC's guidance on backing up data is the baseline here (NCSC).
• Label every device with user name and new desk location.
• Prepare a hardware refresh list — retire kit that is not worth moving rather than relocating it.

What is the right IT sequence on move day?

On move day the order of operations matters. Bring shared infrastructure up first, prove the internet works, then connect users last. Connecting computers before the network is confirmed is how a move day turns into a move week.

1. Infrastructure first — switch, patch panel and router operational before any user kit arrives. 2. Test internet connectivity before unpacking computers. 3. Connect file servers, or confirm cloud access is working. 4. Set up phones and test inbound and outbound calls. 5. Connect user computers last, once shared infrastructure is confirmed. 6. Keep a 4G hotspot or router on standby as emergency failover — a backup connectivity line removes this risk entirely.

What should you check in the first two weeks after moving?

The first fortnight is about catching teething problems while you are still inside the install care period. Monitor the new circuits, audit everything that arrived, update your documentation, and tell suppliers and regulators your new address. Small issues logged now get fixed free.

• Monitor internet performance and log any drops or slowdowns; escalate to your ISP promptly while the care-and-maintenance period applies.
• Audit all equipment — confirm everything arrived, nothing was damaged, all peripherals are present.
• Update network and WAN topology diagrams and documentation for the new site.
• Update your business address with suppliers, regulators, your website and Google Business Profile.
• Confirm disaster recovery and backup are running correctly from the new location.

What are the most common office move IT mistakes?

The recurring failures are predictable and avoidable: late connectivity orders, assuming numbers transfer themselves, relocating ageing servers, skipping a verified backup, and under-planning Wi-Fi. Every one is a planning gap, not a technical limitation — which means every one is preventable.

• Leaving connectivity too late. The single biggest cause of day-one failure. Order 8–12 weeks out.
• Assuming phone numbers transfer automatically. They do not — porting must be actively managed.
• Moving old servers instead of migrating. If hardware is more than four years old, relocating it rarely pays.
• No tested backup before the move. Kit gets damaged in transit; verify data is backed up before disconnecting anything.
• Inadequate wireless planning. One consumer router cannot cover a medium office — plan access-point positions in advance.