An office move is a project management challenge disguised as a logistics problem. The physical act of loading furniture onto trucks and unloading it at a new address takes one or two days. The planning, communication, IT coordination, vendor management, and lease administration that make that day go smoothly or ensure it doesn’t takes months.
Most Ottawa business owners who have moved an office will tell you the same thing: they started planning too late. The consequences of late starts are always the same: missed lease notice deadlines, internet circuits ordered after move-in, employees finding out about the move with two weeks’ notice, and a moving day that runs hours over budget because nobody coordinated the freight elevator booking in advance.
This checklist gives you the complete 6-month timeline for an Ottawa office move, organized phase by phase, with the specific tasks that matter most called out clearly. Whether you’re running a 5-person professional services firm in Centretown or a 50-person tech company in Kanata North, every phase below applies. The scale changes; the sequence doesn’t.
For the strategic framework behind a commercial relocation costs, downtime planning, IT migration principles, and building access protocols see our commercial moving guide for Ottawa businesses. This checklist is what you use to execute it.
Before the Checklist: Assign a Move Coordinator
Before any of the tasks below begin, assign a single internal move coordinator one person with the authority to make decisions and the responsibility to communicate them. This is not a committee job. A move managed by three people who each assume the others are handling the IT vendor coordination, the freight elevator booking, and the employee briefing will miss all three.
The move coordinator’s role:
- Owns the master checklist and tracks completion
- Is the single point of contact for the moving company, the landlord at both locations, and the IT provider
- Communicates milestone updates to all employees on a defined schedule
- Makes time-sensitive decisions when timelines conflict
In a small office (under 10 employees), this is typically the office manager or the business owner. In a larger office, it should be someone in operations with enough seniority to get cooperation from department heads when they need it.
6 Months Before Moving Day
The 6-month mark is where long-lead decisions live the decisions that cannot be reversed or compressed without creating downstream problems.
Confirm the new lease and move-in date in writing.
The move-in date is the anchor for every subsequent task. Do not begin building the checklist until the lease is signed and the possession date is confirmed in writing. Everything else on this list is positioned relative to that date.
Review the exit clause in your current lease.
Most Ottawa commercial leases require 3–6 months written notice of non-renewal. Missing this deadline means paying rent on a space you no longer occupy. Check your lease for the specific notice period, the method of delivery required (registered mail? email?), and the restoration requirements (are you required to remove modifications made during the tenancy?). If restoration is required, get quotes from contractors now restoration work at the end of a tenancy is frequently rushed and expensive.
Complete a full asset inventory.
Every desk, chair, monitor, server, printer, filing cabinet, storage unit, piece of AV equipment, and specialty item in the office should be on a numbered inventory list. Separate this into three categories:
- Move: Goes to the new office
- Dispose/donate: Not needed at the new space
- Undecided: Needs a decision by a specific date
An inventory completed at 6 months gives you 4 months to arrange disposal of unwanted items and prevents the most expensive outcome: paying to move things you were going to get rid of anyway.
Issue RFQs to Ottawa commercial moving companies.
Contact 3 commercial movers for written quotes based on your asset inventory. For Ottawa office moves, request quotes specifically from commercial moving companies with experience in after-hours and weekend moves most downtown Ottawa buildings require off-hours commercial moves. Parkview Moving’s commercial moving service provides written quotes based on inventory walkthroughs, not square footage estimates. Request written, itemized quotes not verbal ballparks. For how to evaluate what’s in those quotes, see our guide on how to read a moving quote line by line.
Place telecom and internet orders.
This is the single most commonly missed 6-month task, and the one with the most severe consequences. Internet circuits and business phone lines at a new Ottawa office location require 45–90 days of lead time with most providers, depending on the building’s existing infrastructure and the service requested. If you order on possession date, you will be without connectivity for 6–12 weeks after move-in.
Order now. Contact your internet provider, confirm the new address is serviceable, place the order, and get a confirmed installation date in writing. If the confirmed date is after your move-in date, arrange a temporary connectivity solution (cellular hotspot or temporary business internet) as a bridge.
Notify building management at the current office.
Beyond the lease notice, notify building management of the move date for practical coordination: when you will begin removing items, how you plan to manage the freight elevator during the move-out, and whether any restoration work will be done before or after move-out day.
4 Months Before Moving Day
Award the moving contract.
Select your commercial mover, sign the contract, and confirm the move date in writing. For Ottawa office moves, get the specific start time, crew size, number of trucks, and which services are included (packing, furniture disassembly and reassembly, IT equipment handling) confirmed in the contract. Review our commercial moving guide for Ottawa businesses for the full contract checklist.
Begin building access coordination at both locations.
For downtown Ottawa buildings (particularly Class A and B towers on Slater, Albert, and Sparks Streets and along the Queensway corridor), freight elevator booking requires advance notice often 30 days, sometimes more. For Kanata North technology park buildings, security access for moving crews may require pre-approval that takes several weeks.
Confirm with both buildings:
- What are the permitted move hours? (Many downtown Ottawa buildings restrict commercial moves to evenings and weekends)
- How far in advance must the freight elevator be booked?
- What certificate of insurance (COI) does the building require from the moving company, and who must be named as additional insured?
- Is there a damage deposit for freight elevator use? What is the refund process?
Your moving company should handle the COI submission confirm this at contract signing. Parkview Moving submits COI documentation to building management as a standard part of every Ottawa commercial move.
Create the new office floor plan.
Get the precise dimensions of the new office space and create a floor plan with workstation placements. Assign every desk position, every meeting room configuration, and every storage area before the move date. This serves two purposes: it confirms that all your existing furniture actually fits, and it gives the moving crew a placement plan so furniture doesn’t need to be repositioned after delivery.
Share the floor plan with employees so they know where they’ll be sitting on day one.
Complete the IT pre-move assessment.
Meet with your IT provider or internal IT team to audit all hardware:
- What moves as-is?
- What requires specialized handling (server racks, NAS devices, networking hardware)?
- What is being decommissioned?
- What are the power and connectivity requirements at each workstation position in the new office?
Photograph the existing server room, network rack, and all cable runs before any equipment is touched. This photograph record is the fastest way to restore the configuration at the new location. For offices with significant IT infrastructure, book your IT provider for server room setup at the new location on a specific date not “sometime around the move.”
First employee communication announcement.
This is the formal first notification to all employees. Communicate:
- The move date (or expected move date if not yet confirmed)
- The new address
- The reason for the move (growth, lease expiry, cost savings, better location)
- What will and won’t change for employees (commute considerations, parking, public transit)
- The timeline for additional updates
Do not let employees hear about the office move through informal channels before the formal announcement. In a small office this happens quickly. In a larger office it is a morale problem. The announcement should come from senior leadership, not from a memo from HR.
2 Months Before Moving Day
Confirm freight elevator booking in writing.
If you haven’t already, confirm the freight elevator booking at both buildings in writing date, time window, and confirmation contact. This is the document you reference if there is a problem on moving day.
Finalize the decommissioning plan.
Everything on the “dispose/donate” list from the 6-month inventory needs a confirmed destination:
- Furniture donation: Ottawa furniture banks and charities (Furniture Bank Ottawa, Ottawa Mission, Habitat for Humanity ReStore) accept good-condition office furniture. Book pickup well in advance these organizations schedule 2–3 weeks out during busy periods.
- Electronics disposal: Ottawa e-waste programs and IT asset disposition (ITAD) vendors handle electronics recycling. For devices with company data, ensure certified data destruction is completed before disposal.
- Furniture liquidation: Ottawa office furniture liquidators will purchase or remove surplus furniture for a fee in most 2026 market conditions. Book removal early.
Order packing supplies (or confirm the moving company supplies them).
If employees are packing their own desks and personal items, order supplies now: boxes in two sizes (letter-size for files, standard medium for desk contents), packing tape, permanent markers, and asset tags for numbered inventory tracking. Assign each employee a specific box allocation and a packing completion deadline.
If your commercial moving companies provider is supplying packing service and materials, confirm the materials list in writing and the packing crew arrival date (typically the day before the move).
Second employee communication logistics detail.
At 2 months out, employees need the operational specifics:
- Their packing responsibilities (what do they pack themselves, what does the mover pack)
- The labelling system (what goes on each box, where the boxes go, what “open first” means)
- Any remote work provisions for moving day and the day after
- New office parking and commute information with specifics (where is parking, what is the cost, which transit lines serve the new address)
- Their workstation location in the new floor plan
Publish this communication in writing email and your internal team channel and make it available for reference in the weeks before the move.
Notify clients, vendors, and service providers of address change.
Start the address update process now, not the week of the move. Priority contacts:
- Key clients (personal communication from account manager or owner, not a mass email)
- Suppliers and vendors
- Canada Post (mail forwarding from old address)
- Banks and financial institutions
- Business insurance provider (update the insured premises address)
- CRA (change of address for GST/HST, payroll remittances, corporate returns)
- City of Ottawa business licence (if applicable address update required within 90 days)
- WSIB (update employer address on file)
- Professional associations and regulatory bodies
- All online directories: Google Business Profile (critical update this on move day or the day after), Yelp, Yellow Pages, BBB
Update your website and marketing materials.
New address on the website, updated business cards ordered, email signature templates updated and distributed, letterhead updated. Do not let the move date pass with an incorrect address on your website this is how local search ranking is affected and how clients show up at the wrong building.
1 Month Before Moving Day
Conduct a pre-move walkthrough with the moving company.
Walk through the current office with the moving company project manager. Identify:
- Any items requiring special handling (server equipment, antiques, large AV installations, specialty equipment)
- Access constraints at both locations (narrow hallways, low ceilings, items that require disassembly to exit)
- The truck parking position at both buildings
- The loading sequence (which items go on the truck first)
This walkthrough catches access problems before moving day, not on it.
Complete the IT migration plan in detail.
Your IT plan should now be specific:
- Server room setup date at new location (before general move-in if possible)
- Workstation connectivity testing date
- Phone system cutover date (if different from move date)
- Data backup verification (has the most recent backup been tested with an actual restore?)
- IT vendor on-site hours on move day and the following day
- Employee IT helpdesk contact for the move period
Assign box labels and numbering system.
Every box should have a unique number, a destination room at the new office, the department or employee it belongs to, and a priority designation (First Open, Regular, Storage). The move coordinator holds the master inventory that maps box numbers to contents. This system pays dividends when the moving crew asks where box 47 goes and the answer isn’t “I’m not sure.”
Confirm after-hours access at both buildings.
Reconfirm that the building management at both locations has confirmed after-hours access for the move date and time. Bring the confirmation contact information to moving day.
Book temporary connectivity if needed.
If your internet circuit won’t be active on move-in date, confirm your temporary connectivity solution is booked: cellular hotspot devices for key employees, or a temporary business internet service. Budget $200–$500 for a 4-week temporary connectivity solution far less expensive than the cost of employees unable to work.
2 Weeks Before Moving Day
Begin packing non-essential items.
Items not needed for daily operations in the next 2 weeks can be packed now: archives, books, seasonal decorations, seldom-used supplies, storage room contents. Pack systematically, room by room, and update the master inventory as each box is sealed and numbered.
Third employee communication final preparation.
Two weeks out, employees need their final operational instructions:
- Exact move date and time
- Their personal packing deadline (desks must be packed by end of day Thursday, for example)
- What to bring home for the move period (personal items they’ll need if the office is inaccessible for a day)
- First day at the new office: what time, where to park, which entrance to use, what will and won’t be set up on day one
Arrange disconnect of specialised services at the old office.
Depending on your setup:
- Schedule internet circuit disconnect at the old address (confirm the date with your provider to avoid paying for unused service after move-out)
- Schedule phone line transfer or cancellation
- Arrange utility account transfers (hydro, gas if the business is responsible for utilities rather than the landlord)
Set up the server room at the new location (if possible).
If the new office is accessible 2 weeks before the general move, set up the server room and network infrastructure first before any furniture or general equipment arrives. This gives your IT provider time to resolve connectivity issues before move day, rather than on it. Internet connectivity testing before move day is the single most important pre-move IT step.
Confirm mover schedule in writing.
Reconfirm with your commercial moving company: the exact start time, crew size, truck count, sequence of operations (will they pack on Thursday and move on Friday? Or move everything on Saturday?), and the expected completion time. Distribute this schedule to the move coordinator and building management at both locations.
Moving Day Checklist
Before the crew arrives:
- Confirm building access at both locations is confirmed and the freight elevator is reserved for your window
- Moving coordinator is on-site at the origin location when the crew arrives
- Floor protection is in place at the origin (crews bring this confirm it’s happening)
- All boxes are sealed, numbered, and in the room they’re being collected from
- All furniture that requires disassembly has been identified to the crew lead
- Server equipment has been properly powered down in the correct sequence (by IT, not the moving crew)
- Emergency contact list for the day: crew lead mobile, building manager at both locations, IT provider, move coordinator
During the move:
- Move coordinator walks each room at the origin after it’s cleared to confirm nothing is left
- Move coordinator is present at the destination to direct placement using the floor plan
- Photograph any pre-existing damage at the new office before the first piece of furniture enters (for your records and the landlord’s)
- Confirm with building management that the freight elevator deposit process is completed
At the end of moving day:
- Final walkthrough of the old office: every room, every closet, the server room, the kitchen, the storage room, the bathrooms
- Return all keys, access cards, and garage remotes to the landlord or building manager as required by your lease
- Photograph the empty office (for lease-end restoration documentation)
- Confirm all utilities at the old address are scheduled for disconnect
The First Week in the New Office
The move is done. The work isn’t.
IT connectivity verification.
First hour of operations: test internet connectivity at every workstation and in every meeting room. Test the phone system. Confirm VPN access works for remote employees. Confirm printers are online. If anything is not working, the IT provider should be reachable and on-call for this day not available “by end of the week.”
Update Google Business Profile immediately.
This is the highest-priority address update for local search ranking. Update the address in Google Business Profile on move day or the morning after. A business operating from a new address with its old address on Google loses local search visibility for every day the listing is out of date. Also update Apple Maps, Bing Places, and any other local directories.
Employee walkthrough and orientation.
Walk all employees through the new office: where the meeting rooms are, how the building amenities work (parking, mailroom, gym if applicable, coffee and kitchen setup), who to contact for building issues, and where IT helpdesk support is for the transition period.
Punch list: what’s not working.
Within 48 hours, every employee should report anything that is missing, broken, or not set up correctly at their workstation. The move coordinator compiles this punch list and assigns owners with resolution deadlines. Furniture that arrived in the wrong room, monitors that aren’t connected, chairs that didn’t arrive all of this is normal and all of it should be resolved within the first week, not “sometime soon.”
Update remaining address records.
In the days following the move, systematically work through the remaining address update list: professional licensing bodies, industry associations, insurance policies (ask for a confirmation of the updated insured premises address in writing), and any remaining vendor or client notifications that weren’t completed before the move.
Celebrate the milestone.
A successful office move is a genuine organizational achievement. Acknowledge it. A team lunch, a catered breakfast in the new space, or a simple acknowledgment from leadership that the team handled a complex transition well this is not optional soft culture content, it is a retention and morale tool at a moment when the physical disruption of a move creates ambient stress. Mark the milestone.
Ottawa-Specific: Things on This Checklist That Work Differently in Ottawa
Downtown building COI requirements.
Ottawa Class A and B downtown office towers require COI submission from the commercial mover before granting access often naming the building owner, property manager, and condo corporation as additional insured with specific minimum coverage amounts. Parkview Moving submits these as standard for all commercial Ottawa moves. Confirm this is included in your mover’s service before signing.
Kanata North security access.
Tech park buildings in Kanata North serving federal government contractors or defence industry tenants may require photo ID clearance for moving crews, pre-approved access lists submitted to building security, and escort for certain areas of the building. Identify these requirements at 4 months out, not 2 weeks before.
Moving with storage during a transition.
If your move-out date precedes your move-in date a common situation when lease terms don’t align perfectly moving with storage through Parkview Moving holds your office contents in our heated, secure warehouse and delivers everything to the new location when it’s ready. This eliminates the cost of overlapping leases for a storage gap period. See our guide to short-term storage during your move for how this works in practice.
Federal government tenant building access.
Several Ottawa office buildings serve federal government tenants with specific visitor and contractor access protocols. Building security contacts at these properties may require advance notice of moving crews beyond the standard landlord notification. Your internal facilities contact or building manager at the new location can clarify what’s required.
Parkview Moving’s Ottawa Commercial Moving Service
Parkview Moving handles Ottawa commercial moves from initial quote through final room setup. Our commercial moving service includes:
- Written, itemized quotes based on an inventory walkthrough no room-count estimates
- After-hours and weekend scheduling for downtown Ottawa building requirements
- COI submission to building management as standard
- Freight elevator coordination at both locations
- Professional furniture disassembly and reassembly
- IT equipment handling with proper packaging for monitors, peripherals, and packaged server equipment
- Moving with storage for possession date gaps warehouse storage at no-minimum-term rates
- A dedicated move coordinator as your single point of contact from booking to completion
We serve Ottawa businesses across all commercial districts: downtown core, Kanata North tech corridor, Barrhaven business parks, Orléans commercial areas, and cross-river moves to Gatineau’s Hull sector. For commercial moving companies that combine the project management discipline of a large operator with the communication quality of a local team, Parkview Moving is your Ottawa commercial relocation partner.
Visit our Ottawa moving services page or call 613.425.0020 to discuss your office move timeline and receive a written commercial moving quote.
FAQ: Office Moving for Ottawa Businesses
1. How far in advance should I start planning an Ottawa office move?
Six months minimum for offices of any size. For offices with more than 25 employees, significant IT infrastructure, or downtown Ottawa building requirements (after-hours access, freight elevator booking, COI submission), 8–12 months is more appropriate. The most common planning failure is starting at 3 months which is when the consequences of missed deadlines (lease notice, telecom orders, building access coordination) begin to become visible.
2. What is the biggest risk in an Ottawa office move?
IT downtime caused by internet connectivity not being ready at the new address on move-in day. Telecom circuit orders require 45–90 days of lead time in Ottawa if this order isn’t placed at 4–6 months out, the business will be without connectivity for weeks after moving in. This single issue causes more post-move disruption than all other factors combined. Place the order before you do anything else after signing the new lease.
3. Do Ottawa office buildings require moves to happen after hours?
Most downtown Ottawa Class A and B office towers require commercial moves to occur after hours typically evenings (after 6 PM) and weekends to avoid disrupting daytime building operations. Kanata North tech park buildings are generally more flexible. Confirm the move-hour requirements with building management at both locations at the 4-month mark. Parkview Moving’s commercial moving companies service is staffed for evening and weekend moves as standard.
4. What should I do if our lease-out date is before our lease-in date?
This is a common situation in Ottawa’s commercial real estate market. Moving with storage through Parkview Moving solves it: we load and store your office contents in our heated, secure Ottawa warehouse on your move-out date and deliver everything to your new office when the new lease begins. Month-to-month storage rates apply you pay for the gap, not a minimum term. Contact us to discuss the timeline and get a combined quote for the move-out, storage, and move-in.
5. How do employees get involved in an office move without it disrupting their work?
Assign each employee one clear responsibility: packing their own desk contents into numbered boxes by a specific deadline, with a labelling system they’ve been briefed on. Everything beyond that is coordinated by the move coordinator without requiring employee involvement. The key is giving employees specific, bounded tasks rather than open-ended involvement “pack your desk by Thursday using the box and label system on the shared drive” produces better compliance and less disruption than “help us with the move.”
