Closing an office, consolidating two into one, or giving up two floors of three is a logistics problem with a data problem hiding inside it. The desks are somebody else’s job. The machines are yours, and a general removals firm is usually the wrong answer.
TL;DR
- Three different vendor types serve this, and they are not interchangeable.
- A general removals firm handles furniture well and should not be asked to handle data.
- Anything leaving the building with a drive in it is a data event, not just a move.
- Decide before you book what is moving, what is being stored, and what is being disposed of.
- Most equipment going to people’s homes is a different job from a bulk office move.
- Get chain of custody and certificates in writing, because afterwards is too late.
Sort the kit before you call anybody
Almost every expensive mistake here comes from treating one pile of equipment as one problem. It is at least four.
There is kit going to another office, which is a straightforward move. Kit going to individual people now working from home, which is a distribution problem and behaves nothing like a move. Kit going into storage because you might need it, which needs somewhere to go and a date to be reviewed. And kit that is finished, which is a disposal problem with a compliance obligation attached.
Sort physically before you get quotes. A vendor quoting against an unsorted pile will quote for the worst case and you will pay for it.
The three categories of vendor
Specialist IT movers. Firms that move server racks, network gear and bulk workstations, with anti-static handling, proper crating and staff who understand that a rack is not a wardrobe. Right when you are physically relocating infrastructure between buildings. They are not usually the right answer for sending two hundred laptops to two hundred home addresses.
Equipment lifecycle platforms. Vendors who collect, store, wipe, redeploy and ship individual devices to individuals. Right when the office is closing and the people are going remote, because that is a distribution and retrieval job rather than a move. Where they struggle is heavy infrastructure, which most of them will decline.
IT asset disposition providers. Firms that take end-of-life equipment, wipe or destroy the drives, issue certificates and handle recycling or resale. Right for whatever is not coming with you. Where they struggle is that they are a destination rather than a service, so they will not sort your estate for you.
Most office closures need two of these three. Quite a few need all three, which is worth knowing before you plan the timeline around a single vendor.
The data problem inside the moving problem
Every machine with a drive in it is carrying data out of your building, and the moment it leaves your control the question of who is responsible for it becomes real.
A general removals crew is not set up for this. That is not a criticism of them. They are set up to move objects safely and they will do that well. They are not set up to log serial numbers, maintain a chain of custody or issue you anything you could show an auditor.
What to do:
- Inventory by serial number before anything is boxed, not after.
- Require a signed manifest at collection and a reconciliation at delivery.
- Decide which machines are wiped before they move and which after.
- Ask for certificates of data destruction for anything being disposed of.
- Keep the inventory, the manifest and the certificates together in one place.
The reconciliation step is the one people skip, and it is the one that matters. A manifest nobody checks against what arrived is a document rather than a control.
When the people are going remote
This is now the most common version of an office closure, and it is the one a traditional mover handles worst.
The job is not moving a pile from A to B. It is sending individual machines to a hundred individual addresses, often across borders, each needing packaging that survives a courier network rather than a lorry. Then it is collecting whatever those people do not need, which is the same retrieval problem every distributed company has.
Cross-border makes it harder. A machine going to an employee in another country is a commercial import with a value, a commodity code and an importer of record, and nominating the employee as that importer creates a problem for them. This is the point at which a lifecycle vendor with in-region stock earns its fee, because shipping domestically from inside the destination country avoids the whole question.
How the options compare
| Vendor type | Best for | Published rate | Where it struggles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist IT mover | Racks and bulk between buildings | Quoted per job | Sending kit to individuals |
| General removals firm | Furniture and fixtures | Quoted per job | Data custody and serial tracking |
| Lifecycle platform | Devices to and from individuals | Mostly quote only | Heavy infrastructure |
| ITAD provider | End-of-life disposal with certificates | Quoted per volume | Sorting your estate for you |
| RemoAsset | Collection, storage, wiping, redeployment | One tier published | No discovery, no licence management |
Disclosure beside its row. RemoAsset is our own product, built by the people who publish this site. It handles the lifecycle half of an office closure: collecting machines, storing what you are keeping, wiping what needs wiping, and shipping devices out to people wherever they now work. Its Subscription tier is the only tier that publishes a figure, from $1,499 per year, with everything else quoted. It does no network discovery, so it cannot tell you about machines nobody registered, which matters here because an office closure is exactly when forgotten kit surfaces. It does no software licence management either. And it will not move a server rack, so if your closure involves infrastructure you need a specialist mover alongside it.
Checklist before you book
Checklist:
- A serial-level inventory of everything in the building.
- Four piles decided: moving, distributing, storing, disposing.
- A named owner for the reconciliation at the other end.
- Certificates agreed in advance for anything being destroyed.
- A date to review whatever goes into storage, set now.
- Clarity on who is importer of record for any cross-border shipment.
Final thoughts
The thing that turns an office closure into a long tail of problems is not the moving. It is the storage pile nobody reviews and the disposal pile nobody documented.
Sort before you quote, inventory before you box, and put a review date on the storage pile the day it goes in. A year later that pile is either a useful spare fleet or a cupboard of obsolete machines that still contain company data, and which one it turns out to be gets decided now.
Can a normal removals company move IT equipment?
They can physically move it and many do it carefully. What they are generally not set up for is the data side: logging serial numbers, maintaining a chain of custody, and giving you documentation you could show an auditor. For monitors, desks and general fixtures they are usually fine. For anything containing a drive, you want a vendor whose process accounts for what is on it.
What does it cost to move IT equipment?
Almost always quoted per job rather than published, because the variables are volume, distance, how much needs special handling and what documentation you require. Get quotes against a sorted inventory rather than an unsorted pile, since a vendor pricing an unknown will price the worst case. Ask explicitly whether data destruction certificates are included or billed separately.
What if the office is closing and everyone is going remote?
That is a distribution problem rather than a move, and it needs an equipment lifecycle vendor instead of a mover. The work is sending individual machines to individual addresses in protective packaging, often across borders, and then collecting what people do not need. A firm geared for lorries and loading bays is poorly matched to a hundred separate courier shipments.
Do we need certificates of data destruction?
For anything being disposed of rather than redeployed, yes, and you should agree the format before collection rather than after. The certificate is what lets you demonstrate that a device carrying company data was handled properly, and reconstructing that evidence later is close to impossible once the hardware has gone through a recycling chain.
How long should we keep equipment in storage?
Set a review date when it goes in, because without one the default is forever. Machines in storage lose warranty time and resale value while usually accruing a fee, so a device held for a year is worth substantially less than one redeployed in month two. A six month review with a default decision to redeploy or dispose is a reasonable starting policy.
Who is responsible when equipment crosses a border?
Somebody has to be the importer of record, and if you ship to an employee’s home address without arranging otherwise, that may end up being them. It creates a real liability for an individual and sometimes a tax question for you. Vendors who hold stock inside the destination country sidestep this entirely by shipping domestically, which is worth asking about specifically.
