Moving a business across state lines is a huge undertaking, but sometimes it’s justified. Tax breaks, cost-of-living differences, and supply chain concerns can all come into play, but are the potential savings worth the upfront expenses? What is the cost of moving a company across the country?
The cost of moving a company across the country will depend on how much and what kind of equipment you’re moving. But there are additional costs associated with moving a business that goes beyond moving furniture, equipment, and files.
Cross-Country Moving Costs
We’ll break up our cross-country moving cost estimates into three separate categories:
- Do it yourself
- Rent a vehicle and trailer
- Hire professional movers to help
Any exact costs are absolutely going to vary—as we previously mentioned—on factors that we don’t know. Only you can figure out the exact numbers specific to your move. The ballpark numbers we’ll provide are used to illustrate the difference in prices simply.
Do It Yourself
Doing it yourself is going to be the cheapest option, but you will likely have to invest in moving equipment and supplies. Options like storage services or pods can make the move much easier. You can pack up your items in a cube or pod and have them shipped to your new location, where they will wait in storage for you. This can cost between approximately $999-$2,999.
Rent a Vehicle and Trailer
Renting a truck and a trailer to haul everything yourself can cost around $3,250 for a sizable long-distance move—although that figure can vary drastically. The price will fluctuate depending on the size of the truck and trailer you’ll need, as well as how long you’ll need them. If you have a great deal of equipment from the company that you’ll need to move, the price for this choice will go up as you rent more trucks and trailers.
Hire Professional Movers
A moving company will cost anywhere from $1,500 up to $15,000. Again, pricing will vary—but this is probably always going to be your most expensive option. However, that is not a bad thing in the long run when you consider how much time and energy they will save you in a busy, stressful, and complicated cross-country move of your business.
Costs to Keep In Mind When Moving a Company Across the Country
Moving a business isn’t generally as simple as a residential move. Here are some costs to keep in mind:
- Assign a Project Manager: Have someone put in charge of the logistics of the move. This will involve working with vendors, suppliers, etc., as well as communicating decisions with employees. If you don’t have an available team member who can step into this role, you’ll need to budget for this temporary hire.
- List Necessary Steps: Put the steps in writing that need to be taken before the move. This will include coordinating and getting prices from cleaning providers and phone providers, purchasing insurance coverage for the move, and so on.
- Determine Space-Related Costs: Look into down payments, deposits, and closing fees, and make sure you’re prepared to pay for space-related costs associated with moving. Will you need temporary storage while everything gets settled? Will some of your employees require temporary office space until your new location is set up and usable?
- Work With Suppliers for Termination Costs: You’ll need to be in contact with various suppliers to figure out early termination costs for the old building and new lease fees for the new building, not to mention checking into costs for new machinery and printing of business cards and other signage.
- Get in Touch with Other Companies: Create a list of other businesses, customers, and clients you’ll need to notify of your move. Be aware of mailing costs, website update costs, and collateral material fees for boxes and other packing necessities.
All of these tasks and items are going to require man power and therefore cost money. The very best thing you can do to start off your planned company move is to create a budget—and set aside extra for unexpected expenses. The next best thing you can do is hire professional movers.
Timeline for Moving a Company Across the Country
Hiring professional movers to make the move run smoothly is a good idea—especially when you consider the number of variables you have to deal with. You need to begin preparing for moving your company early on—as early as three months in advance, if not more.
Take a look at our cross-country moving timeline below to get a better idea of when you should get certain tasks done:
- 3 Months: You’ll need to book a hotel and/or tickets for a flight at least this early. It’s time to contact vendors to let them know you’ll be leaving.
- 2 Months: Take inventory of company assets, including furniture and pieces of equipment. Is there anything that needs to be packed more carefully? If you’re hiring movers to help, they can notify the particulars and take care of it.
- 1 Month: What will you do with all the items that the company won’t need or want? You’ll also need to consider the tasks of forwarding the company mail and begin changing the company address on important websites.
- 2 Weeks: Time to double-check everything, from packed boxes to the state of the building. It would probably be around this time that a good, deep clean gets done on the old company building before you move the business out.
- 1 Week: By this time, you should be ready to go in just about every aspect.
- Moving Date: This is it. If you’ve hired movers, all you have to do is welcome them and direct them through the packing process. If you didn’t hire movers, then it’s time to buckle down and pack up everything yourself.
Move Your Company Across the Country with Colonial Van Lines
The cost of moving a company across the country will vary. Still, you can trust Colonial Van Lines to take care of company assets during a move and provide you with the highest-quality moving services available. Our team of professionals has been in the business of helping individual customers, and entire companies move to different states for decades. Contact us today to get started on your company move!