Moving office furniture: desks, workstations, files, and conference tables

Why does the floor plan come first?

Every piece of office furniture has to answer one question on move day: where does it go? If the answer lives in the office manager's head, the crew waits at every doorway. If it lives on the floor plan, they do not.

Take the new floor plan and give every destination spot a number: each desk position, each office, each cabinet location, the conference room, the break room. Then tag every piece in the old office with the number of the spot it is going to. Chairs follow their person, so tag them with the same number as the desk. On move day, post a copy of the plan at the entrance to the new space and at the door of each room. The crew places by number.

The office move planning guide covers the wider sequence, buildings first and IT second, and the labeling guide covers boxes. The furniture numbering is the piece that ties them together.

Who takes apart cubicle workstations?

Settle this early, because it is the question most likely to surprise an office. Freestanding desks, tables, and bookcases come apart with ordinary tools. Panel-based workstation systems are different: the panels, work surfaces, and overhead storage connect with system-specific hardware, and power and data often run through the panels. Many offices use the furniture dealer's or the manufacturer's installer to take those systems down and rebuild them.

Ask three questions before requesting quotes. Is any of the furniture a panel system? If so, who installed it, and do they handle moves? And is it worth moving at all, or would the new space be better served by what is already there or by selling it? Then tell the mover exactly which pieces are systems furniture, so the quote states who takes each piece apart and who puts it back together.

Whatever comes apart, photograph the configuration first, bag the hardware for each station, and tape the bag to the largest piece of that station. Rebuilding forty workstations from one bucket of mixed screws is a lost day.

What about filing cabinets and desk drawers?

Ask your mover how they want filing cabinets handled, because the answer depends on the cabinet. Tall and lateral cabinets full of paper are very heavy and can tip when tilted, so many need to be emptied into boxes. Some smaller units can travel with contents secured and drawers locked. Whatever the answer, lock or tape every drawer, and keep the keys with one named person rather than in the drawers.

Records are your responsibility, not the crew's. Files with confidential information should be boxed, sealed, and labeled under your own control, and anything you are required to keep should be tracked by box number. The move is also the natural moment to apply your own retention policy; paper that is past its keep date does not need to travel.

Desk drawers should be empty. Personal items go into a labeled box per person, and anything that rides in a drawer on move day tends to arrive in pieces. If you would rather have the crew box files and desk contents, the packing services page explains what to ask for in the quote.

How do chairs, conference tables, and glass move?

Chairs are easy to move and easy to lose track of. Tag each one with its desk number, and keep the good ergonomic chairs with their owners' numbers so nobody spends Monday hunting for theirs.

Conference tables are usually the heaviest single item in the office. Many have removable bases, and large tops may be in more than one section. Find out how the table came into the building, because it has to leave the same way. Glass tops, glass shelves, and glass-fronted cabinets need to be listed separately so they can be packed on their own rather than moved in place.

Wall-mounted items need an owner. Whiteboards, mounted screens, and monitors on arms have to come down before the furniture moves, and someone has to decide who removes and remounts them. Computers, monitors, and networking gear are an IT job first; the electronics packing guide covers the packing side once IT has disconnected them.

What changes an office furniture moving quote?

Access, mostly. Both buildings have rules: which elevator the crew may use and when, whether there is a loading dock and how it is booked, what hours moves are allowed, and whether the building requires a certificate of insurance before anyone rolls a dolly through the lobby. The COI and elevator guide covers how to get those details from each property manager.

Downtown and close-in Portland add the street. Where a building has no dock, the truck needs a legal place to stand, and a reserved curb may mean a temporary street use permit from the city. Suburban office parks in Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, and Hillsboro usually have docks or open lots, which simplifies the truck but not the elevator.

After access, the furniture list sets the rest: how many workstations, how much comes apart, how many files are moving full or empty, and which pieces need extra care. A list with those details produces a quote that matches the day.

What should you do with furniture you are not taking?

Decide before the quote, not after. Furniture that is not moving still has to leave the old space by the end of the lease, and your lease may say what condition the space must be left in. Options include selling to a used office furniture dealer, donating to a nonprofit, or recycling. Metro's recycler finder lists local options for furniture, and electronics have their own recycling routes.

Give the mover the final list with the leave-behind items clearly marked, so the crew does not load a desk that was meant for the dealer's truck the following week.

A 7-item office furniture checklist

1. Number every destination spot on the new floor plan and tag each piece with its number.
2. Identify any panel-based workstation systems and confirm who takes them apart and rebuilds them.
3. Photograph workstation configurations and bag the hardware for each station.
4. Ask the mover how to handle filing cabinets, lock every drawer, and keep the keys with one person.
5. Empty desk drawers and box personal items per person.
6. List conference tables, glass, and wall-mounted items separately, with who removes each one.
7. Get elevator, dock, hours, and insurance rules from both buildings, and mark every leave-behind piece.