The brief
A 14-person design studio was moving from an office in Midtown South to a new floor in Downtown Jersey City, and it couldn’t lose a working day. Both buildings only allowed freight elevator moves on weekends, so we planned it over Saturday and Sunday: pack and move on Saturday, set up on Sunday, open on Monday at 9. The office manager sent floor plans for both spaces three weeks ahead, and we agreed a fixed price before the weekend.
What made it tricky
- Two buildings, two managing agents and two different sets of COI requirements, with freight elevator bookings to confirm at each end.
- 14 workstations with dual monitors, a small network rack and a 10-foot conference table that only fit the freight elevator in pieces.
- The Jersey City freight elevator was only booked until 6pm on Saturday, with weekend traffic heading for the Holland Tunnel.
How we did it
- Colour-coded every desk, chair and box to a numbered floor plan, so the crew in Jersey City could place everything without asking.
- The studio’s IT person disconnected and labeled the computers and the network rack on Friday; we packed monitors in reusable monitor cartons and moved the rack upright on its own dolly.
- Ran the two trucks in a loop, so the first was unloading in Jersey City while the second was still loading in Manhattan, and finished at the Jersey City freight elevator by 5:15pm.
- Came back Sunday morning with 2 movers to rebuild the desks and conference table, hang whiteboards and take away every empty box and all the packing waste.