Office move planning in Geneva: from 6 months before to the day after

6 months before: lease and budget

• Give notice on your commercial lease. The legal notice period is 6 months for commercial premises, for the end date set by local custom or the contract. Check your lease: it may require more.
• Set the date and budget, allowing for any works in the new premises.
• Appoint a single person in charge of the move. They decide, talk to the movers and keep the team informed. Two contacts means two versions of the plan.

3 months before: movers, floor plan and IT

• Contact your movers 2 to 3 months ahead. That is the time needed to visit the premises, draw up a fixed-price quote and book a weekend. At DL Company, the preparation visit is free for businesses.
• Draw up the floor plan of the new offices: every desk, every piece of furniture, every cabinet gets a number.
• Tell your IT provider and telecom operators (internet, phones): the new premises must be connected on the day the team arrives.
• Choose when to move: a Friday evening or a weekend, so that work does not stop.

1 month before: sorting, archives and notifications

• Sort before you move. Archives, furniture that is not coming, broken equipment: whatever goes to the recycling centre beforehand is not transported, and not paid for. We can handle the clearance of the old furniture.
• Archives: keep what the law requires. Accounting books and records must be kept for 10 years.
• Book access in both buildings: lift, loading bay, permitted hours. And the parking permit for the truck at each address.
• Announce the new address: commercial register (request for amendment, online or in writing), tax office, VAT, insurers, banks, clients and suppliers, website and Google listing.

2 weeks before: boxes and labels

• Have boxes or reusable crates delivered, and give each employee their kit and labels.
• Label everything with the desk number from the plan: boxes, drawer units, screens, chairs.
• Everyone clears their desk and packs their personal belongings; IT equipment is disconnected by your provider or by us, as agreed.

Moving week

• Put the floor plan up at the entrance of each room in the new offices: the movers set every box in the right place first time.
• The move: protection of floors and stairwells, dismantling, transport, reassembly where planned.
• The person in charge stays reachable throughout, for last-minute decisions.

The day after: does everything work?

• Walk round every desk: furniture assembled, screens connected, network up, phones ringing.
• List what is missing and send it in one go. At DL Company, if an adjustment is missing, we come back.
• For year-end payroll, state the new place of work and the date of the address change on salary certificates, as the Geneva tax office requires.

The mistakes we see most often

1. Starting too late. A forgotten 6-month notice period, or movers booked at the last minute, and the date is no longer the one you chose.
2. Forgetting IT and phones. Offices set up without internet on Monday morning cost the whole team a day.
3. Forgetting the building rules. Lift not booked, loading bay taken, restricted hours: the truck waits, and the hours are billed.
4. Moving archives without sorting them. You pay to transport paper you will throw away the following week.

An example: COFIROASTERS

COFIROASTERS moved its offices within Geneva in September 2026: a site visit, a safe and a fireproof cabinet moved, the old furniture cleared, and wall cabinets levelled on arrival. Read the project.

Planning your office move? See our office relocation service: starting prices by number of workstations, a free preparation visit and a fixed-price offer.