Office move IT checklist for Vancouver and Burnaby businesses

You’ve signed a lease on a new space in Burnaby or downtown Vancouver, the movers are booked, and someone has asked when the internet will be working. If nobody has ordered it yet, that’s the first item on this office move IT checklist, because business internet is the one part of a move you can’t rush.

Your office move IT checklist, starting 10 weeks out

8 to 10 weeks out: order the internet

Business fibre or cable from Telus or Rogers (which took over Shaw in 2023) can take several weeks to install, and it can take longer if the provider has never run service into your unit. Order it as soon as the lease is signed and ask for the install date in writing.

Before you order, ask the landlord or property manager which providers already have lines into the building and where the telecom room is. In a multi-storey building the cables reach your floor through a riser, which is a shared shaft or closet the landlord controls. If the technician needs to pull a new line up that riser, the landlord usually has to approve the work and let them in, and that booking can add days.

If your phones run over the internet, they stop when the internet does, so while you’re talking to providers, ask about a second line from a different provider or a cellular backup.

4 to 6 weeks out: cabling, Wi-Fi, phones and printers

Walk the new space with a floor plan and mark every desk, printer and wireless access point. Get the network cabling quoted and installed before the fit-out closes up the walls, because pulling cable into an empty unit costs less than adding it once the drywall and furniture are in. Ask for a Wi-Fi survey too. Someone walks the space with a meter and measures the signal, so the access points go where people sit instead of where the ceiling tile was easy to lift. Concrete walls and stairwells block Wi-Fi in ways a floor plan won’t show you.

If you’re keeping your phone numbers, start the transfer now. Moving a number to a new phone company is called porting, and it needs lead time, especially if you’re switching to a VoIP phone system at the same time. The CRTC’s guidance is to ask the new provider about keeping your number before you cancel the old service, since you can only keep a number that’s still active. Numbers can move with you as long as you stay in the same local exchange, so if the new office is well outside the area your numbers belong to, ask first.

For printers, check your copier lease before the movers touch it and ask the leasing company whether they move it themselves. On the new network the printer will likely get a new address, so scan-to-email and scan-to-folder settings often need to be set up again.

1 to 2 weeks out: label, back up, update your address

Print this part and hand it to whoever is running the move:

• Photograph the back of the server, firewall, network switch and any shared computers before anything is unplugged, so the cables go back the same way.
• Label each computer, monitor and dock with the person’s name and new desk number.
• Run a full backup, then restore a few real files from it to prove it works. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security lists testing your backups as part of any backup routine, and a move is a good reason to do it.
• Update the address on your Google Business Profile, website, email signatures and invoice templates. Google’s help pages say that if you move a verified business to a new address, you have to verify it again, so don’t leave this to moving day.

Move weekend

Set up the network before the desks. Get the firewall, switch and Wi-Fi running and confirm the internet works, then plug in computers in labelled order. Have someone make a call in and out on every phone before Monday. Keep the old office’s internet running for a few days after the move if your contract allows it, so you have a fallback if something at the new site isn’t working yet.

First week in the new office

On the first morning, go desk by desk and check that each person can log in, print, open shared files and make a call. Walk the space with a phone on Wi-Fi, including meeting rooms and the far corners. Then check that the backup ran on the first night. A backup job pointed at a device that now has a new network address can fail without anyone noticing, which is why we test backups by restoring real data on a schedule instead of trusting the green checkmark.

If you’re hiring as part of the move, our new-hire IT checklist covers the accounts and laptops for people starting in the new space.

Things people forget

• The old internet contract. Check the end date and cancellation terms, and ask whether the provider wants the modem or router back.
• The 911 address on your VoIP account. Your provider passes the address on file to the 911 operator, and the CRTC’s sample customer notice warns that the operator may assume you’re calling from the last registered address. Update it the day you move.
• Alarm monitoring and door access. Tell the alarm company about the move, and get fobs or access cards from the new property manager before staff arrive.
• The CRA. The CRA asks businesses to update their address as soon as possible, which you can do in your CRA business account under Profile, then Manage addresses, or by calling 1-800-959-5525.
• Your bank, insurer and suppliers, so invoices and cheques stop going to the old address.

Umbrella IT was founded in Burnaby in 2013, and every client starts with a conversation about how the business runs before we look at the equipment. For a move, that tells us which systems have to work on Monday morning, and we write down how the new office is set up so whoever picks up your next call already knows it.

Common questions

How far ahead should I order internet for a new office?

As soon as the lease is signed, and ideally 8 to 10 weeks before the move. Business installs can take several weeks, and a building that needs a new line run through the riser can take longer.

Can I keep my phone number when my office moves?

Usually, yes. You can keep a number when you change providers as long as you stay in the same local exchange, and you need to ask the new provider to port it before you cancel the old service.

If you’re planning a move in Richmond, Coquitlam or anywhere else in the Lower Mainland and want a second set of eyes on the plan, a free IT assessment is a good place to start.