A Practical Checklist for Opening a New Office

Eight weeks out: lock the big decisions

Sign the premises, confirm the fit-out scope and place orders for anything with a long lead time: internet service, furniture, access control and networking hardware. Most office openings slip because one long-lead item was ordered two weeks late.

Put every item on one list with an owner and a date. It does not need software; a shared spreadsheet that someone actually maintains beats a sophisticated tool nobody opens.

Four weeks out: build the invisible layers

Structured cabling, power points and network equipment go in while the fit-out is open. CCTV and door access are installed and tested. Computers, printers and business applications are ordered, delivered and configured. None of this should be happening in the final week.

One week out: people and paper

Confirm start dates, prepare access cards and accounts, brief suppliers on delivery windows, and stock the unglamorous essentials: pantry supplies, stationery, cleaning arrangements, waste collection. New staff notice these things precisely when they are missing.

The final test: work a day in the empty office

Before anyone starts, spend a day in the office behaving like an employee. Badge in, connect, print, book a room, make a call, host a guest. Everything that fails this rehearsal would have failed in front of your new team. Fix it now, when fixing is free.