# Office Relocation Timeline: Lease Signing to Move-In

> An office relocation timeline runs from lease signing to the first working day, not from the first day on site. The time goes into building due diligence, landlord approvals, design and design freeze, long-lead ordering, the fit-out, IT and AV commissioning, and the move itself. Several stages run in parallel; the date is set by the longest chain, which depends on size and building.

## The move date is decided before anyone is on site

Most relocation plans begin with one question: how long will the fit-out take?
It is the natural question, because the site work is the visible part. It is
also the wrong place to start.

The site work is the middle of an office relocation timeline, not the whole of
it. Before it sit the lease terms, the building's rules, the brief, the design
and the ordering of items that take weeks to make. After it sit the IT
cut-over, commissioning, snagging and the move itself. **The date a company can
move in is usually decided in the first few weeks after the lease is signed**,
by how quickly those early decisions are made, not by how fast a contractor
builds.

For a CEO or CFO this matters for a simple reason. The cost of a late move is
rarely the fit-out. It is two rents running at once, a notice period that has
already expired on the old premises, or a team without a workplace.

## Where the weeks actually go

Each stage below has its own owner and its own reasons to slip. The durations
are not given here because they genuinely depend on the size of the space and
the building; what matters is the sequence and what each stage waits for.

| Stage | What happens | What it typically waits for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Building due diligence | Site survey, base-building drawings, power and cooling capacity, landlord fit-out guidelines | Access to the space and documents from the landlord |
| Lease terms | Fit-out period, handover condition, works approval process, exit obligations | Negotiation before signature |
| Brief and design | Headcount, layout, design development, services design, design freeze | Client decisions on space, budget and standards |
| Approvals | Landlord design approval; any statutory approvals the consultants identify | A complete, coordinated design submission |
| Long-lead procurement | Partitions, joinery, air conditioning equipment, specified lighting, raised floor, furniture | Design freeze and approved samples |
| Fit-out on site | Demolition, services, ceilings, partitions, finishes | Approvals, materials on site, permitted working hours |
| IT, AV and security | Internet circuits, network cabling, wireless, AV, access control | Containment installed; service provider lead times |
| Commissioning and handover | Testing services, snagging, documentation | Completed installations and a working power supply |
| The move | Packing, furniture placement, IT cut-over, staff induction | A handed-over space with working systems |
| Exit from old premises | Reinstatement, handback, deposit settlement | The move being complete |

None of these stages is unusual. What makes a relocation late is treating them
as a single line that starts when the contractor arrives.

## The early weeks: due diligence and the lease

The weeks just before and after signing do more to fix the move date than any
later stage.

**Due diligence on the building.** A survey of the actual space, the
base-building drawings, the landlord's power and cooling provision and the
fit-out guidelines tell you what the design has to work within. The rules a
building imposes on ceilings, shafts, working hours and approved vendors are
covered in [reading the landlord's fit-out guidelines before design](/blog/reading-landlord-fit-out-guidelines-before-design).
Discovering them after the layout is drawn is one of the commonest causes of a
redesign.

**The lease terms.** The fit-out or rent-free period, the condition the space is
handed over in, how the landlord approves tenant works, and what must be
reinstated at exit all shape the programme. A space handed over with ceilings,
lighting and air conditioning already in place is a different starting point
from a bare floor, and it changes how much of the programme sits with the
tenant.

## What runs in parallel, and what cannot

A relocation is fast when the right things overlap and the wrong things do not.

**What can run in parallel:**

- Ordering internet circuits and connectivity while the design is still being
  developed, because service provider lead times are outside anyone's control.
- Furniture selection and sampling alongside design development.
- Landlord review of the design while non-dependent packages are priced.
- Planning the exit from the old premises, including its reinstatement
  obligations, while the new one is being built.

**What must stay in sequence:**

- Design freeze before long-lead items are released. Ordering against an
  unsettled design is how variations begin.
- Services above the ceiling installed and tested before the ceiling closes.
- Network cabling and containment installed before ceilings and partitions
  close around them.
- Commissioning before the move, not after it. Moving staff into a space whose
  air conditioning and fire systems have not been tested shifts the problem
  onto the first working week.

The logic of the site sequence itself, including design freeze and long-lead
items, is set out in [fit-out programme and phasing](/guides/fit-out-programme-and-phasing).

## What a CEO or CFO must decide early

Most delays in a relocation trace back to a decision the business had not yet
made. These are the ones that hold everything else:

- **Headcount and growth assumption.** The number of people the space is
  planned for, and for how long. Changing it after freeze changes the layout,
  the services and the furniture order.
- **Budget envelope and approval route.** Who approves spend, at what level, and
  how quickly. A design waiting for budget sign-off is a programme on hold.
- **Contract structure.** Whether design and construction sit with one party or
  are tendered separately, which changes how much of the design and
  construction can overlap.
- **The overlap with the old premises.** How long both leases run together. A
  short overlap saves rent and removes the safety margin; a long one does the
  reverse.
- **Reuse or replace.** Whether existing furniture, IT equipment and AV move
  across. Reuse saves procurement time only if the items are surveyed early.
- **Design authority.** One named person who can approve the design and
  changes to it, with a date by which they will do so.

A wider view of how these decisions fit into the whole project is in the
[office fit-out guide for India](/guides/office-fit-out-guide-india).

## The exit is part of the same timeline

Relocations are usually planned as an arrival. They are also a departure, and
the old lease carries its own obligations: a notice period, a handback date,
and often a duty to reinstate the space to a stated condition. Reinstatement
takes time on site and has to be finished before the handback date, which
means it starts only once the move is complete.

If the two timelines are planned separately, the overlap is often too short to
fit both the move and the reinstatement. What the landlord can typically ask
for at exit, and how to limit it, is covered in
[lease-end reinstatement: what you owe the landlord](/blog/lease-end-reinstatement-what-you-owe-the-landlord).

## Common mistakes

- **Starting the clock at mobilisation.** The programme is agreed for the site
  work only, and the weeks of design, approvals and ordering are not in it.
- **Signing the lease before reading the guidelines.** The fit-out period is
  agreed without knowing the building's working hours or approval process.
- **Ordering connectivity late.** Internet circuits are requested near the
  end, and the space is ready before the network is.
- **Letting the brief move after freeze.** A change in headcount or
  departments arrives once long-lead items are already ordered.
- **Treating commissioning as optional time.** It is squeezed to protect the
  move date, and the faults appear in the first month of occupation.
- **No overlap with the old premises.** A small delay becomes a period
  without an office.
- **Forgetting the exit.** Reinstatement of the old space is not planned, and
  the handback date arrives before it is finished.

## What to ask before signing the lease

- What condition will the space be handed over in, and on what date?
- Have we read the full fit-out guidelines and the base-building drawings?
- How does the landlord approve tenant designs, and how long does that review
  take?
- Is the fit-out or rent-free period long enough for design, approvals,
  ordering and site work, not just site work?
- What is the notice period on the current premises, and what must be
  reinstated there?
- Who on our side owns the programme and can approve the design?
- Which items in our likely design are long-lead, and when must they be
  ordered?

A design-and-build contractor should be able to turn these answers into a
programme that starts at lease signing, and show which chain of activities
sets the date.

## Standards referenced

Fire and life safety provisions in **NBC 2016, Part 4**, and building services
provisions in **NBC 2016, Part 8**, both relevant where the fit-out alters
detection, sprinklers, air conditioning or electrical services; commercial
building telecommunications cabling in **TIA-568**. Whether any statutory
approval applies to a particular fit-out, and how long it takes, is determined
by the project's consultants and the authority having jurisdiction. Lease
terms, notice periods and exit obligations are set by each lease and should be
confirmed with the client's legal adviser.

## Frequently asked questions

### How long does an office relocation take from lease signing?

It depends on the size of the space, the condition the landlord hands it over in, the building's rules and how quickly decisions are made. A small floor in a well-documented building can move much faster than a multi-floor fit-out with heavy services. Any duration quoted before the building has been surveyed and the brief settled is a guess, not a programme.

### When should we start planning the move?

Before the lease is signed. The lease fixes the fit-out period, the handover condition and the rules for tenant works, and the notice on the current premises fixes the latest date you can leave. Both decide the timeline, so they are best negotiated with the programme in view rather than discovered after signature.

### What usually delays an office move?

Late decisions more often than slow site work. A brief that keeps changing, a design freeze that slips, landlord approval that was not planned for, long-lead items ordered late, and internet circuits requested too close to the move are the common causes. Each of these happens before or alongside the site work, which is why they are easy to underestimate.

### Can the fit-out start before the design is complete?

Some early packages can, such as demolition of existing fit-out, enabling works or base services modifications that do not depend on the final layout. Anything that depends on the layout, the ceiling or the services design should wait for freeze. Starting those early usually creates rework that costs more time than it saved.

### Should we keep the old office until the new one is ready?

Usually some overlap is wise, because a move date that slips with no office to fall back on is a business continuity problem, not a fit-out problem. The overlap costs rent on two premises, so its length is a commercial decision to take early, with the exit and reinstatement obligations on the old premises in view.

### Who should own the relocation programme?

One named person on the client side, with authority to make decisions, working with the design-and-build contractor or project manager. The fit-out contractor can run the construction programme, but decisions on headcount, IT, furniture, notice periods and staff communication belong to the business and need an owner.

## Sources

- [NBC 2016, Part 4](https://www.bis.gov.in/standards/national-building-code/) — Fire and life safety
- [NBC 2016, Part 8](https://www.bis.gov.in/standards/national-building-code/) — Building services
- [TIA-568](https://tiaonline.org/) — Commercial building telecommunications cabling

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Source: https://hagerstone.com/blog/office-relocation-timeline-lease-to-move-in