By: David Suter, President
One of the aspects of moving an office that is often overlooked is the cost of removing or liquidating the furniture, fixture & Equipment (FF&E) that you no longer need. Depending on the size of your organization, those costs can be anywhere between a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. As if the thought of moving your organization is not enough, you also have the stress of getting out of your existing space, usually by a fast-approaching lease expiration date. The seemingly impossible task of clearing out your space to a broom swept finish can be overwhelming. Especially when you are trying to do this without losing all of next year’s capital budget in the process.
At CBSI we always try to think of ways outside of the box to solve problems. One way we accomplish this is to figure out how to cost effectively remove all the excess FF&E for our clients to a market where others are willing to pay for it. This is where having a diverse group of clients comes into play.
Innovation & Partnerships
For the last 2 decades, CBSI has been working not only in the corporate environment, but also with local utilities and higher education. One thing we do know about the education sector is, unless there is a bond program running, these schools typically are using old, out dated and worn out furniture.
So that is where the beautiful arrangement begins. The schools don’t have the budget to buy all new furniture, however, they sure can pull together 15k – 20k to pay for a mover to pick up items and move them to their campuses.
Sustainable Planning
In a recent project, we were tasked with clearing out a 60,000 square foot building that we managed the move out of. Only a handful of items were moved to the new building and the rest of the dozens of cubicles and office furniture needed to go. As a result, the cost for a complete liquidation of the space by a vendor was over 100k.
With a focus on sustainability, CBSI contacted local K – 8 school districts. We shared photos and gave them the option to walk through the building on a “shopping spree”. Talk about excited Administrative staff. We ended up having 6 districts join us on these shopping sprees identifying what their schools could benefit from repurposing.
Win – Win – Win
These innovative efforts allowed us to repurpose more than 65% of the furniture for free to our client and blessed 6 school districts. Repurposed items included office supplies, cubicles, conference room furniture, admin and staff office furniture. In addition, the schools also scooped up the tables, bookcases, and storage cabinets for classrooms and multi-purpose rooms. Win – Win – Win!!
The remaining furniture, mostly old cubicles, was stripped down and all of the metal sent to the recycler. The mover took any of the decent leftover furniture to add to their own inventory for future projects.
If you need more help, check out our Relocation Resource Center that contains guides and checklists to help you make your move.
