How to choose a commercial mover
The questions that separate a genuine commercial relocation contractor from a residential mover taking commercial work, and the ones specific to specialist equipment.
Most moving companies will accept an office job. Rather fewer have done one at your scale, with your equipment, on a fixed cutover date. The questions below are designed to find out which you are speaking to.
Questions that reveal experience
- How many moves of this size have you run in the last year, and can you describe the cutover schedule on one of them.
- Who is the single named project manager, and are they on site for the move itself.
- What is your labelling and asset tracking method, and do we get an inventory reconciliation at the other end.
- What happens if we discover something missing a week later.
- Do you self-perform or subcontract, and if subcontracting, to whom.
- How do you handle a move that runs over the agreed window.
Questions specific to specialist equipment
If the move includes laboratory instruments, medical equipment, servers or machinery, the relevant experience is not general moving experience.
- Who is responsible for decommissioning and recommissioning, and are they certified by the equipment manufacturer.
- Does any equipment require recalibration or requalification after transport, and who pays for it.
- Is there a chain of custody record for anything holding data, and how is it evidenced.
- What are the environmental limits in transit, and how are they monitored rather than merely promised.
- For machinery, who handles rigging, and are they separately insured for it.
The check to do first
Before any of the above, look the company up in FMCSA's mover database and confirm whether it is registered and whether it is a carrier or a broker. It takes two minutes and it changes who you are actually contracting with.
Our verification guide covers what that database shows, what the household goods consumer rules do not give a business, and the terms you therefore need to negotiate into the contract yourself.