No matter how talented or dedicated you are, you can’t be two places at the same time. If you’ll be overseeing an office relocation or installation from afar, you’re probably wondering how you’ll make sure the project is proceeding on time, on budget, and in the professional manner you and you’re clients are expecting.
It can be hard enough managing an out-of-town office build-out or furniture installation project.
You’ve got a few options when managing an out-of-town project.
You could get serious about accruing frequent-flier miles and travel back and forth to check in on your project. You could temporarily relocate to the city where your office installation is occurring and work from an extended-stay hotel. Or you could choose a boots-on-the-ground furniture installation partner whose ability you’re absolutely confident in and who you are certain will keep you updated every step of the way.
If you’re leaning toward the latter option, which is definitely the most convenient, budget-conscious, and stress-free option for you, make sure to ask the following questions when you’re interviewing office furniture installers for your out-of-town project.
- How long has your company been in business and how many office furniture installations have you handled? How many times have you completed an office installation for a client located in another state? Are you willing to provide me names and contact information for some of your past installation customers?
- Will I have multiple points of contact throughout the process? Or will your company assign me one dedicated customer service specialist I can deal with from the time we’re drafting a quote until I sign off on the project?
- Will you send me photos illustrating the office build-out progress of the job each day?
- If you encounter problems during the installation of my office furniture or discover that you need to change something we’ve already agreed on, will you send multiple photos showing exactly what the problems are?
- When the project is completed, will you send me a complete photo history of the completed project that we can keep for reference?
- If we’ll be ordering furniture and other products from multiple manufacturers, what is your process to make sure that all items have arrived, in the corrects specifications, and are not damaged? Will you update me with a list of what has arrived from what manufacturers each time you receive a shipment for our project?
- Will my installer and supervisor have smartphones with them at all times so they can immediately respond to my phone calls, text messages, or e-mails when they’re at the job site?
- Once the project is complete, how long will it be until I can expect a detailed, accurate invoice to submit to our accounting department?
- Do you have any advice for me about ways to make this process go as smoothly as possible? Have you learned any helpful lessons on other projects like this that you’ve overseen?
Don’t settle when you’re managing an out-of-town office install.
Any time you must trust a contractor to operate in your best interests, it’s a bit nerve-wracking. When you’re looking for a trustworthy contractor to oversee a project in a different city, you need to be very careful about vetting that company thoroughly! If you’ll be opening a Houston office in the foreseeable future, Houston Installation Services would love to talk to you about our experience and philosophy of your out-of-town projects. We will also explain, in detail, the steps we’ll take to make your office installation smooth and successful.
