Category: Facility Installation

Move without Really Moving? Here’s How:

Posted on September 29, 2015 by - Facility Installation, Office Furniture

We get it. Your business is in a prime location. Easily accessible to customers and clients, and you’ve been at this location for years. You’re not quite ready to part with your building, but you want a new, refreshed office. So, how do you get that without moving? Well, you’re in luck because we’ve got some answers.

img_paintingTo refresh your space, you can always paint, paint and paint again. Want to open up your space and make it look and feel bigger? Then, stick with lighter colors. Going darker encloses your space and makes it look and feel smaller. Believe it or not, colors can actually affect work productivity and evoke certain emotions. Want more productivity? Then try not to overload your office with white paint. Want to create an environment all of your guests will most likely love? Stick with a shade of blue because most people enjoy this color. The new paint color is sure to change things up and give your space a new and refreshed look.

The next thing you can do to revamp your current office is get new furniture, or rearrange current furniture. If you decide to go new, depending on the type of furniture you want, certain kinds allow you to better maximize space and offer storage capabilities. Research various types of furniture to see what type will help you make the most out of your offices’ space, and give you much-needed storage. If you want to rearrange your current furniture, map out what furniture would best fit in different places. Maybe you want to just move around your employee’s offices for a change of scenery. Whatever route you take, changing up your furniture will definitely help you refresh your office space and make it feel like new.

New flooring can also transform your space. Ripping out that old grungy carpet and replacing it with something more modern can do wonders. Choose a new carpet, or upgrade to tile, hardwood or laminate flooring. New flooring can open up your space and make it feel fresh and new. While you’re at it, you maimg_flooringy even want to revamp your baseboards. You might not think about it, or notice the baseboards, but when they’re new and freshly painted, you’ll be sure to notice them, and you’ll be surprised how your office transforms.

The next thing you could do to make your office feel like a completely different space is to check out the office building next to your current office. Does a business occupy that space? If not, would it be possible for you to make that space yours? If this looks at all possible, contact a contractor to see if they can put a door in to connect your current space with the adjacent one. This can be a great transformation for yourimg_upgradeicons space. You can take over a new office, while still occupying your current office. You can’t get much closer to moving without actually moving than this, huh?

Whatever upgrades you decide to do to your office, you’re going to need to get your furniture, computer equipment and everything else you have in your space out of your office so you can get it done. Our advice to you: don’t lose time moving your stuff out of your office yourselves; look into commercial movers who can help you out. At The Quality Group, we not only do moving from one location to another, we can also help you with retrofit. So, if you’re looking for that perfect office, without the move, we can move you.

Moving your office from one location to another can be a great thing for your business. But, it’s not the only option you have when you feel like you’ve outgrown your office or need a refreshed look. Whatever you decide to do to change up your look, make sure you explore your options so you can get on your way to make your office feel like new again.

 

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

 

How to Pick Your Go-To Employee for Your Office Move

Posted on September 15, 2015 by - Commercial Relocation, Facility Installation, Moving Preparation

A commercial move requires coordination from all employees. But, on moving day, and weeks before you move, you need to appoint someone in your office to coordinate with your commercial movers. You have a lot of options, but how do you know who will be best for the job? What are the responsibilities this person will have? Well, we have some tips so you can choose the right person to be your commercial movers’ “go-to” contact person. img_moving

At The Quality Group, we call our clients’ key contact person, the “Move Captain”. You can definitely have more than one contact person if you feel like you need to. But, one captain will definitely do the job. It’s all about what you prefer and feel comfortable with.

The person you appoint will be involved in all aspects of the move and will be involved in the planning, coordination and, of course, should be present at the time of the move. This person is helping to coordinate the entire move.

How do you know who to pick to lead the pack on moving day? We’ll make it easy for you. Here are some characteristics we think would be best for your key contact to have.

First, we suggest the person you choose to be your key contact for the move to be a leader. This person needs to know how to direct traffic, if traffic needs to be directed (hypothetically speaking, of course). They need to know what needs to happen, and convey that to your commeimg_clipboardrcial movers with confidence. If the movers have a question, the key contact needs to know how to answer it, or know who to contact in order to get the question answered.

Another quality this “go-to” employee should have is knowledge of all business operations. When the move is being planned, the key contact should be able to convey to the movers how the furniture needs to be set up in order for the office to be functional for its operations. Functionality is vital, and it’s important that your key contact can help plan out the best way for your new office to be set up so that your business operations will run smoothly. You don’t want someone who works in one department of your office, and has no idea what any of your other departments. If that’s the case, you may end up with a collaborative meeting room filled with computers and cubicles, when that’s not what your business operations need in that particular room.

Problem solving is another characteristic your key contact should have. If your movers have a question or concern, your “go-to” employee should be able to help solve the problem.

No matter what commercial relocation company you choose, you should always have a key contact for your business so your movers can easily coordinate and immediately ask any questionsimg_plan. You want your move to go smoothly, so appoint an employee who has great leadership skills, knows your business inside and out and who is a great problem solver.

Now that you know what it takes to be the key contact for moving day, go scope out your office and decide who will be your “go-to” for your office move!

 

 

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

 

 

Furniture Installation Made Easy

Posted on September 8, 2015 by - Facility Installation, Office Furniture

You’re a business owner. You’ve got a lot of things to worry about and deal with, but, there are some things you just shouldn’t have to do.

When you order new furniture for your office, you shouldn’t be worried about how to install it. You need to focus on what you do best, and that’s running your business. So, we’re going to tell you how The Quality Group does furniture installation to make your life easier.

To begin the furniture installation process, we schedule a meeting with you. We want to know about what you want when it comes to office furniture. We’ll boil down what furniture best fits for your business’ functionality, and what pieces will look great in your office as well. After we decide what you want, we map out some pricing and the proposed installation services.img_furniture

After we finalize everything in a contract, we meet with you and our furniture dealer to schedule proposed dates of meetings with the construction contractor. We want you to be in the loop on every part of this process so that we get everything done just how you want it. Open lines of communication between all parties is so important, so we do our best to stay in constant contact with everyone involved.

We believe in doing things right every time for you, so we carefully review the specifications for the furniture install and review the plans to ensure accuracy.

Next, we have a crew go to your office to verify critical measurements and check for electrical and communication entries. Then, we attend the contractor’s meetings so that we make sure we’re doing everything according to your timeline. We want to limit the hours spent on furniture installation so that you can get back to business as soon as possible.

After we coordinate the furniture delivery times and receive the furniture at your office, we inspect the furniture for all necessary pieces and any damage. If needed, we’ll file a damage report.

When we have everything we need, we begin installing your furniture. We visually inspect each workstation and private office to ensure we accurately installed the furniture. We make sure the level, trim and all other aspects of your furniture are perfect and functional.

After this whole process is complete, we sign off with you; we contact the furniture dealer for the final punch list and make sure you’re satisfied with all services.img_furnitureinstall

Furniture installation is a process, and we make that process easy by installing it for you. You shouldn’t have to worry about missing furniture pieces, how to put together a desk or filing damage reports. So, relax, The Quality Group has you covered.

 

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

How Your Offices’ Wall Color Gives Your Business a Competitive Advantage

Posted on September 1, 2015 by - Facility Installation

You never really gave it much thought. A wall is a wall. What color they are shouldn’t affect the productivity of your employees and the success of your company, right? Think again.

In an article by Forbes, Amy Morin interviewed Sally Augustin, Ph.D., to find out about color psychology and how certain colors can give businesses a competitive advantage. We’re going to give you a few of those tips so that when you decide your office needs to be refreshed with a new look, you can take them into consideration.

First, wall colors have the ability to make people perceive temperature differently. As you might guess, warmer colors like red, yellow and oranges tend to make people believe it’s warmer than it actually is in the office. Contrarily, cooler colors like greens, light purples and blues make people feel as though it’s colder in the building than it actually is.

How can you use that to your advantage? Well, it all depends on where you live. If you live in a generally cooler environment, think about painting the entry way of your office warmer colors to save on heating costs. The opposite is true for img_orangewallsthose who live in warmer environments. This is a pretty easy way to save on that costly electric bill.

Want to evoke more creativity in your workplace? Go get some green paint swatches. Research shows that the color green stimulates productivity and broad and creative thinking. But, why green? “There seems to be a positive association between nature and regrowth,” said Augustin.

If you’re looking to please most people, then go for blues. According to Forbes, “when asked what their favorite color is, the most common answer around the world is blue.” It could be because of associations with blue skies or the ocean. If you want to know what to paint the waiting area in your office, you should go with blue since it pleases majority of people.img_bluepaint

So, what colors should you stay away from? For starters, stay away from red in areas of your office where you want to stimulate productivity. The color red evokes forceful and fast reactions and reduces analytical thinking.

Yellow. That’s another color you should stray away from when deciding what to paint your offices’ common area. This is because there are few people who like the color, but those who do, tend to really like it. So, to be safe, Augustin suggests sticking with the good ol’ blues.

If you want to increase productivity in your work environment then stay far, far away from the color white. According to Augustin, “too much of a monochromatic look can cause people to reflect on their own thoughts.” Because of the lack of stimulation in the color white, employees may become distracted. And, you don’t want employees distracted all day thinking about things other than what they’re supposed to be thinking about, right?

Pink is said to be a calming color. Unless you work in an intense field where tensions can run high and meetings can turn into heated arguments, then we suggest staying away from this color. Pink is also known for draining people’s energy, so be mindful about choosing this color.

We gave you a crash course on Augustin’s psychology of color so that you can choose the best paint for your business’ walls. You can save money, stimulate creativity and make employees and your business more successful just because of a paint color. So what are you waiting for? Go out and get some swatches!

 

 

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

 

 

Finding the Right Office Furniture for Your New Space

Posted on August 25, 2015 by - Commercial Relocation, Facility Installation, Office Furniture

When you move, you and your business get a fresh start. New office, new surroundings and a new feel to go along with it. As you look around your current office space, you begin to contemplate where you’re going to put things. You’re not sure if your furniture will fit and look best in your new location. So, where should you begin to solve this problem?

rightoffice_furnitureFirst, start with your moving company. You should ask your commercial movers what furniture they suggest, if they can recommend a furniture brand/style to best fit your new office and business operations and if they can install it.

If your commercial movers do not provide these services, then we have some tips for you to remember. When you shop for your new office furniture make sure your shopping not only for a reasonable price, but also for functionality. You don’t want to buy hundreds of cubicles when your business operations require employee collaboration. If you buy office furniture that isn’t functional for your business operations, it could also lead to unproductive employees. You need to foster a productive work environment for your business and your employees. So, if you’re shopping for new office furniture make sure to keep functionality, operations and employee productivity in the forefront of your mind.

QG_rightofficeThe next thing you want to think about is furniture storage. You need to be prepared if either some of your new furniture, or some of the old furniture doesn’t work in your new space. If you find yourself in this situation, we recommend you ask your commercial mover about any solutions they might have. They should be able to either store it, or dispose the unwanted office furniture. If they have storing capabilities, make sure the storage facility is secure so that all of your office furniture is safe and sound.

You spend a lot of time in your office and at your desk, so you need to ensure that both you and your employees have functional office furniture. You don’t want to find yourself with too much furniture for your new space, or with furniture that doesn’t flow properly in your new office. Take some time to consult with your commercial movers, think about the best way to organize your office to streamline your business productions and then shop for that perfect office furniture that will make your new office the office of your dreams!

 

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

 

 

 

Curious About The Commercial Moving Process? Here’s How The Quality Group Does Commercial Relocation.

Posted on August 11, 2015 by - Commercial Relocation, Facility Installation, Moving Preparation

When your company decides to move, you may think it’s going to be complete chaos. But, we’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. We’re going to take you through our commercial move process step-by-step so you can see how The Quality Group does relocation.

movingday_QGstagesThe truth is, a move isn’t a one day process. There are multiple steps involved so we can seamlessly move your business. We start about three to four weeks out from your desired moving date and have a planning meeting. At this meeting, we get to know you, your business and what’s important to you in the moving process.

One to two weeks before your scheduled move, we have another meeting. At this meeting, we bring our finalized moving strategy to you. We go over this strategy, answer your questions and solve any problems you may have. Getting feedback and solving any issues regarding the move is important to us. After all, this is your business’ move.

The next step is to prep your office for moving day. The day before, our crew will come to your office to put up signage and room numbers around the building. By doing this, we can streamline our moving process so that our crew can easily flow through your building without confusion.

When moving day arrives, we’ll come to your office and meet with your designated move captain. The move captain or captains are put in charge of the business move. When we meet with the move captains, we check and see if they have any last minute questions or problems.

At the same time, our crew will protect the walls and floors of your office building. After your office is protected, we have a team meeting and split our crew into two groups. One crew will help breakdown and pack computer stations, and the other half of the crew will be in charge of breaking down your office furniture.

Once we’re ready to take a truck load to your new office, we split our crew again. One crew we call the destination crew, and the other we call the origin crew. The destination crew will go over to your new office and begin protecting the walls and floors and then begin to move in your furniture. The origin crew will stay at your old office and continue to breakdown your furniture and clean up. The origin and destination crews stay at their locations until final loads and clean up. The only thing moving throughout this process is our truck and your office items.

When your old office is cleaned up and all of your furniture is at your new location, the origin crew moves to your new destination and helps to tie up any lose ends. Our crew makes sure your office furniture is set up correctly; your computers are fully functioning and makes sure no moving supplies are lying around your new office.

After the move, we like to make sure everything in your office is perfectly set up and fully functioning. A few days (or the next day, depending on when your move is) after your move, we schedule a post move meeting with you. We come and answer any questions or solve any problems you may have.

By streamlining our moving processes and making your move our top priority, we help you get to your new location so you can get back to business as soon as possible.

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

 

Finding the Right Moving Company.

Posted on July 7, 2015 by - Commercial Relocation, Facility Installation, Office Furniture

When My Business Moves, Can You Set Everything Up in the Right Place?

When planning your commercial move, there are a lot of things you have to worry about. But, walking into your office with boxes and cords everywhere, and furniture in the wrong places, shouldn’t be one of them. So, how do you know if your commercial mover will set your office up correctly? Well, we’re going to give you some insight on what questions to ask and how to know if your office will be fully-functioning on Monday when you walk into work.

 

SettingUp_Software

 

Make sure your commercial movers are familiar with your office furniture brand. Knowing a lot about a furniture brand, how to move it and how to put it back together can help make the moving process a lot easier. You wouldn’t want a mechanic that knows nothing about Corvette’s to work on yours, would you? Same goes for office furniture. Talk to your commercial moving company to make sure they know the ins and outs of your furniture. You want to make sure they know how to safely move it, and effectively set it up with no hiccups.

 

SettingUp_Organization

 

Additionally, ask your movers if they’re going to set up your computers to be fully-functioning when you get back to your office after the move. If they are, make sure you ask them if they’re familiar with the software your company uses and the types of computers you use. Your computers are vital to your business operations, so making sure your commercial moving company knows how your technology works is very important. You wouldn’t want to walk into your office and see computers unplugged and not turning on. Moving is stressful enough, and you shouldn’t have to worry about your computers not functioning properly.

Moving offices is a time to refresh and change things up. So, if you want to switch up your offices’ furniture arrangement, make sure your commercial mover specializes in space optimization. You may not think about it, but the way your furniture is arranged can affect the productivity of your employees. Make sure you’re able to sit down with your movers and discuss the floor plan of your new office space so that they can map out how to best optimize your office for maximum space and productivity.

If you really want to refresh your office with some new furniture, you also need to talk to your commercial movers to see what furniture they suggest. Your commercial movers should be experts in all things related to relocation. So, talk to your movers about what office furniture they suggest for your business operations and they should be able to get you in touch with a reputable office furniture company. If you find yourself with too much furniture, then talk to your movers about storage options for those pieces that just can’t fit. Ask if they have storage capabilities, or if they know a reputable storage facility.

Moving your business is made up of a lot of moving pieces, literally. You deserve to know what your commercial moving company does and doesn’t do so that you can be best prepared for your move. So, take these simple tips and put them into practice so that you can ease your mind of any moving stresses you may have.

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.

Don’t lose your data or computers when moving your office.

Posted on June 2, 2015 by - Commercial Relocation, Facility Installation

Having movers physically move your companies’ computer equipment makes you cringe. To ease your mind about having movers handle your precious cargo, you want your own employees to move their own computer stations. You may want to have employees move their computers instead because you’ve been thinking, “What if the movers drop my computers? What the movers just throw my computers in the back of their truck like it’s an empty box?”

I’ll give you another “what if” situation. What if your employee accidentally drops their monitor on the way to their car, or what if the computer gets left in their car for the weekend and gets overheated? Now your business has another set of problems because you have to replace that computer so that employee can work Monday morning.

But remember, your employees specialize in your business operations, not in moving computer equipment. Always remember to back up your data before allowing anyone to start moving your computer equipment, servers or workstations. At the Quality Group, we know that your computer equipment and data are the lifeline of your business, so we treat it with the greatest care. We’re going to take you step by step and explain to you how we would move your business’ computer equipment. If moved properly you won’t have to worry. You should expect when hiring any moving company to follow the same same steps in order to safely transport your computers.

We believe that any moving company should have special equipment carts that are designed to safely transport all of your computer equipment. You can see a picture of one of our carts below. But before we put your equipment on one of these strategically designed carts we bubble wrap the monitors. Second, we take all computer accessories such as your mouse, keyboard and wiring and pack them neatly in our computer accessories bag. Next, we begin to load the computer equipment carts. We put all the bubble-wrapped monitors on the bottom shelf of the cart, and then load all of your computer accessories onto the cart. Our final step before transport is to stretch wrap the computer equipment carts. This ensures a secure transport for all of your precious computer equipment. Again see a picture of a properly loaded, wrapped and protected computer equipment on the cart below.

 

WrappedComputers

 

When the Quality Group arrives at your new location with all of your business’ computer equipment, you can be sure that no computer will be without a mouse, keyboard or monitor cable. We strategically pack each of your offices’ computer stations so each computer equipment cart contains every item needed for each computer station to be fully functional.

We then unpack each computer station. But, that’s not all. We make sure every computer is in its correct place and functioning smoothly. You and your employees shouldn’t have to go through any hassle during your office move. That’s why we make this process as easy, quick and safe as possible.

You should expect the same service from any moving company you hire to move your office equipment. If you choose to move the equipment yourself, make sure that you follow the same steps.

If you have questions the Quality Group would be glad to assist you on your move.

QGTruck

The Perks of Working with The Quality Group

Posted on April 27, 2015 by - Commercial Relocation, Facility Installation, Moving Preparation, Office Furniture

Our value-added commercial moving services give you the most bang for your buck and keep you calm and comfortable during your office move.

PROBLEM: I can NOT afford to close up shop for a week to get everything moved.

QGMission

Our Solution: We’re happy to move your business at night or on weekends. We can coordinate every facet of your relocation outside of office hours, so you don’t lose any business. Our mission is to complete your commercial move while minimizing your business’ operational downtime. We usually eliminate it altogether, so you can move your office without missing a single phone call or turning away a single customer.

PROBLEM: I have too much/not enough/old/broken office furniture.

problem2

Our Solution: At The Quality Group,our professional movers:

–          Safely dispose of or recycle your old, broken or unwanted furniture

–          Work with brands like Steelcase to bring you high-quality, durable office furniture

–          Provide safe, secure warehouse space for extra furniture you might need later

Just tell us what you want to do with your office furniture, and we will take care of the rest.

PROBLEM: I need to move, but I have no idea where to start.

Our Solution: Call us. Right now. There’s no pressure or obligation. We can just talk. We make moving plans every day, so we can guide you through yours no matter where you are in the process. Whether you’ve just realized you need more space or you’ve got a new office and a move date, we can make sure your move goes smoothly. Don’t let anything stand in the way of growing your business. Give us a call, or give us your contact info and we’ll call you (link to contact page).

 

 

Work with The Quality Group

At The Quality Group, we’re your commercial relocation specialists. Founded in 1987 in New Orleans, LA, The Quality Group serves the Gulf States with comprehensive commercial moving services from move planning to furniture installation. No other company puts in the time or preparation that we do to make your move stress and hassle-free.