If you’re scoping the budget for an office move, the first number you need is a defensible range. Office removal cost UK figures are harder to pin down than residential ones because the variables run wider: staff count, IT estate, furniture stock, distance, access at both ends, and whether the move happens out of hours. This guide sets out the working ranges UK businesses are paying in 2026, the variables that move the price, and what an office move quote should include so you can compare like-for-like.
The short answer: typical office removal costs in 2026
Office moves price by volume of contents, complexity, and crew time, not by floor area. Two offices the same size can cost very different amounts depending on what’s inside them and when the work happens. The figures below are working ranges for UK SME and mid-market moves in 2026, based on industry norms; your specific quote will reflect the variables covered later in this guide.
Indicative ranges, weekday daytime move, local relocation within the same town or city:
- 1 to 10 staff: £1,500 to £3,000
- 10 to 30 staff: £2,500 to £5,500
- 30 to 50 staff: £4,500 to £9,000
- 50 to 100 staff: £8,000 to £18,000
- 100+ staff: typically project-quoted; volume, IT, and phasing dominate the figure
These are baseline figures. An out-of-hours move (evening or weekend) typically adds 25% to 50%. A long-distance relocation (over 100 miles) adds fuel, driver hours, and often a second crew at the new end. Phased moves over multiple days cost more than a single concentrated push.
For a precise figure on your specific relocation, request a free Simply Moving quote or call 0800 043 5393.
What actually drives the cost
Office removal pricing comes down to volume, complexity, and the working window the firm has to complete the move. Six variables matter most.
Staff count and workstation density
Headcount is a useful headline because it correlates with everything: desks, chairs, monitors, pedestals, server load, archive, kitchen kit, meeting-room furniture. A 30-person office with hot-desking and minimal storage moves faster than a 30-person office with assigned desks, full pedestals, and a wall of filing cabinets. Most office removals firms will run a survey based on workstation count and adjust for storage volume and specialist items.
IT and server estate
The IT layer is where office moves diverge most sharply from residential ones. A simple cloud-first setup with laptops and a couple of network switches is quick to handle. A traditional setup with on-premise servers, comms cabinets, and a wired network needs decommissioning, careful packing, anti-static treatment, and a planned recommissioning sequence at the new building. Many firms work alongside the client’s IT supplier or managed service provider to get the sequencing right. Our IT and server relocation guide goes into the sequencing in more detail.
Furniture: keep, sell, or replace
A move is the natural moment to ask whether the existing furniture is going with you. Old desks and chairs cost the same to transport as new ones but rarely survive the move with much value left. Many businesses buy new furniture for the new building, dispose of the old stock, and only move the items actually worth keeping. That decision typically comes out of furniture budget rather than removals budget, but it shapes the volume the removals firm prices against.
Distance
A move across town costs less than one across the country. For local moves within Leicester, Leicestershire, or a similar city radius, distance is a minor factor. For long-distance moves, fuel, driver hours, and overnight stays start to matter, and a second crew at the destination is often more efficient than a single crew making the round trip.
Access at both ends
Access shapes the day more than any other operational variable. Lift availability, loading bay access, parking permits, security check-in procedures, evening or weekend access for the building, and whether the lift can be booked for sole use during the move all affect crew time. A first-floor office in a building with a goods lift and a loading bay is fast. A fourth-floor office above a high-street unit with on-street parking and no after-hours access is slow.
In Leicester specifically, city centre offices typically need temporary parking suspensions through Leicester City Council, and many business parks have their own access rules and gate hours that need clearing in advance.
Timing: in-hours, out-of-hours, weekends
Most SME moves happen on a Friday or over a weekend so the team can return to a working office on Monday. Out-of-hours and weekend moves typically attract a 25% to 50% premium because they require crew to work outside normal patterns and often involve building-access fees as well.
In-hours weekday moves are cheaper but only practical for businesses that can lose a working day, or where the team can work remotely during the move. The cost saving is real, but trading a weekend premium for a lost trading day rarely makes commercial sense for businesses that depend on physical presence.
Out-of-hours and weekend moves: the operational continuity question
For most businesses, the question isn’t whether an office move is cheaper at the weekend, it’s whether the cost of being closed for a working day exceeds the weekend premium. Usually, it does. A 30-person professional services firm losing a day of billable time will spend more on lost revenue than the difference between a weekday and weekend move.
The exception is businesses with strong remote-working capability. If the entire team can work from home for two days while the move happens, an in-hours move becomes a viable option and the saving lands cleanly on the bottom line.
A common middle path is a Friday-to-Sunday move: vacate Friday afternoon, move and IT-recommission Saturday, settle and test Sunday, trading from the new building on Monday morning. It costs more than a weekday move but less than a same-day weekend turnaround.
How Simply Moving handles SME office moves
For SMEs without a dedicated facilities team, the removals firm tends to absorb a project-management role by default. Our office removals team will run a pre-move survey, agree a timeline, coordinate with your IT supplier on the server and comms sequence, manage parking and access at both ends, and crew the move so a typical SME relocation completes inside a single weekend. We work across Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland, north Northants, south Notts and Derbyshire, and across to Rugby, and one named contact at our end runs the project from survey to settling-in.
We don’t subcontract the move itself, which matters for accountability when something on the day needs a quick decision.
What an office move quote should include
A defensible quote covers the operational detail. Things to look for:
- Crew size and vans for each phase of the move
- Hours allocated, with clarity on what happens if the move runs long
- Packing materials, including crates if the firm uses them rather than cardboard cartons
- IT handling scope: what the firm does, and what stays with your IT supplier
- Insurance level and per-item limits, including any cover that applies during overnight storage between buildings
- Out-of-hours or weekend premium, broken out as a line item
- Disposal arrangements for any furniture or kit being scrapped
- Reinstatement work at the old building if your lease requires it (sometimes scoped separately)
If any of these are vague, ask. Comparing two quotes line by line is the only reliable way to see whether one is actually cheaper or just less specific.
Things you can do to keep the cost down
- Declutter and dispose first. Every redundant filing cabinet, every dead monitor, every obsolete server in the comms cupboard costs the same to move as a useful one. A pre-move audit pays for itself.
- Be honest at the survey. Underestimating volume to get a lower headline figure leads to crew shortages on the day and costs more, not less.
- Plan IT first, furniture second. The IT critical path drives the move timeline. If servers need to be live by Monday morning, the rest of the schedule sits underneath that.
- Book early. Office removal capacity in the SME market tightens at quarter-ends and around the financial year. 8 to 12 weeks of lead time gets you the best dates and the best rates.
- Consolidate the move into one push rather than phasing it across several weeks unless there’s a clear operational reason to phase. Phased moves cost more in crew time and tend to drag on the working office in the meantime.
When to start getting quotes
For a sub-20 staff SME, start the conversation 6 to 8 weeks before the planned move date. For 30 to 50 staff, give yourself 8 to 12 weeks. For 50+ staff or any move with a complex IT estate, 12 to 16 weeks is sensible, longer if the new building isn’t yet ready. Our office relocation planning timeline breaks down what should happen in each phase of the lead-up.
Get a quote for your office move
Office removal costs in 2026 vary widely by staff count, IT complexity, and timing. The ranges in this guide are a working starting point, but a defensible budget needs a proper survey of your specific office, IT estate, and the buildings at both ends.
For a free, no-obligation quote on your office move, fill in our contact form or call us on 0800 043 5393 to speak to one of our team. We’ll talk you through what’s involved, give you a clear quote, and answer any questions before you commit. No pressure either way.