Office & HQ Relocation Guide
Office relocations are billed per square foot of moved space, with distinct IT, furniture, fit-out, and restoration components. Benchmarks below reflect 2025 JLL/CBRE and office-move survey data.
What drives office move cost
- Physical move: $2 – $8/sqft (region & COL adjusted).
- IT/AV relocation: $2 – $4/sqft.
- Furniture install: $1 – $3/sqft.
- Downtime: $500 – $1,500/hour of lost productivity.
- Fit-out: light $30 – $75/sqft, full $150 – $350/sqft.
- Lease restoration: 3–5× the move cost.
Regional multipliers
Apply the regional factor to the per-square-foot rates above: Northeast 1.15, Midwest 0.95, South 0.9, West 1.1. Cost-of-living within a region shifts the result further.
The biggest hidden cost is lost productivity during cutover. A 200-person office at the modeled downtime rate can lose five figures per day of lost productivity — model it explicitly with the calculator.
What is and isn't included
- Included: physical move of furniture/files, IT/AV disconnect-reconnect, furniture install, light or full fit-out, and lease make-ready/restoration.
- Usually excluded: architectural/design fees, telecom & carrier build-out, specialized labs or secure rooms, storage-in-transit, and after-hours premiums.
- Get itemized bids; per-square-foot blended rates hide these add-ons.
whrg.com, www.crowell.com, www.kpmg.com, www.calt.iastate.edu, www.congress.gov, www.irs.gov, finance.yahoo.com, jilaniplace.com, www.vectorinstallations.com, www.vectorinstallations.com, ocnjdaily.com, agmoving.com, lincolnmoving.com, www.dir.ca.gov, sam.gov, www.fmcsa.dot.gov, www.bls.gov, www.worldwideerc.org, www.atlasvanlines.com, www.cbre.com, www.irs.gov. Figures are model benchmarks, not quotes. ReloFig never sells your information.