Office Movers in California

What Halo Moves for Businesses

Commercial work is not one job. A dental practice and a 40-desk software office both need a truck, but almost nothing else about the two moves is the same. Halo is a commercial moving company that handles both. What follows is what Halo is asked for most often, and what usually sets the schedule in each case.

If your move is a department rather than a company, say so early. A single-floor reconfiguration is priced and staffed completely differently from a building-to-building move.

What an Office Move Costs

Office work is normally hourly, and an office moving company should be able to tell you what an hour actually buys before you book. Halo's published package is $175 per hour for two movers and one truck. Most commercial jobs need more than that, and the crew size, the number of trucks and any evening or weekend scheduling are set at the estimate and written into your agreement — not decided on the night.

A fully specified office move — confirmed inventory, confirmed access, confirmed schedule — can also be quoted as a flat price. The pricing page explains when each model is used, and the moving quote guide covers what Halo verifies before issuing a written figure.

Working Evenings and Weekends

Most commercial buildings restrict moves to outside business hours anyway. Halo schedules around that rather than against it, because the real cost of an office move is rarely the invoice — it is the hours the business is not working.

Two things to check with your landlord before setting the date: the hours the building permits moves, and whether after-hours access, security or HVAC is billed to the tenant. Those charges come from the building, not from the mover, and they are worth knowing before the date is chosen rather than after.

Illustrative comparison based on routine commercial work. Your own schedule is confirmed in writing once the inventory and building rules are verified.

Certificates of Insurance and Building Rules

This is the paperwork that stops more office moves than anything else, and it stops them at the worst possible moment — the evening the crew arrives. Most commercial buildings will not release a freight elevator, a loading dock or an after-hours access card until they hold a certificate of insurance naming them in their own wording.

Halo issues these for both buildings. The one thing Halo needs from you is the requirement itself: the tenant handbook page, the exact entity names and the limits. Send that at quote stage and the certificate is a non-event; send it the week of the move and it becomes the reason the date slips.

The rest of the building's list

• Freight elevator reservation at both ends, with a start and end time, not "sometime Saturday".
• Permitted move hours, and whether weekends are allowed at all.
• Dock or loading zone booking, and the height clearance if the dock is under a garage.
• Protection of common areas — lobby floors, lift interiors, corridor corners. Halo brings and fits this.
• After-hours security, HVAC or engineer charges. These are billed by the building to the tenant, not by the mover, and they are worth pricing before the date is set.
• Access cards, codes or an escort for the crew, arranged for the actual hours they will be on site.

Halo operates under CAL-T203846 and carries company insurance for its moving operation. That covers the business. The valuation elected for your own shipment is a separate choice recorded in your move documents — physical protection, company insurance and valuation are three different things, and it is worth knowing which one applies to your equipment.

Workstations, IT and Equipment

An office move succeeds or fails on labeling. Furniture can be rebuilt anywhere; a box with no destination on it has to be opened by somebody who does not own it.

One crate, one person, one desk number

Every employee gets a crate and a label carrying the destination desk number from the new floor plan. Staff pack their own desks and drawers — not because it saves money on the invoice, though it does, but because nobody else can decide what belongs in the bin. On Monday each person finds their own crate at their own desk and unpacks it in twenty minutes.

The floor plan is the single most useful document

A numbered plan of the new office, printed and taped up by the lift, removes almost every question the crew would otherwise have to ask at midnight. Number the desks, number the rooms, and give the crew a copy in advance.

Furniture systems

• Desks, benching, panel systems and height-adjustable frames are taken apart and rebuilt to the plan.
• Hardware is bagged and labeled by unit, so the same fixings return to the same frame.
• Filing cabinets travel empty unless they are built to be moved loaded; contents go into crates.
• Built-in joinery, glazing and anything anchored to the structure is a contractor's job, not a mover's — flag it early so it is scheduled, not discovered.

Computers and network equipment

• Monitors, docks, keyboards and cables are boxed per desk and travel with that person's crate.
• Halo moves the equipment. Disconnection and reconnection stay with your IT team or your provider, so nobody is troubleshooting a network at 2am on a mover's clock.
• Server racks, network cabinets and anything on a UPS are quoted separately and moved with your IT people present.
• If a machine holds sensitive data, keep it in your own custody and say so in advance rather than after it is on the truck.

What you are not taking

Every office move surfaces a pile of dead equipment, and it cannot simply go in the dumpster. In California, electronic devices, CRT monitors, fluorescent lamps and batteries are classified as universal waste under Title 22, Division 4.5, Chapter 23 of the California Code of Regulations, and businesses are barred from putting most of them in the regular trash — they have to go to an authorized handler. Halo moves what you are keeping; decommissioning and e-waste collection should be booked with a licensed recycler before move night, so twenty dead monitors are not standing in a corridor at nine in the evening.

Universal waste categories and the trash prohibition are set by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control under Title 22 CCR, Division 4.5, Chapter 23. Confirmed September 2026. Check your own generator status and county rules before disposing of anything.

What the Rate Includes and What Is Quoted Separately

Both lists are settled before the date is held. Nothing on the right appears on an invoice without your written approval first.

Sixty cents per pound per article is a liability level built into the rate, not insurance. It pays by weight, which is a poor match for office equipment: a laptop weighs very little and costs a great deal. If that gap matters for your inventory, raise it during the estimate so the right valuation is recorded in your move documents.

Storage for Archives and Furniture

Two dates rarely line up cleanly. A lease ends before a fit-out finishes, a floor is being refurbished, or a company downsizes and keeps furniture for a future office. Halo stores what does not travel yet.

• Storage runs through a partner warehouse, with climate control available.
• Access is around the clock, arranged by calling the office, so an archive box can be retrieved without waiting for a business day.
• Pickup, the inventory, the storage period and redelivery are quoted as separate components, not folded into one number.
• Furniture is stored wrapped, on the same inventory it left on.

Full rates, unit sizes and the difference between storage-in-transit and permanent storage are set out on the moving storage page.

Two clarifications. Packing and unpacking are billed at the same hourly rate rather than as a separate service, and cartons and packing paper are not charged — only crates and containers you keep. Additional buildings, floors or stops add time at the same rate: $175 an hour for two movers, $270 an hour for a crew of four. There is no flat surcharge for either.

Appliances and hardwired equipment have to be disconnected before the crew arrives — Halo does not disconnect or reconnect gas, water or electrical appliances. A certificate of insurance for either building is issued on request at no charge.

The Eight-Week Timeline

Nothing here is exotic. It is simply the order in which decisions have to be made so that none of them is being made on move night.

A short-notice move is still possible — Halo does them — but every week removed from this list moves work onto move night, and move night is the most expensive hour in the plan.

Checklist Before Move Night

Three lists, three owners. If all three are clear by the day before, the move is a logistics job rather than a rescue.

Where Halo Does Office Moves

As commercial office movers California businesses book for everything from a single-floor reconfiguration to a building-to-building move, Halo runs crews from its San Francisco base across the Bay Area, the Sacramento region and Southern California. It is also the office moving company Bay Area tenants most often call for evening and weekend work. Each city page covers the access conditions that shape a move in that place.

• Bay Area
• Oakland
• Berkeley
• San Jose
• Fremont
• Concord
• Vallejo
• Daly City
• Sunnyvale
• Livermore
• Contra Costa County
• Sacramento
• Roseville
• Stockton
• Fresno
• Los Angeles
• Pasadena
• Glendale
• Santa Monica
• Orange County
• Irvine
• San Diego

The full directory is on the moving locations page. Offices that are relocating out of the region are handled as long-distance moves.

Office Moving FAQ

How much does an office move cost?

Halo's published package is $175 per hour for two movers and one truck. Most commercial jobs need a larger crew and more than one truck, and that is set at the estimate along with the schedule, so the figure you approve is the figure the crew works to.

Is an office move hourly or a flat price?

Usually hourly, because readiness at the origin is the largest variable and it is one you control. A fully specified move — confirmed inventory, confirmed access, confirmed schedule — can be quoted as a flat price instead. The pricing page compares the two models.

Can you move us at night or over a weekend?

Yes, and for most offices that is the sensible plan. Many buildings restrict moves to outside business hours anyway. Closing Friday evening and opening Monday morning is the difference between losing two working days and losing none.

Do you provide a certificate of insurance for our building?

Yes, for both buildings. Send Halo the tenant handbook requirement, the exact legal entity names and the coverage limits at quote stage. Allow two weeks: most buildings will not release a freight elevator until the certificate is on file in their own wording.

Who packs the desks?

Staff pack their own desks into their own labeled crates. It is faster, it costs less, and nobody else can decide what belongs in the bin. Halo can pack desks instead, quoted as its own line.

Do you disconnect and reconnect computers?

Halo moves the equipment and boxes monitors, docks and cables per desk. Disconnection and reconnection stay with your IT team or provider, so the network cutover is run by the people who own it.

Can you move server racks?

Yes, quoted separately and scheduled with your IT people present. Racks, network cabinets and anything on a UPS are not treated as ordinary furniture.

Will you take away our old furniture and dead monitors?

Decommissioning is quoted separately and should be booked before move night. In California, electronics, CRT monitors, lamps and batteries are universal waste and businesses cannot put most of them in the regular trash, so they have to go to an authorized handler rather than into a skip.

Can you store furniture or archives between our two dates?

Yes. Storage runs through a partner warehouse with climate control available and around-the-clock access arranged by calling the office. Pickup, the storage period and redelivery are quoted as separate components.

Do you move single departments or reconfigure one floor?

Yes, and often without a truck. An internal reconfiguration is priced and staffed differently from a building-to-building move, so say which one you need when you ask for a quote.

Does Halo subcontract commercial crews?

No. Halo's commercial movers are trained, background-checked employees, with a lead foreman on site and a dispatcher coordinating the run. The people who quoted the work are accountable for it.

How far in advance should we book?

Eight weeks is comfortable, because the certificate of insurance and the elevator reservations sit on the critical path. Shorter notice is possible, but every week removed pushes work onto move night.

What is the most common reason an office move runs late?

Paperwork, not furniture. A certificate the building will not accept, or a freight elevator nobody reserved, stops a crew that is otherwise ready to work.

A starting figure is not the written estimate. Once the scope is confirmed, the deposit and payment options explain how the date is reserved and how the balance can be paid.

Two clarifications. Packing and unpacking are billed at the same hourly rate rather than as a separate service, and cartons and packing paper are not charged — only crates and containers you keep. Additional buildings, floors or stops add time at the same rate: $175 an hour for two movers, $270 an hour for a crew of four. There is no flat surcharge for either.

Appliances and hardwired equipment have to be disconnected before the crew arrives — Halo does not disconnect or reconnect gas, water or electrical appliances. A certificate of insurance for either building is issued on request at no charge.