Moving Offices

Today is my last day, for a while, in Yellowknife NWT. My firm has moved our northern location and I have been part of the coordinating team. It is a new experience for me, coordinating with movers, space planners, furniture vendors, landlords and contractors. Usually my contractor negotiations start with, “Hey honey, why don’t we…” With this project, everything was a phone call or email until Friday, when our Edmonton contingent arrived on site.

This project has provided some valuable lessons. First, it is much easier to buy all new furniture and just move people and paper (we didn’t do that). Second, the usual protocols with vendors may have regional differences, for instance in Edmonton copy companies move copiers, in Yellowknife, movers move copiers – who knew? Human resources (the number of people available to do a task) are limited in small cities like Yellowknife. Bless all the men and women from our moving company here who worked long hard hours – often with the annoying Field (Edmonton) ladies helping and pushing and helping alongside. People in Yellowknife are friendly and extremely helpful.

The final lesson I would like to share about moving offices in Yellowknife is this: Come to the north. Summer or winter, this is one of the earth’s beautiful places.