Case Studies: Commercial and Domestic Removals
Case Study 1: Holiday Inn
Throughout 2008 Smooth Operators have conducted many installations for various Express By Holiday Inn franchises. This has involved the removal of old mattresses, divans and sofa beds from the hotel rooms and the installation of new furniture. The old furniture and packaging for the new furniture is then disposed off. To ensure we operate as environmentally friendly as possible, where possible, packaging and furniture is recycled or donated to charity.
After successfully completing many installations in established hotels, Smooth Operators were asked to install furniture into a new build hotel in Lincoln.
The installation was to take place over a two day period and once the installation dates were finalised our removal co-ordinator formalised a detailed work plan to ensure that the installation would be completed on time and to the hotel owner’s requirements.
Liaising with the company delivering the new furniture and the hotel site foreman it was agreed that the deliveries would be made at two hourly intervals over both days to ensure each delivery vehicle could be unloaded and off site before the next arrived.
The hotel had six floors and 102 rooms that all required either a single divan and mattress or double divan and mattress and a sofa bed.
We were advised that two lifts would be operational. It was therefore decided that two teams of three men would work on one floor at a time.
Upon arriving at the hotel on the first morning of the installation, we found that the hotel was no where near as complete as we were advised and rooms, corridors and stairwells were still being worked upon. Only one lift was useable and the furniture on each delivery load was not as per the understood arrangement.
A quick reassessment was therefore required and our men and roles adapted to the changed circumstances.
Despite the situation where only one lift was useable and the presence of other contractors on site Smooth Operators were able to successfully complete the installation to the Hotels required standards on time and with complete satisfaction from all parties concerned.
Case Study 2: Coloplast
In autumn 2008, Smooth Operators, tendered for and were successfully awarded the contract to relocate Coloplast from their current two offices into a brand new purpose built office.
The relocation was to take place in 2 phases in December 2008 and January 2009. Our removal co-ordinator and project manager liaised closely with the Coloplast project co-ordinator and advice and instructions were given on how to best implement the move.
It was required that the move commence on a Friday afternoon and that all staff and equipment had to be up and running first thing on the following Monday.
Leading up the relocation, we conducted a Health and Safety check and thorough risk assessment, provided hard lidded storage crates and colour coded labels so that staff could pack items from their desks prior to the relocation.
On the first day of the relocation while our porters removed all the ready packed crates our specialist IT team decommissioned, bubble wrapped and packed PC’s, laptops, monitors, printers, mouse, keyboards etc. from each desk.
All crates were then transported to the new offices and placed at the respective new desks.
To complete the first part of the relocation all required furniture including desks and filing cabinets were moved to the new office and where needed dismantled to allow items to be removed.
The following day our porters continued to move crates to each desk as required while our IT team reinstalled the computer equipment on to each desk. This involved the attaching of monitors to specially designed monitor arms on each desk as well as connecting all the equipment.
By mid afternoon on the Saturday all of the required items were successfully moved into the new offices well ahead of schedule.
On the Sunday two of our staff returned to the new office to collect any empty crates and move around any items that the Coloplast wanted moving.
Again, on the Monday, two staff returned to Coloplast to continue to remove empty crates and help the staff unpack their boxes and finalise any items that needed moving.
This relocation went extremely well and the feedback we received from Coloplast was very positive. Smooth Operators conducted the relocation within the timescale required and exceeded the customers expectations.