Colorado's Office Furniture Experts Who Actually Show Up

By Jeff Schwankl, Project Manager, Office Furniture EZ, Colorado Springs

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I’ve been involved in a lot of office moves over the years. Big ones, small ones, the kind where everything goes smooth and the kind where somebody signed a lease and called us two weeks before the move-in date. I’m not here to judge. It happens more than you’d think. But I will say this: the projects that go well almost always have one thing in common. Somebody started thinking about the furniture early.

This is the timeline I walk customers through when they first reach out to us. Whether you’re relocating a 10-person team off Academy Boulevard or building out a new floor in downtown Denver, the basics are the same. Give yourself enough runway, and we can do some really good work together. Don’t, and we’ll still do everything we can, but you might not love your options.

90+ Days Out: Start the Conversation

I know 90 days sounds like a lot of lead time for furniture. But this is when the real planning happens, and if you skip it, you pay for it later.

At this stage we’re not talking about specific chairs and desk configurations. We’re talking about the big picture. How many people are you moving? What’s the square footage of the new space? Is this a blank canvas or does some existing furniture need to come with you?

Here’s something a lot of people don’t realize: you don’t have to wait for a physical walkthrough to get started. As soon as you have your building plans or floor plans from the landlord or your architect, share them with us. We work off building plans all the time. It’s one of the first things I ask a new customer. If you’ve got the plans, we can start laying things out right away, well before we ever set foot in the space.

That said, a site visit is still worth doing and we’ll schedule one as soon as access is available. We come out to the new space, take measurements, check door widths, look at where the power and data drops are. Our project managers do this as a free, no-obligation consult. I handle Colorado Springs accounts personally. Tim and the team cover Denver. There’s no sales pressure. We just want to understand what you’re working with.

And this is also when we start asking about compliance. A lot of customers don’t think about this until it becomes a problem, and by then the furniture is already on order. ADA clearance requirements affect aisle widths, workstation placement, and how you route traffic through the space. Electrical codes can dictate where powered furniture like sit-stand desks can actually go, and whether your current panel can support it. If you’re in a building that’s being renovated or is subject to a certificate of occupancy inspection, we want to know that upfront. We’re not code inspectors and we don’t give legal or engineering advice, but we’ve been doing this long enough in Colorado that we know the questions to ask and we know when to flag something for your contractor or building manager to sort out before we finalize a layout.

One more thing people underestimate at this stage: the building itself has a lot to say about your furniture options. Narrow hallways, low ceilings, odd column placement. All of that affects what we can deliver and install. Better to know upfront than to be standing in a stairwell at 7am on move day trying to figure out why a 72-inch desk won’t make the turn.

60 Days Out: Make the Big Decisions

By now you should have a general layout concept and a budget range. This is where we get into the actual product selection.

New or used? For a lot of our Colorado customers, especially smaller businesses and growing teams, used commercial furniture is a really smart play. We have a solid inventory at both our Denver warehouse and here in the Springs. Brands like Haworth, Herman Miller, Knoll. We see these come through regularly. They’re built to last, and when you buy used from us they’ve been inspected and cleaned before they ever get to your office.

If you’re doing a larger build-out, or if you need everything to match perfectly, new makes more sense. Lead times for new furniture can run 4 to 10 weeks depending on the manufacturer, which is exactly why we’re having this conversation at 60 days and not 30.

This is also when the layout really gets dialed in. I’ll put together a 2D plan, sometimes a 3D rendering if the project warrants it, so you can actually see how everything fits before we order anything. I can’t tell you how many times that visual has saved a customer from a decision they would’ve regretted. People see a number on a spec sheet and it doesn’t quite compute. Then they see it in the layout and they go, oh, that’s actually a lot bigger than I thought.

If any compliance items came up during the 90-day conversation, this is when we make sure the layout actually addresses them. ADA-compliant aisle clearances get baked into the plan at this stage, not added as an afterthought after the furniture is already placed.

30 Days Out: Confirm, Confirm, Confirm

Orders are in. The layout is approved. Now we’re moving into logistics.

I coordinate with our warehouse and our delivery crews to make sure everything lines up with your building’s move-in window. Some buildings here in the Springs and up in Denver have loading dock restrictions. Times you can use the elevator, days the freight entrance is available, that kind of thing. I find out all of that ahead of time so we’re not scrambling.

If there’s any demolition of existing cubicles happening, whether we’re handling it or a third party is, this is when we confirm that schedule too. We do deinstallation as part of our services, and it’s something I’d recommend letting us handle if possible. It’s faster, and we know how the systems go together, which means we also know how to take them apart without damaging anything.

This is also a good time to double-check your headcount. I’ve had projects where someone called at the 30-day mark and said we actually hired three more people since we talked. That’s a good problem to have, and usually solvable. But better to know now.

Move Week: The Walkthrough and Then We’re In

Before the trucks roll, I like to do a final walkthrough of the space with the customer. This is where we go over everything one more time together. The layout is on paper, but walking the actual space with fresh eyes before install day has a way of surfacing small things we can still adjust. Maybe a workstation needs to shift a few feet because of where a window falls. Maybe the customer changed their mind on where the conference table sits. Better to sort that out the day before than while the crew is trying to work around it.

Once we’re in, our crews are careful. They protect floors, they work clean, and they know how to read a layout and execute it. I’m usually on site or in close contact throughout the installation, especially for larger projects. If something doesn’t look right or a piece doesn’t fit the way we planned, we figure it out on the spot. That’s just part of the job.

For most mid-sized projects, say 20 to 50 workstations, we can typically complete installation in a single day. Bigger projects we’ll phase out, sometimes installing over a couple of days so you can keep operating while we work around you.

Day One: You’re Open for Business

This is the part I like best, honestly. Walking through a space when it’s done and seeing it actually work the way we planned it.

Good furniture does something beyond just providing a place to sit. It tells your employees you thought about them. It tells clients who walk through your door that you run a serious operation. I know that sounds like something from a brochure, but after years of doing this I really believe it.

A Few Things That Can Throw the Timeline

I want to be straight with you about the stuff that can cause delays, because some of it is outside our control.

Manufacturer backorders are real. Certain fabrics or finishes on new product lines can run long. We try to flag this early and give you alternatives, but it’s worth knowing going in.

Building access is another one. If your new landlord is coordinating multiple tenants moving in at the same time, your window for delivery might be shorter or later in the day than ideal. Always worth asking your property manager what the move-in logistics look like before you finalize any dates with us.

And honestly, indecision. I say that kindly. Sometimes a customer wants to see one more configuration, one more fabric sample, one more quote. That’s fine, and I’ll work through it as long as we need to. But the clock keeps running. If we’re at 30 days and approvals are still pending, I’ll say something. It’s my job to keep the project on track.

We Can Work With Shorter Timelines Too!

I said the smooth projects start 90 days out. That doesn’t mean we can’t help if your situation is different.

If you’ve got 30 days or less, call us anyway. Between our used inventory, our relationships with suppliers, and the fact that we actually pick up the phone, we can often put together a solid solution faster than you’d expect. I’ve seen us turn around a 25-workstation install in under two weeks when we needed to. It’s not ideal. But it’s doable.

What I can’t do is make delivery happen before a manufacturer has shipped. So the earlier you reach out, the more options we have.

If you’re planning a move, an expansion, or a refresh somewhere in Colorado, give us a call or shoot us an email. I’m happy to talk through your project at no charge and no pressure. That’s just how we operate.

Colorado Springs: 719-678-4666 Denver: 303-371-8787 info@officefurnitureEZ.com

Or request a free site survey right on our website. I’ll be in touch same business day.

— Jeff