About Us
Family Movers Ethio is Ethiopia’s trusted moving and packing company. From single apartments in Addis Ababa corporate relocations across Bishoftu and Sululta- we handle every move with care.
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An office move is fundamentally different from a residential one. Every hour your team can’t work is operational cost. Every misplaced server is a billable customer-facing problem. Every weekend that runs over is a Monday morning crisis. Office relocations don’t fail from lack of effort — they fail from poor planning, undertrained crews, and movers who don’t understand the difference between a desk chair and a server rack.
Family Movers Ethio has run commercial relocations across Addis Ababa, Bishoftu, and Sululta since 2018. We move offices of 5 to 500+ staff, with weekend scheduling, IT-trained crews, secure document handling, and locked pricing from ETB 40,000. Every office move starts with a free in-person site survey and ends with your team at their new desks Monday morning, ready to work.
Office Moving Pricing in Addis Ababa
Office moving pricing is locked and inclusive of crew, vehicles, materials, IT-handling expertise, weekend scheduling, and floor protection. We don’t add surprise fees for extra hours, after-hours access, or building permits — those are accounted for during the site survey and built into the quote.
What’s included in every office move:
- Free in-person site survey at both origin and destination office
- Detailed written quote with locked pricing — no changes on moving day
- Weekend or after-hours scheduling at no additional surcharge (this is standard, not premium)
- Full-time trained crew including staff specifically trained for office and IT relocations
- Multiple vehicles where needed (we don’t extend timelines by undersizing the truck fleet)
- Office-grade packing materials: heavy-duty banker boxes, file boxes with lids, computer equipment boxes, monitor sleeves, cable bags
- Disassembly and reassembly of office furniture: desks, partitions, conference tables, modular workstations, filing cabinets
- IT equipment handling: workstations, monitors, printers, servers, network switches, UPS units, cable management
- Floor and lift protection at both locations
- Document security: chain-of-custody for sensitive files, locked transport for HR or financial records
- Basic liability coverage for damage during loading or transport
Optional add-ons: Move-in/move-out cleaning (per floor: +ETB 12,000), high-value declared insurance for IT equipment above ETB 50,000 in declared value, secure server room handling with specialized crew, evening-only scheduling phases (for offices that can’t shut down during the weekend), and short-term storage between move dates.
For enterprise moves: Pricing is always custom because every enterprise relocation has unique requirements — multi-site phasing, after-hours network testing, vendor coordination, server migration timelines, security protocols. We schedule a longer site survey (60–120 minutes) and provide a multi-phase quote with day-by-day breakdowns.
What We Move in an Office Relocation
Office moves include items that residential moves rarely encounter, plus levels of sensitivity (data, documents, equipment value) that require specialized handling.
- Workstations and seating: Desks, ergonomic chairs, modular workstations, sit-stand desks, partitions, privacy screens, footrests
- Conference and meeting rooms: Conference tables (often modular), conference chairs, presentation equipment, projectors, video conferencing kit, whiteboards, podiums
- Storage and filing: Filing cabinets, shelving units, archive boxes, document storage cabinets, locked storage, mobile pedestals
- IT and electronics: Desktop computers, laptops, monitors, printers, scanners, copiers, servers, server racks, UPS units, network switches, routers, cable management trays
- Reception and lobby: Reception desks, waiting room seating, coffee tables, signage (where movable), magazine racks, brochure stands
- Pantry and breakroom: Refrigerators, microwaves, water dispensers, coffee machines, dishwashers, breakroom tables and chairs
- Records and documents: Active client files, archived records, HR files, financial records, contracts, board materials — handled with chain-of-custody when required
- Specialty items: Safes, server rooms, security camera systems, locked cabinets, branded company artwork, boardroom furniture
For sensitive document moves: We provide signed chain-of-custody documentation, locked transport vehicles where required, and crew background-checked for the specific job. This is standard for HR, finance, legal, and healthcare offices.
What we don’t move: Hazardous materials, flammable liquids, large quantities of perishable food, biological samples requiring climate-controlled transport (we’ll refer you to a specialty courier for these), illegal items.
Our Office Moving Process
Office moves follow an extended five-step process because the planning window is wider, the moving day is more compressed, and downtime tolerance is near zero.
Step 1 — In-person site survey (60–90 minutes, free). A senior team lead visits both your current office and your destination. We measure access points, lift dimensions, and floor plate layouts. We identify IT equipment that needs specialized handling, sensitive documents that require chain-of-custody, and items that need disassembly to clear corridors. We confirm building access protocols at both ends — security clearance, parking permits, lift booking, after-hours building access. For larger moves, we map out a zone-by-zone packing and loading plan.
Step 2 — Detailed written quote with phasing plan (within 48 hours). Office quotes include a day-by-day timeline, crew composition, vehicle schedule, IT handling specifics, materials breakdown, and contingencies for the most common surprises (lift failures, building access delays, parking changes). The price is locked. A 30% deposit confirms the booking; the balance is due on completion.
Step 3 — Pre-move preparation (3–7 days before). We deliver materials to your office in advance: banker boxes for documents, monitor sleeves, computer equipment boxes, cable bags. Each box gets a destination label so the crew knows which floor, which department, which desk it goes to. Your team can pack non-essential items (archived files, books, wall art) during the week before the move. We provide a packing guide so the team handles their own electronics safely.
Step 4 — Moving day execution (typically Friday evening through Sunday). Most office moves happen during the weekend so Monday morning starts at the new office without disruption. Crew arrives at the agreed time, in uniform, with all materials prepped. Floors and lifts are protected before any furniture moves. The team works in zones — typically loading workstations and IT equipment first, then conference rooms, then storage. Multiple vehicles are loaded in parallel for larger offices.
Step 5 — Setup and Monday-morning readiness. At the new office, the team sets up workstations exactly per your floor plan. IT equipment is positioned at each desk; monitors are connected; cables are managed where requested. Common areas are set up. We walk through every floor with your facilities lead before leaving. For multi-day moves, IT setup happens Sunday afternoon so any network testing can happen Sunday night before Monday morning.
Office Moves Done Right: IT Handling, Document Security & Zero-Downtime Scheduling
This is the section that distinguishes a professional office move from an amateur one. Three operational areas define the quality:
IT equipment handling. Computers, monitors, servers, and networking gear all require specific handling that residential movers don’t train for. Workstations get cable-tagged before disconnection so reconnection at the new desk is fast. Monitors travel in fitted sleeves, not generic foam. Servers and rack-mount equipment get specialized boxes and individual crew handling — not stacked on a dolly with desks. Cable management trays travel with their contents intact wherever possible. We can coordinate directly with your IT provider or internal IT team if there’s a specific shutdown sequence (for example, server shutdown order, last-out-first-in routing equipment) — and we follow it.
Document security and chain-of-custody. For HR offices, finance teams, legal practices, and healthcare clinics, sensitive documents need handling that satisfies internal compliance and external regulators. We provide signed chain-of-custody documentation: who packed each box, who transported it, who unpacked it, and at what time. Locked transport vehicles are available for confidential records. Crew can be background-checked for specific jobs at the client’s request. None of this is at premium pricing — it’s standard for office moves where the client requests it.
Zero-downtime scheduling. The whole point of weekend or after-hours office moves is that your team starts Monday morning at the new office without losing a billable hour. We schedule office moves around your operations, not the other way around. Typical schedules: small offices Saturday only, medium offices Friday evening through Saturday, large offices Friday night through Sunday with Sunday afternoon dedicated to IT setup and network testing. Enterprise moves can be phased over multiple weekends to minimize the all-at-once disruption.
Vendor coordination. Larger office moves usually involve multiple vendors — IT companies, cleaning crews, finishing contractors, signage installers, security camera installers. We coordinate directly with these vendors during the move so handoffs happen smoothly. For example: after the move team installs server racks, the IT vendor can immediately begin power-up and network testing, with the move team available to reposition equipment if needed.
Common Office Move Scenarios in Addis Ababa
Most of our office relocations fall into one of these patterns. Each has its own planning rhythm.
- The startup or scale-up move: Growing from a co-working space or small office to a dedicated full-floor or multi-floor space. Typically 10–30 staff. Common in Bole, Kazanchis, and increasingly Lemi Kura.
- The corporate consolidation: Combining multiple smaller offices into a single larger space, often as part of a parent-company restructure. Typically 50–150 staff across multiple existing locations being merged into one. Phased moves over 2–3 weekends.
- The lease-end relocation: Moving offices because a lease expired or wasn’t renewed. Common pressure point: tight timeline tied to the lease end date, often 4–6 weeks of lead time. We handle these regularly but the more notice you give, the better the planning.
- The expansion move: Moving from a smaller office in the same building to a larger one in the same building (or to a sister building in the same compound). Half-day or full-day moves with shorter setup time. Common in Bole’s office towers and the Kazanchis business district.
- The international or HQ relocation: Moving regional headquarters in or out of Addis Ababa, often with international shipping coordination, multi-country payroll handling for staff, and sensitive corporate document handling. Common for embassies, NGOs, and multinational corporations.
- The post-renovation move-back: Moving back into a recently renovated office space. We coordinate with renovation contractors, IT installers, and cleaning crews to ensure the space is ready for the team Monday morning.
Add Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning to Your Office Move
Office cleaning before and after a move is essential — the old office often needs to be returned to landlord-ready condition, and the new office needs to be staff-ready before Monday morning. Trying to coordinate separate cleaning vendors during a multi-day office move is a logistical headache. Our cleaning add-on solves it.
Office cleaning add-on pricing: +ETB 12,000 per floor
The cleaning crew works in parallel with the moving team. As workstations are loaded and rooms are emptied at the old office, the cleaning crew works through behind them — floors, conference rooms, kitchen surfaces, bathrooms, fixtures, windows. By Sunday evening, the old office is ready for landlord inspection and the new office is ready for your team Monday morning.
For multi-floor offices, cleaning is priced per floor — a 3-floor office with cleaning add-on is +ETB 36,000. Tell us during the site survey whether you want cleaning at the origin, destination, or both, and we schedule accordingly.
Cleaning is offered exclusively as an add-on to a moving booking. We don’t take cleaning-only jobs.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Ready to plan your office relocation? The next step is a free in-person site survey — typically 60–90 minutes — at both your current office and your destination. We provide a detailed written quote with locked pricing within 48 hours of the survey. There’s no obligation to proceed.
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Ayat, Lomyad Building,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia