RELATED TOOLS RELATED ITEMS Net Journal Archives

At ZipRealty, we've outgrown our home and are in the process of moving to a new location four miles away. However, like anything else in a startup, the process has not gone according to plan.

Earlier this year, we signed a lease for a 45,000-sq.-ft. facility near the San Francisco Bay in the city of Richmond. We were anxious to move because projections had us overflowing our current 9,500-sq.-ft. facility in July. Our new landlord understood our situation and had a team standing by to demolish the inside of the current facility (a high-tech lab) and transform it with paint and carpet into our new headquarters. The timelines were tight, but we all felt that everything could be done by the end of June, even allowing for one or two minor setbacks.

Boy, was that wishful thinking.

DEMOLITION DERBY. First, the project's permits hadn't been properly filed, and the city found out. About two weeks into the demolition, work came to a halt. Initially, our landlord indicated that the delay would be two weeks -- at the most. One month and many phone calls (on our part) later, we were given the green light to continue. So much for the June move-in date.

However, the delayed move turned out to be good news because we discovered that the vendors for the new cubicles, cabling, and carpet would be unable to deliver until late June or July. It seems there's extreme demand in the marketplace for these items and that 4 weeks for deliveries really means 8 to 10 weeks.

That left us with a big problem: 128 people working in a facility that could hold only 100. We immediately eliminated the eating areas, conference rooms, and any open spaces. People were working on portable tables tucked in strange corners of the office, or five to a four-person cube. We even discussed shift work for some positions (one person comes in early in the morning, works a full day, and then the next person comes in and takes over that person's space). We had the good sense to reject that idea.

SPLIT SITE. Instead, we wangled permission to move 38 of our people into a large self-contained section of the new building. It would be all tables and computers but at least there would be an open space. Within days, the teams were identified, and people started carting their computers and personal stuff over there.

Now we're a split-site operation. This has made meetings and information transfer much more difficult. The one true benefit is the extra exercise I get biking between the two facilities. The new date for reunification: late July. I'll believe that when I see it.