There are 42 desks, 67 chairs, three filing cabinets nobody has opened since approximately 2011 and a giant reception counter that appears to have been constructed inside the building.
You've decided what you're taking.
Now there's one rather important question:
What happens to everything else?
Unfortunately, unwanted office furniture doesn't magically disappear when the lease ends.
And sending everything straight to landfill shouldn't be the first solution.
First question: Can it be reused?
This is always the best outcome.
Quality commercial office furniture is designed to last, which means a desk, chair or cabinet that one business no longer needs could still have years of useful life ahead of it.
Depending on condition, quantity, style and current demand, furniture may be able to be resold and given a completely new life in another workplace.
We've seen furniture move from large corporate offices into small businesses, schools, charities, home offices and completely different commercial environments.
Same furniture.
New workplace.
Can it be refurbished?
A scratched desktop doesn't necessarily mean the entire desk is rubbish.
A chair with a tired component doesn't always need replacing.
Sometimes furniture can be repaired, cleaned, reconfigured or given new components.
We can also reuse parts.
Desk frames, for example, can sometimes be paired with new tops rather than disposing of an entire workstation because the existing top is damaged or the wrong size.
This is the circular economy in its most practical form.
Use what already exists for as long as reasonably possible.
Can it be donated or redirected?
Not everything has strong commercial resale value.
That doesn't mean it has no value.
Where appropriate, furniture can sometimes be redirected to community organisations, charities, schools or other groups that can make use of it.
The important part is finding somewhere that genuinely needs the furniture rather than simply shifting the disposal problem from one organisation to another.
Can the materials be recycled?
When furniture genuinely reaches the end of its useful life, the next question becomes whether its components can be separated and recycled.
Metal frames, for example, may have a recycling pathway even when the complete piece of furniture no longer has a practical use.
The aim is to keep as much material as reasonably possible circulating rather than automatically sending everything to landfill.
The uncomfortable truth: not everything has resale value.
This is probably one of the biggest misconceptions around office clear-outs.
Just because something originally cost thousands of dollars doesn't necessarily mean somebody wants to buy it today.
Office furniture trends change.
Technology changes.
Workplace layouts change.
Large corner desks, certain workstation configurations and older furniture styles can be extremely difficult to resell regardless of their original purchase price.
There is also labour, transport, dismantling, storage, cleaning, photographing, listing and handling involved in giving furniture another life.
Sometimes the cost of doing all of that is greater than the furniture's resale value.
That's why assessing an office clearance properly is so important.
Start thinking about your old furniture BEFORE moving day.
One of the worst times to decide what you're doing with 80 unwanted desks is approximately 4:30pm on the final day of your lease.
The earlier you start, the more options there generally are.
At George Walkers Office Furniture, we can look at an office full of furniture and help determine what may be suitable for resale, reuse, refurbishment, redirection or recycling.
We can also coordinate the physical removal and relocation side of the job.
Because when you're moving office, the goal shouldn't simply be:
"Get rid of it."
A much better question is:
"Where can it go next?"
