College & University moving in the Sacramento Valley: Murdock's crew at work

Education, Civic & Community

College and University Moving in Chico and Sacramento

Multi-department and swing-space moves at Chico State and Sacramento State, scheduled around campus docks, renovations and fall move-in.

(530) 354-8089

Licensed & InsuredUSDOT 3421940 · MC 1416634
Locally OperatedChico + Yuba City
Sacramento ValleyChico · Yuba City · Sacramento

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Planning a College & University Move

Most multi-department moves on a campus begin with a building going offline. When Chico State or Sacramento State closes a hall for renovation, the offices, advising centers and teaching rooms inside it scatter into swing space for a long stretch, then come back. That is two moves with the same contents and a gap between them, and the labels have to make sense for both.

The campus facilities or planning office usually owns that schedule, with a coordinator in each department deciding what their people take. We plan from a single room matrix: origin room, swing-space room and final room, one department per column. Cartons and furniture carry the department and both destinations, so a cabinet that spent a year in a temporary suite still finds its way home.

Summer is the obvious window, but rarely an empty one. Orientation, summer session and construction crews compete for the same docks, and student move-in in late August closes the window. We ask facilities for the dock calendar first and build the department order around it.

Who usually signs off: Campus facilities lead coordinating department administrators and approving the move scope
Timing that works: Summer and winter breaks, planned backward from fall move-in in late August and around orientation, summer session and construction dock bookings.

What typically moves

Department office suites bound for swing spaceLabeled with the department, the temporary room and the final room, so the return move reuses the same tags.
Advising and student-services countersCounter sections come apart by bay and go back up in the order the front desk needs to open for students.
Freestanding seminar tables and lecternsMoved by classroom number; lecterns with built-in controls stay for the campus technology group.
Department display and exhibit casesThe department empties each case first; glass shelves travel in their own padded cartons.
Mailroom sorters and department supply cabinetsShelf pins and keys are bagged and taped inside each cabinet; supplies are boxed by the owning department.
Tagged surplus furnitureKept off the moving load and delivered only to the collection point the property office names.
Staff desktops, monitors and printersDisconnected, cartoned and hooked back up at the desk campus technology assigns.

Access and scheduling

On a campus, the question is rarely how far the truck drives. It is where the truck is allowed to stop. Both campuses are laid out around pedestrian walkways, so service vehicles often need a permit, a particular gate and a set time, and the nearest dock may belong to another building. Facilities or campus parking tells us which approach each building uses; we plan the cart routes from there.

When several departments move in one break, we sequence them by building rather than by department, so one dock reservation serves every group bound for that building. Each department keeps its own release date and receiving contact. If a renovation slips and a swing-space suite is not ready, that department's load holds while the rest of the plan runs. Evening loading is possible on request where the campus allows service traffic after hours, and facilities can have a certificate of insurance naming the university before the first date.

Protection and handling

Campus furniture carries property tags, and those tags are the university's inventory record. We leave every tag where it is, note any piece that turns up untagged, and never label over one. Anything a department is sending to surplus is the campus property office's to decide; we move it only to the collection point that office names.

Freestanding cabinets, lecterns, seminar tables and display cases are pad-wrapped and rolled through service corridors, with floor runners wherever facilities asks for them. Advising files and mailrooms are packed to the department's instructions, and anything it wants kept closed is taped shut by its own people. Mounted projectors, smart boards and lecterns with built-in controls belong to the campus technology group, and we move only what they release. Staff desktops and monitors ride in padded cartons to the assigned station.

Who does what

Some of this job belongs to other trades. The written plan names each one.

Loading docks, service-vehicle permits and building access: Campus facilities and parking services assign the gate, dock and hours for each building. The crew works inside that plan and does not pick stopping points on campus.
Surplus decisions and property-tag records: The university's property or surplus office decides what is surplused and updates its inventory. We move tagged items only where that office directs.
Classroom technology, network and card-access readers: Campus IT and the building's technology staff disconnect and reinstall them. We carry released desk-level equipment only.

Not part of our work

Settling which department owns a disputed piece of furniture; facilities or the property office decides before loading.
Removing or reinstalling fixed casework, lab benches or anything bolted to a wall or floor.

Around Chico, Yuba City and Sacramento

Chico State sits at the edge of downtown Chico beside Bidwell Park, with Big Chico Creek running through campus, so street parking and service access around the core are tight. Sacramento State lies along the American River in east Sacramento, with its own campus loading rules. Summer heat in both cities pushes cross-campus cart runs into the morning from June through September.

The crew that shows up

Two Murdock’s movers carrying a pad-wrapped table up the truck ramp

Two Murdock’s box trucks staged outside a single-story building in the Sacramento Valley

Murdock’s crew carrying a pad-wrapped piece through a tiled entryway

College & University Moving FAQs

Another question? Call (530) 354-8089.

Our building is closing for renovation. Can you plan the move out and the move back together?

Yes. We build one room matrix with the origin room, the swing-space room and the final room for every department, and the labels carry all three. When the building reopens, the return move runs from the same list, so nobody has to re-inventory a suite that sat in temporary space.

Several departments share one loading dock. How do you keep them from blocking each other?

We schedule by building, not by department. Every group bound for the same building shares that dock reservation in a set order, and each department's cartons are grouped on the truck so its receiving contact can check them in as one load. Departments headed to other buildings run on their own dates.

What happens to the furniture our departments are sending to surplus?

It stays under the property office's direction. Departments mark surplus pieces during the walkthrough, and we keep them off the moving load. If the property office wants them taken to a collection point on campus, we move them there on request, with the tags left on for its records.

Student move-in starts in late August. How late in the summer can a department still move?

That depends on your campus calendar more than on us. Residence-hall move-in and the first week of classes bring heavy traffic and dock demand, so facilities often wants office moves finished before then. We plan backward from the date facilities gives us and leave room for a construction handoff that slips.

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Tell us both addresses, the building rules you know about, and the dates you cannot move. We will send back a written plan and estimate.

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