Finance Company Relocation — 2025 Cost Planning Guide + Benchmarks

Introduction
If your team is searching for finance company relocation guidance, you need a concise, defensible plan you can present to leadership while quotes are still in flight. This guide defines what belongs in the budget, shares directional 2025 benchmarks by program type and level, explains common fee models, and gives you a simple model you can paste into your spreadsheet today. When you are ready to operationalize employee moves, start here: https://www.cityshiftfinance.com/corporate-landing-page

Who this is for
Finance leaders and FP&A teams responsible for planning, budgeting, and controlling a company relocation, including the office move and the employee relocations that come with it.

The finance formula
Total Program Cost = Facility + People + Administration + Contingency − Savings and Offsets.
Facility includes lease overlap or dual rent, tenant improvements and furniture, network and security migration, and decommissioning of your current space.
People includes relocation policy benefits, household goods shipping and storage, temporary housing and travel, home finding or lease break or home sale support when applicable, immigration and tax services for international moves, and tax gross up on taxable benefits.
Administration includes internal program time or the fees of a relocation management company, supplier orchestration, invoice audit, and reporting.
Contingency typically ranges from ten to fifteen percent on Facility and People based on risk.
Savings and Offsets include tenant improvement credits, abatements, incentives, and sublease income.

2025 benchmarks at a glance
Use these ranges to frame a plan before quotes arrive, then calibrate by lane and policy.
Renter moves for domestic one-way scenarios often sit in the low to mid five-figure range depending on temporary housing, travel frequency, and gross up.
Homeowner moves for domestic one-way scenarios often fall in the upper five-figure to low six-figure range when home sale support, extended temporary housing, and gross up are in scope.
International moves add immigration, longer temporary housing, and higher potential tax exposure. Build lane-specific estimates rather than a single global number.

Program types and where they fit
Lump Sum is common for early career or straightforward moves. Directional range is low to mid five figures when the company provides a cash grant and guidance while the employee self-manages vendors.
Managed Cap improves predictability by using curated vendors under a hard cap. Directional range is mid five figures depending on housing and travel.
Core-Flex fits mid and senior roles by combining a set of core benefits with a small menu of electives. Directional range is mid to upper five figures.
Full Service is typical for senior and executive roles or complex moves, often upper five figures to low six figures when high-touch support like home sale is included.

Finance company relocation checklist
Facility: lease overlap, tenant improvements, furniture, IT migration, decommission, permits, insurance, and professional fees.
People: policy type, household goods, temporary housing, travel, home finding or lease break or home sale support, gross up, and immigration where needed.
Administration: internal staffing or RMC support, vendor SLAs, audit, consolidated billing, and compliance.
Contingency: set a percentage appropriate to schedule, market capacity, and build-out risk.
Savings and Offsets: credits, abatements, incentives, and sublease income.

RMC versus vendor-direct for finance
An RMC configures policy, coordinates suppliers such as movers, temporary housing, and real-estate partners, pays vendors or reimburses employees, and provides reporting. Vendor-direct means you contract with suppliers yourself and manage invoices and support in-house.
Choose an RMC when volume or complexity is high, when you want consolidated billing and service levels, or when international or home-sale support is common.
Choose vendor-direct or lump-sum for a small number of simple domestic renter moves where speed and low administrative cost matter most.
In your model, include per-move administration fees or percentage of pass-through spend, any recovery or out-of-network charges, potential supplier markups or discounts, and internal FTE time for vendor-direct scenarios.

How to use these ranges in your budget
Build four sections, then apply contingency and subtract offsets.
People: select a range by program type and employee level, multiply by headcount, and tune for distance and family needs. Keep gross up as its own sub-line so you can scenario-plan effective rates.
Facility: lease overlap, build-out, network and security, and decommissioning.
Administration: internal program time or external RMC fees, plus reporting and controls.
Contingency: apply ten to fifteen percent on People and Facility based on risk.
Offsets: tenant improvement credits, abatements, local incentives, and sublease income.

Example budget to make it real
Assume a finance company relocation with twenty renters in the mid five-figure range and five homeowners in the upper five-figure to low six-figure range. Add a modest facility scope for build-out, IT migration, and decommission. Include either internal administration time or a small hybrid RMC fee. Apply a twelve percent contingency to People and Facility. Subtract a tenant improvement credit. The result is a net plan you can track monthly with committed purchase orders, actuals, updated forecast, and estimate-to-complete.

Controls that prevent overruns
Set tiered policies with caps by level and need.
Require pre-move estimates for every lane and variance explanations above a threshold such as plus or minus ten percent.
Model gross up with realistic effective rates and keep it visible in the budget.
Use purchase order controls and an approved vendor list with insurance and service level checks.
Publish a monthly dashboard that shows budget, actual, forecast, and variances.
Plan change-management and phased cutover to avoid unnecessary productivity dips.

Timeline for finance
Six to nine months before move date, align on site selection, high-level budget, and policy direction.
Four to six months before, issue RFPs for movers, IT, temporary housing, and an RMC if used, and finalize policy and tax handling.
Two to four months before, collect individual move estimates, issue purchase orders, and confirm build-out and occupancy dates.
One month before, lock the plan, pre-fund large items, and reconcile deposits.
Move week, control cash flow, maintain an incident log, and verify receiving.
One to three months after, review variances and close out.

Frequently asked questions
What is included in corporate relocation services costs
Administration either internal or via an RMC, household goods shipping and storage, temporary housing and travel, home finding and lease break or home sale support as the policy allows, immigration and tax services for international moves, and tax gross up on taxable benefits.

Do we need an RMC for a small program
Not necessarily. For a few simple domestic moves, vendor-direct or lump-sum can be efficient. For higher volume or complexity, an RMC simplifies orchestration and billing. If you choose vendor-direct, budget for internal administrative time.

How much contingency should we carry
Ten to fifteen percent on People and Facility is a practical default. Increase the percentage for compressed timelines, complex IT, or tight vendor capacity.

What to do next
For an end-to-end employee relocation flow and a ready template you can hand to HR and payroll, start here: https://www.cityshiftfinance.com/corporate-landing-page
To quantify broader business impact and prioritize where relocation creates the best return, explore our labor and business consulting services: https://www.cityshiftfinance.com/business-roi