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Sign Builder Illustrated // December 2012
signshop.com
Photos courtesy of (toP & bottom) central graPhics; (middle) direct sign wholesale.
When transporting channel letters, avoid damage by packaging the letters in bubble wrap, cardboard, and plastic shrink wrap. Taking the necessary time to ensure proper packaging prevents the letters from shifting in transit and becoming marred.
And that preparation begins as early as the initial site survey and the bidding process. “It is all about the survey and being prepared from the start. What is the substrate? What are the landlord specifications? Are you talking about a flush mount or a raceway mount?” says John Lewis, president of Direct Sign Wholesale in Denver, Colorado (www. directsignwholesale.com). “What is the substrate and how thick is it? Is there crawl space?” Those questions, along with what type of access and power is available, are important ones to answer before quoting or bidding on a job. Oftentimes landing a job or making a profit from one a shop already has acquired comes down to price. Properly assessing the time and labor needed for a job and how that translates into a price will get a shop started off right. “The mistakes that are usually made here are in the bidding process, not necessarily in the installation,” says Lewis. “If you do not account for enough time for the install, you can lose money real fast on a channel letter job.” Site inspections should also include a look at the entire area. “Installers need to survey the location of the installation,” say Dave Soulsby, owner & president, and Steve Ehmann, production manager, at Central Graphics in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (www.centralgraphicsgroup.com). “Consider the affects of climate on the letters.” Another important part of the survey is measuring. Referring to a blueprint (if one is available) is helpful, but an installer can and should take his own measurements, as well. “The old adage ‘measure twice, cut once’ applies,” says Lewis. Knowing the overall dimensions of the fascia is also helpful. “Many cities have stipulations in the sign code. For example, a sign can only occupy 70 percent of the available space it is on,” says Michael McClure, service manager at Arrow Sign Company (www.arrowsigncompany.com) in Oakland, California. “It is important also for the permitting process to have that be correct.” Sure a thorough site survey may take time, but it is time an installer will save later on. “If you put forth just a little bit of time and effort on the front end, it does tend to make things go a lot better on the back end,” says McClure.