By signcraft
Posted on Thursday, March 10th, 2016
Ever see a photo of a great-looking sign in Trade Secrets or SignCraft magazine and wonder what it would sell for? You’re not alone. We’re all curious about not only how a sign was made, but what the price tag was. It can help us tune our own pricing numbers.
So here are several signs from the most recent issue of SignCraft, with selling prices. Because there are sometimes variables that affect the selling price of a sign, we are giving some of the prices as a range. The prices are also only for the sign production—if the project involved designing a logo, the cost of the logo design is not included.
We’ve also included how the sign was made, along with the materials used, whenever possible. That’s a crucial factor in the price of a sign, so we wanted to pass that along, too—along with a comment on what we think helps make each sign effective.
Tying the design and colors of a monument sign to the building’s design and colors integrates the sign beautifully with the building. Duncan Wilkie of Comsign used this approach on this monument, which is completely clad in Dibond aluminum composite material.
The letters and faces were cut from Dibond; post covers and architectural elements were fabricated from Dibond. The sign face is 30-by-51-in. and overall, the sign is 7 ft. wide and 6 ft. tall.
Estimated selling price: $4600 to $6100
Subscribers can see Duncan’s step-by-step article on this project, with material costs and labor time, online at www.signcraft.com and in the January/February 2016 issue of SignCraft magazine.
Hand lettering makes it easy to use custom designed lettering and cool effects, like Jeff Devey of Jeff’s Graphics did on this design for a semi door.
Hand lettered using 1Shot enamels
Estimated selling price: $550 for the lettering; pinstriping and graphics would be an additional $500 to $800.
Subscribers can see Jeff’s comments and other designs, along with designs and prices by RT Signs and Diaz Signs in the Design & Price feature online at www.signcraft.com and in the January/February 2016 of issue of SignCraft magazine.
LED message displays can be visually busy places, so it helps to keep the primary sign clean and simple, with minimal copy as Justin Hare of Premier Sign Design did here.
2-by-8-ft. sign cabinet with 3-by-8-ft. LED message panel from Watchfire Signs
Estimated selling price: $23,800 to $29,600
Subscribers can see the full profile on Justin and his work online at www.signcraft.com or in the January/February 2016 issue of SignCraft magazine.
How about a tilt on the lettering with a shade and outline? Jeff Miller of Red Dwarf Graphics used this high-impact effect for a local burrito shop design.
The graphics were printed on an Epson Surecolor S30670 digital printer and mounted on 4mm Dibond aluminum composite material. Overall size is 2-by-3-ft.
Estimated selling price: $150 to $185, not including the logo. The sign was part of a full sign package that included the logo, exterior signage and menus.
Subscribers can see the full profile on Jeff and his work online at www.signcraft.com or in the January/February 2016 issue of SignCraft magazine.
Clean graphics and plenty of negative space make this sign by John Ralph of Quail Run Signs interesting and easy to read.
The letters and graphics were laser cut from ¼-in. acrylic on an Epilog laser and mounted on a 34-by-39-in. router-carved Extira panel that was finished with Matthews polyurethane paint.
Estimated selling price: $675 to $900.
This sign of John’s was featured in Laser at Work in the September/October 2015 issue of SignCraft. Subscribers can see this feature online at www.signcraft.com.
