• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Need wood real estate posts in SW Florida

Locals Find!

New Member
I am in need of a supplier for wood real estate Single Arm posts in SW Florida. I have a few local suppliers like Grimco and Rocket signs for PVC. I need to find some wood ones that might be cheaper.

My clients are requesting a put up / take down service on these because, the local yokel who was doing it is drunk half the time and not very reliable anymore. I need to cut my cost to be able to make this worth my time putting them up and down.

Anyone know of one?
 
Last edited:

Locals Find!

New Member
Home depot sells them I believe. Or I can custom build them for you at $475.00 each

$475??? what are you nuts??

I would have to put up and take down each one 50+ times to turn a profit.

I tried home depot no go. I wouldn't mind paying $35 a piece for them. I will order a truckload.

I have got to come up with about 200 hundred of these soon, and the PVC ones aren't going to cut it due to expense.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
They don't sell 4x4 posts in SW Florida?

Oh they do I don't want to build the posts. That involves cutting bolting routing no thank you. I have enough trouble having to take this on. If I could find someone else willing to take it on I would gladly welcome them.

Requirements: 1. Must own truck 2. Ability to read a map 3. Own the posts 4. Be at least sober enough to answer the phone 5. Put the sign up within 1 week. 6. Own a shovel or post hole digger
 

Pat Whatley

New Member
You're looking for arm posts, that little tidbit might have come in handy.

Find a local door/millworks/cabinet shop and talk to them about making them. We had 25 made last summer from a company that was almost bankrupt because the housing market had died. They charged me a little less than $25 each and did everything but paint them. They were rock solid too because they had the equipment to cut them to tight tolerances unlike the ones I made with my hand held router.

Of try here http://www.auesignframes.com/Real-Estate-Post-P65.aspx
With a quantity of 200 you can probably work out a deal with just about any supplier.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
Thanks buddy. That was the good advice I was looking for.

I am sure I can find someone now had never thought about a mill shop. Great Idea. I can have the kids paint them after school make them earn there keep around here.
 

Fitch

New Member
Whats wrong with being drunk?

Not only that - you can rely on me being drunk.

How much more reliable do you want???
 
in some parts of the US they are also called colonial posts. the ones at home depot are typically too low to the ground. they are extremely simple to make. there is good money to be made placing them and leasing them out. charge extra for flier boxes, riders, etc.

make sure you are insured properly. make sure you know your local codes regarding digging and locating. i personally know of two ppl who have disregarded their local codes minmized the job that they were doing in their own minds and unfortunately hit communications lines.

tell the agents that you provide this service for that all posts will be placed or removed within 72 business hours or whatever you need to do to create a time frame that allows you to group orders by area so that you are not driving from one side of town to the other and back again in one day. this is the key to making this service successful.

myself i recommend billing the agency and letting them collect from each individual agent for multiple reasons.

this is a service that i recommend that you have an actual form that the client fills out with address and a signature. do not take the orders over the phone, demand documentation. it is too easy to put a post up on a wrong address because at least that way if you have documentation you will be able to charge for it and then you just need to sweet talk the upset home owner as you politely replace the divot out of their lawn and apologize while blaming the realtor :)

jeez i could write a book on this. many years ago my company was asked to do the same service for a very good client. i was very reluctant but ultimately we ended up starting a new company providing this service and it was a very good, very profitable business. if you service a fair amount of realtors it can be a very nice stream of income.

but seriously if you have a shop, a garage..some space to work from this is something that you can teach anyone who can operate a circular saw how to construct. unless you are going to order a hundred or more i would find someone and have them build them. constructing them in an organized way with a simple circular saw you can easily knock out 6-10 an hour...if you have a radial arm saw...BAM...

if you havent already done so try to estimate how many you are planning on having in the ground at any given time and have enough for a buffer so that you are not having to make posts at the last minute...before the market collapsed we couldnt make posts fast enough. and as odd as this is going to sound...make sure to mark them (i had a brand made that we hit with a sledgehammer to imprint our info into the posts) because there is a tremendous amount of theft.
 
Top