Scotchbrite
No comment
Around here a lot of municipalities require UL or similar certification to manufacture electric signs. That is a pretty big expense to consider as well.
We used to build channel letters in-house but come about 2010 we couldn't win a bid on them. We finally figured out when a big local sign company went out of business their former sales people went into the sign broker business. They were getting signs made by wholesalers, marking them up 10%, and brokering an installer. We had to start using a wholesaler to compete while we waited for those sign brokers to move along to new ventures, which they did eventually.
Luckily we found a good wholesaler and we've had good experiences with them handling problems. We do installs ourselves so that helps. I would have a hard time selling channel letters if we had to find an installer in addition to using someone else to make them. I currently have 1 customer that is basically a broker, he has us get the signs built and installed for his customers. Personally I kind of like the arrangement because he gets to deal directly with the annoying customers. Never fails you tell them how long it will take to get the job done and they're still calling every week wanting to know when their sign will be installed. In the case of that customer I get to tell him how long it'll be and he gets to deal with the repeated calls.
We've lost a lot of jobs because we follow the rules and get permits for our signs. Some time later we'll see that non-conforming sign appear and we know it obviously wasn't permitted. Our local city has a system to report those, but every time we do they just close out the ticket and the sign remains in place. Following the rules can be a deal killer, but at least I feel good about the way we operate our business. One side benefit is the planners have told me they will recommend us to businesses given the opportunity, especially if they have already gotten in trouble for putting up a sign they shouldn't have.
We used to build channel letters in-house but come about 2010 we couldn't win a bid on them. We finally figured out when a big local sign company went out of business their former sales people went into the sign broker business. They were getting signs made by wholesalers, marking them up 10%, and brokering an installer. We had to start using a wholesaler to compete while we waited for those sign brokers to move along to new ventures, which they did eventually.
Luckily we found a good wholesaler and we've had good experiences with them handling problems. We do installs ourselves so that helps. I would have a hard time selling channel letters if we had to find an installer in addition to using someone else to make them. I currently have 1 customer that is basically a broker, he has us get the signs built and installed for his customers. Personally I kind of like the arrangement because he gets to deal directly with the annoying customers. Never fails you tell them how long it will take to get the job done and they're still calling every week wanting to know when their sign will be installed. In the case of that customer I get to tell him how long it'll be and he gets to deal with the repeated calls.
We've lost a lot of jobs because we follow the rules and get permits for our signs. Some time later we'll see that non-conforming sign appear and we know it obviously wasn't permitted. Our local city has a system to report those, but every time we do they just close out the ticket and the sign remains in place. Following the rules can be a deal killer, but at least I feel good about the way we operate our business. One side benefit is the planners have told me they will recommend us to businesses given the opportunity, especially if they have already gotten in trouble for putting up a sign they shouldn't have.