Why would you do that?

[SignProPlus-Alex]

I did a sign for a restaurant about 6 months ago. Sadly they closed a month ago. New owner called and asked for a quote on the new sign. He wanted to save some money by reusing the old sign. My response was I cannot reuse the back of the sign because of the support system I built into the sign. But I will give you a 15% discount if you let me have the old sign. I never received a call back and today I stop by to check on him. Here is what I see.

 

[John Butto]

Your question "why would they do that"?
A. Because they know how much your sign was and 15% off was not as good a deal as the other sign they had made in its place.
B. Because they realized your sign did not make a difference for the restaurant that just went out of business and it probably was the food, and that is what makes a good restaurant, not the sign.
C. All of the above.
Do not take it so bad, you made a nice sign and you feel the new one was not as good as yours. Everyone on here who has worked in the business for any amount of time has gone through this a couple of times.

 

[TXFB.INS]

what is that black line through the middle of the sign?
assuming the flipped it over and used teh backside as he requested? if so what did they do to the front side to hide the previous information.

of John's list, my vote is A always is the $$$ and always will be the $$$

 

[J Hill Designs]

what is that black line through the middle of the sign?

the support system I built into the sign.

 

[Mosh]

To a "non sign" person I am sure it looks fine....

 

[chartle]

To a "non sign" person I am sure it looks fine....

I don't do these kinds of signs so I didn't notice a difference.

In fact I didn't even know which was before or after.

 

[Billct2]

and neither says what the place is, a restaurant, maybe it's elsewhere, or totally obvious, but the type of cuisine is more evident in the new one than the old one.

 

[ddarlak]

i guess you can use the back....

lol, i like it....

it just adds something crazy to it....

life doesn't have to be perfect, sometimes crazy dumb chit is cool....

 

[SignProPlus-Chip]

Everyone, this is not about comparing designs. This is about a client going with the lowest bidder.

We told him we could not reuse the board, but would still credit him for the substrate because we wanted the old sign in the shop as a prismatic sample.

When whoever made the sign blasted it, they used the back of our sign, blasted through and exposed the internal steel support. I would have never let something like that go out my door. And the old front side is now the back. The prismatic letters were removed, but you can still clearly read "VERITAS" when walking out of the restaurant...didn't' even bother to cover it.

IMO a shameful example of workmanship....but then again, with some people it just doesn't matter as long as you make a buck or save a buck.

I hate slapdash, I want to save a buck jobs like this. It slowly destroys the local market.

 

[Eric H]

How strong do you think it is with all the blasting around the structure. Would a windy day break it free? At least in 6 months when this guy is out of business the next owner will need to get a new sign.

 

[nikdoobs]

Have you tried the lasagna @ Dolce Vita?

 

[Mosh]

It is all about the dollar...either adapt, find your niche customer, or close up....someone will ALWAYS be cheaper somewhere.

 

[Techman]

the person who made the replacement is the same kind of hack that would reuse the old plastic on a flat face.

 

[AF]

The new sign looks like a$$ and you need to get over it. Put the energy into something else. I like that you refused to drop your quality. Find out who the hack is and use the photo to advise future prospects that they get what they pay for.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Why not touch up paint the face and apply new laser cut gold acrylic letters to it? That would have been my first thought. Doing what they did would never even cross my mind. Must be hard to find work out there in the sign world these days that people resort to this kind of thing. Bottom line is the new sign looks absurd.

 

[GAC05]

The second shop probably got a government go-green-carbon-offset credit for using more than 90% recycled materials......


wayne k
guam usa

 

[heyskull]

I get this all the time.
"Can we re-use what is there already?"
It's all about money!!!
I give this new business less time than its previous tenants before it folds.
In our eyes a horrific way to manufacture a sign.
The customer must be a real low baller to have accepted this even if it is his old sign!

SC

 

[nikdoobs]

We've lost quite a few customers because we refuse to "refurbish" an existing sign. You try to explain to customers that it will be faster, easier, and look better to create a new sign and they don't get it. Its amazing how cheap and stupid customers are.

 

[player]

Restaurants can be terrible clients. Some go bust before they open. Don't sweat it. Find a better client(s).

 

[nikdoobs]