How to Choose a Sign Maker: A Buyer's Checklist
8 min readSignage is one of the few things a business buys that has to survive a decade of British weather, get fitted at height, and look right the first time. Yet most people order one having never bought one before, from a company they found on the first page of a search.
This checklist is the set of questions worth asking before you commit. None of them are trick questions, and any competent signmaker will answer them without hesitating.
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Do they actually make the sign?
There is a real difference between a manufacturer and a broker. A broker takes your order, buys the sign from a trade factory, marks it up and books a fitter. That is not automatically bad, but it puts two extra links between you and the person cutting the aluminium, so a colour query or a size change takes days rather than an afternoon.
Ask directly: is this made in your own workshop? Who fits it? If both answers are the same company, you have one point of responsibility when something needs adjusting on site. Complete Signs designs, manufactures and installs in house for exactly that reason.
Will you get drawings before manufacture?
You should never approve a sign from a verbal description. A proper supplier sends a scaled visual showing the sign on a photograph of your building, plus a technical drawing with dimensions, materials, fixing positions and the finish for each element.
Two things to look for on that drawing: the sign's real size relative to the fascia or wall, and how it is fixed. A design that looks striking on screen can be underwhelming at 400mm high on a wide shopfront, and it is far cheaper to notice that on paper.
Is the quote genuinely complete?
The two costs most often left out of a signage quote are access equipment and removal of the old sign. A cherry picker or tower for a high-level fascia, out-of-hours working in a pedestrianised street, and an electrical connection for a lit sign all have real costs attached.
Ask for one written quote covering design and artwork, manufacture, delivery, access, installation, electrical connection where relevant, and disposal of whatever is coming down. If those lines are missing, they are not free — they are just not priced yet.
Can they work at height, safely and legally?
Most exterior signage involves working above head height on a public footpath. That means the installer needs public liability insurance, the right access equipment, and the training to use it. Where a footpath or parking bay has to be closed, a licence from the council is usually required and takes time to obtain.
You are entitled to ask for insurance details and to ask how the installation will be managed. A supplier who has done it hundreds of times will answer in specifics: what equipment, how long, what time of day, and who speaks to the council.
Do they understand the consent side?
Sign permissions in the UK sit under advertisement control rules, and they bite hardest on illuminated signs, projecting signs, freestanding signs, conservation areas and listed buildings. A signmaker who has never dealt with a planning department will happily manufacture something the council later asks you to take down.
The right answer to "does this need consent?" is not a shrug. It is either a clear explanation of why it falls within deemed consent, or an offer to prepare and submit the application with the drawings the council needs.
What happens after it is fitted?
Signs need occasional attention: a lamp driver fails, a storm loosens a tray, a tenant changes and a panel needs reskinning. Ask who you ring, whether they hold your artwork and specification on file, and whether they can match the original materials in three years' time.
This is where long-established makers earn their keep. Complete Signs has been producing commercial signage since 1982, so repeat panels, extra branches and matching a sign fitted years ago are routine work rather than a research project.
Warning signs in the quoting stage
- A price given over the phone for an exterior sign, with no survey and no sight of the building
- No mention of how the sign is fixed or what it is fixed to
- Pressure to pay in full up front for a bespoke item with no drawing issued
- A quote that is a single line with no breakdown of manufacture, access and installation
- No physical address, no landline, and no examples of comparable installed work
None of these prove bad workmanship on their own. Two or three together usually mean the risk is being pushed onto you.
How to compare three quotes fairly
Put the quotes side by side and normalise them before you look at the totals. Are all three quoting the same construction, the same illumination method, and the same installation scope? A tray fascia with applied vinyl and an internally lit box with an acrylic face are different products, and the cheaper one is not necessarily worse value — it is a different thing.
Then judge on the parts that cost you money later: material grade, illumination quality, fixing method and aftercare. The cheapest sign that needs replacing in four years is dearer than the mid-priced one still looking sharp in twelve.
Common questions
Should I always get three quotes for signage?
Two or three is sensible for anything substantial, provided you compare like with like. Beyond that you tend to get more variation in specification than in genuine price, which makes the comparison harder rather than clearer.
Is a site survey really necessary?
For any exterior or fixed sign, yes. The survey establishes true dimensions, the substrate behind the fascia, the power position and the access needed — the four things that most often turn a cheap quote into an expensive job.
How much deposit is normal for a bespoke sign?
A part payment before manufacture is standard practice because the materials are cut to your design and cannot be resold. What matters is that you have approved a drawing first and the balance terms are written down.
Can one company handle several branches in different towns?
Yes, provided they install nationwide rather than subcontracting each area to a different fitter. We work across the UK from one workshop, which keeps colour, materials and letter construction identical from site to site.
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Ask us the questions on this list
We would rather be judged on the answers than on a headline price. Tell us what you need and we will survey the site, issue a drawing and quote one complete figure. Call 0800 454 613 or request a call back.