What’s the Cost of Electric Signs ?

April 28, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Cost of Electric Signs ?

Realizing the many different applications may give you a better understanding of the range of investments that can be made in electric signs and the value of those investments as part of your overall marketing strategies. A basic set of channel letters, as pictured above, was installed at the storefront area of a local veterinary hospital. Average single storefront channel letter jobs like this typically fall in the less than $5,000 – $10,000 range.

CUSTOM SOLUTIONS

Price tags on electric sign projects usually follow the level of technical challenges involved. Thus, the cost of electric signs can vary greatly since signs are custom-designed and fabricated for the sites on which they will be installed. Customized electric signage for the top of a 20-story building lighting up at night to advertise the brand across the city costs more than a simple set of channel letters for the walls of a single-level veterinary hospital down the street.

KEY INDUSTRIES

At first it may appear this set of channel letters is pretty similar to the lettering for the Vet Hospital pictured above. But big differences occur in size, installation processes, and even with the construction of the letters themselves. Although these letters appear white at night like the vet’s letters, they are made with special 3M films that produce a blue logo color by day, then turn white during nighttime viewing. The signs were also specially engineered for low maintenance and ease of access when maintenance is needed. Six figure investments are typical for these types of extremely technically challenging projects.

Our typical customer is usually part of an executive management team within these key industries looking for exterior or interior branding solutions for their buildings or sites:

Commercial Development
Financial
General Retail
Healthcare
Industrial
Institutional

TYPICAL SIGN TYPES

Our projects generally fall into these categories:

Signs for high rise applications
Highly customized Iconic signs
Historic restoration projects or other sign renovations
Signs for multiple sites in need of re-branding after acquisitions
Signage systems for large campuses
Signage with electronic messaging components
General free-standing signage
General wall-mounted signage

WHAT DRIVES COST?

Electric sign projects can range from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousands of dollars, but why the huge price variations, and what are the primary factors that drive cost?

SITE CONDITIONS: Consider the place on your property where a sign will have the most impact and return the most response from your investment. What type and size of sign would fit the spot and do the best job? If you need to brand a multi-story building, then probably the best spot for signs is high in the air. Costs for both manufacturing and installation escalate the higher things get. Manufacturing costs increase because of size. The farther away an object is, the smaller it will appear; so signage at a distance is a lot larger than you think. And the larger the sign, the more materials and labor are involved in making and installing it. We recommend our customers consider prototypes to nail down best results prior to the manufacture of final signage for high-profile applications. We also recommend that signs for hard to access areas like rooftop walls, be manufactured in a way most economical for service and maintenance. These suggestions usually mean spending a little extra up front to avoid a gush of dollars spent later for maintenance and repair.
NUMBER OF SIGNS: More times than not, one sign won’t do the job. A four-sided building usually needs signage on at least two or three sides. A typical commercial lot has more than one entrance, so free standing signs are usually required to be duplicated in some fashion to cover all the main entry points. Campus sign projects utilize a large quantity of signs of various types. More signs, more investment, but sometimes the cost per sign is less due to the possibility of ganging some of the steps involved in production.
OVERALL DESIGN: The purpose of putting up signs in the first place is to get your business noticed. So the more customized and eye-catching the design, the better. Sometimes the graphics can serve as the eye catchers but many times the shapes of the signs themselves are the best way to get attention. Whether you use standard box type signs or custom shapes, the amount of customization always affects the level of impact and cost.
MATERIAL CHOICE: Will you use traditional colors and materials or produce something that is visually outside the box? Also, how long do you want your sign to last between maintenance periods? These questions help you select the best materials for your sign. Options like stainless steel, glass block, or cut stone are all good investments to add pizazz. LED lighting versus neon reduces maintenance and operating costs over time.
LIGHTING EFFECTS: Will the sign be a traditionally illuminated light-box type sign, or will you choose to use custom effects like backlighting, edge-lit components, or other interesting lighting methods for special effects?
ELECTRONIC MESSAGING: If you want the ability to both brand your site and interact with the customer with calls to action, then adding a digital messaging component is a wise investment.

Contact a Holiday Signs Project Manager to discuss a specific project’s cost.

Further Research:

Our Approach to Selling Signs:

                Part 1-Finding Your Unique Image
                Part 2-Budgeting for Digital Signs
                Part 3- How to Stand Out and Blend In at the Same Time?
                Part 4-Sign Viewing Distance and Sight Lines
                Part 5- Sign Prototypes and Demonstrations

WATCH OUR SHORT VIDEO

ON HOW OUR SIGNS ARE MADE…

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CASE STUDY ARTICLES…

cost of electric signs – signage – price of signs – value of electric signs – making an investment in electric signs

Typical Cost of Shopping Center Sign Renovations?

April 24, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Typical Cost of Shopping Center Sign Renovations?

GLAMOUR LOST?

If your shopping center’s signs have been around more than ten years, this article may help you ponder a sign renovation project. Replacing or upgrading signage at shopping centers is a good way to turn humdrum entrances and storefronts into dazzling attractions. Styles change and weather just does what it does to deteriorate their former glow over time. Even if your current sign system hasn’t been around too long, it always makes sense to renovate if the change will have a profound influence on attracting more business.

WHAT’S IN A TYPICAL RETAIL CENTER SIGN PACKAGE?

The typical shopping center signage package consists of:

Free-standing project ID signage: The free-standing signs at the center entrance(s) is/are usually the large pylon or monument type. To renovate a pylon, the outer shell is stripped off to the steel and concrete structure and, if in good shape, a new sign is slipped over the old bones. The average cost to renovate a free-standing sign within our service area varies but examples below can give you a better feel for the average cost ranges of typical projects. Adding a digital component increases the investment and potential for better communications and more business for tenants. Renovating monuments usually costs less than pylons.

sign renovation examples rockwood before after pylon

A total investment of about $73,000 renovated two entrance pylons and a row of tenant wall signs at Rockwood Square, providing a modernized look that gets the attention of both customers and prospective tenants. Prior to the makeover, the center had a high vacancy rate, but after all the renovations it is now 98% full, much of which is attributed to new signs!

June 2014- Branding- Shopping Center Repositioning brook hill

These dated Brookhill Azalea center entrances were transformed into fresh, new multi-tenant identification signs that compliment each other and inspire customers to shop. The new signs allow tenants to broadcast 24-hr customized digital messages to potential shoppers passing by for an investment of about $55,000 a sign.

Pad site signage: Many shopping center properties with pad sites can have both free-standing signs and building-mounted signs at tenant pad site locations. Renovating signage at these sites ranges depending on what’s involved. Custom awnings, multiple sets of building-mounted channel letters, over-sized pylons, digital messaging, and parking lot directionals all add cost.

www.holidaysigns.com-fishersville-va-cost-of-sign-renovation-electric-signs

Augusta Health, of rapidly expanding Fishersville, Virginia, occupies a former Blockbuster Video building that they had us transform into a new outpatient clinic in Staunton, Va. We replaced the channel lettering and stripped the old blue awning fabric and replaced it with new maroon awnings with back-lit graphics advertising the clinic’s range of services. The total cost was less than $25,000 and work was fast-tracked to successfully meet their grand opening deadline.

Individual tenant store signs: Most retail center tenants use wall-mounted signs at their storefronts. The most popular tenant storefront sign type is channel letters. Store branding can also be conveyed using box signs, and then there are many other creative options including flush or three dimensional spot-lit signage, graphics painted directly on the wall, and custom awnings.

www.holidaysigns.com-richmond-chester-chesterfield-va-custom-electric-signs-LED-channel-letters

Channel letter signs are the most frequently used signage by shopping center tenants. There are many lighting options for various effects and letters can be individually mounted or attached to raceways that are usually painted to match the wall color. Channel letters are a very economical way to promote a store’s brand and merchandise. Contact us for quotes.

sign renovation examples-rockwood tenant signs

One way to improve an overall look is to keep tenant signs consistent and uniform regarding colors and layout. The new sign backgrounds are opaque, so at night all that is seen is the copy and the lighted sconces giving the retail center a classy look compared to the old hodge-podge image portrayed by standard illuminated white-background box signs.

WHAT DRIVES COST?

Here is a summary of the primary factors that drive the cost of shopping center sign renovations:

FREE-STANDING PROJECT ID/ PAD SITE SIGNAGE

Quantity of signs
Size/Design/Height
Use of digital sign equipment
Condition of structure and foundation
Custom embellishments to be used

TENANT SIGNS

Quantity of signs
Size/Design/Height
Box Sign versus Channel Letter construction
Form of Lighting: Internally-Lit, Face-Lit, Halo-Lit, Non-Lit
Embellishments

Two Real-Life Retail Center Renovation Success Stories…

WAYS TO TRIM COSTS FOR TENANTS (ROCKWOOD SQUARE PROJECT)

Prior to its makeover, Rockwood Square Shopping Center had a high vacancy rate, but after all the renovations it is now 98% full, much of which is attributed to the new signs according to Gary Modjeska of AREA Properties. “Signs were a very, very important part of the repositioning of the property,” he said.

Since the property was not a high end center, the client wanted signage that would not be too expensive for potential tenants. Gary worked with Holiday Signs to come up with a new design for the center’s signs. Before renovations, the center had plain, rectangular-shaped box signs with flat faces and poor hodge-podge designs. The client originally planned to replace everything with channel letters but asked us what we thought. We suggested nice design for box signs that would include some architectural amenities, and if there was a tenant change all that would need to be done is swap out a new face, keeping a new tenant’s costs down in the future versus them having to come up with money for a new set of channel letters.

The Holiday Signs design team utilized an interesting lighting sconce detail for the box signs and the main pylons that tied all the signage together. The detail also appears on the under-canopy signs as well. The owner liked the idea of keeping all the tenant signs consistent and uniform regarding colors and layout. Sign backgrounds are opaque, so at night all that is seen is the copy and the lighted sconces giving the retail center a classy look versus what they had before with standard illuminated white-background box signs. Adding simple architectural details and keeping all signs consistent in design supports a unified theme that is attractive to customers and has helped the center grow and thrive again after the re-imaging.

By utilizing box cabinet signs for the center’s tenants versus channel letters, it makes them all consistent, easier to change, and less expensive than custom channel letters. If not a high end property, lower upfront costs attract and keep more long-term tenants, and there are many creative options to keep costs down while promoting a consistent and eye-catching sign design.

RAISING THE VOLUME OF BUSINESS (TOWNE CENTER WEST PROJECT)

Holiday Signs added two large full-color Electronic Message Centers (EMC’s) to an existing double-faced entrance pylon at Towne Center West of Richmond. It’s located next to a 1.3 million square foot Super Regional Center, so competition for shoppers is intense.

Prior to adding the EMC’s, most of the inline tenants had limited visibility to the 25,000+ cars that pass by the center each day. They spent countless advertising dollars to draw customers into their shops, but only produced limited results. Anxious to increase their tenants’ visibility and draw in new customers, the developer hired Holiday Signs to help.

Holiday Signs specializes in helping developers and shopping center management revitalize the signage for their centers. Many times we recommend updating signage with new designs, graphics, tenant panels or fresh paint but in this case the main identification sign was only a few years old. A thorough analysis suggested the addition of two new EMC’s to the existing pylon would give the tenants their much needed visibility.

Once the EMCs were in place and the messages started rolling, tenants began to see an immediate increase in traffic to their stores.

Interested in cost ranges for various sign projects? Then, read these:

How Much Does a Digital Sign Cost?

What’s the Maintenance Cost of Digital Signs?

What’s the Operating Cost of Digital Signs?

What’s the Cost to Add Message Boards to Signs?

What’s the Cost to Upgrade Message Boards?

What’s the Average Sign Project Lead Time?

What’s the Typical Cost of Sign Renovation?

NEED MORE HELP?

DOWNLOAD INTERESTING SIGN CASE STUDIES HERE

What’s the Typical Cost of Sign Renovation?

April 21, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What is the Typical Cost of Sign Renovation?

UPGRADING YOUR BRAND

What is the typical cost of sign renovation? Although there’s always a cost, investing in commercial renovation projects that include quality signage will definitely improve perceptions of your business or organization. For customers, renovations indicate store vitality and growth. For employees, working in a modernized and well-branded store can improve team building and generate more enthusiastic workers and job candidates. Signage plays a big role in remodeling and while updating stores may be costly, dollars invested in upgrading retail spaces and signs can dramatically increase the perceived value of your brand.

Replacing or upgrading signage can be challenging and requires many moving parts and pieces. Consult with custom electric sign companies who can advise you on the latest trends, approaches and strategies in retail sign renovation and find a reputable and reliable sign contractor who meets deadlines, is licensed and insured, and fully understands applicable sign codes. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. (To help get you started, contact Holiday Signs!)

GOOD CONSULTANT NEEDED

Place yourself in the customer’s shoes to gather input about the shopping experience that can help with sign design and placement and convey these ideas to your sign consultant early on in the remodeling process. Choose a sign company that understands your construction team is serious about meeting deadlines to keep your remodeling project on track. Hiring a contractor who consistently meets deadlines, understands all the good-better-best options applicable for your project, and finishes your project on time and on budget is essential for minimizing costs.

WHAT DOES IT COST?

Here are 10 sign renovations completed by Holiday Signs with approximate cost ranges to get you in the sign renovation budget ballpark. (If bolded, click on project names or pictures for links to detailed case studies.):

Budgets under $10,000-

Capital Ale House: Renovated signage and custom awnings after change of restaurant ownership.

Budgets between $10,000 and $25,000-

Augusta Health Outpatient Clinic: Converted former Blockbuster Video space to clinic.We created a set of channel letters and custom, back-lit awnings that wrapped three sides of the existing building.

Eastern Mennonite University: Upgraded campus wayfinding signs. The old signs were faded and beaten up, and we replaced them with new designs that reflected their updated branding.

Budgets between $25,000 and $50,000-

Franklin Federal Savings & Loan: Re-branded a previous bank building with a new brand. The project included enlarging a brick monument sign, plus creating several sets of channel letters and parking lot directional signs.

Floor & Decor: We worked with the developer in renovating their new retail tenant’s main identification signs at a highly visible corner lot.

Budgets over $50,000-

Roanoke Regional Airport: Completed interior wayfinding sign renovation as part of terminal building interior remodel.

Rockwood Square Shopping Center: Renovated the main project identification signs and tenant signage at retail strip center.

Towne Center West: Updated main shopping center identification sign with electronic message centers.

Virginia Repertory Theater: Renovated historic theater entrance marquee.

Altria Theater Marquees: Upgraded historic downtown theater signage to digital marquees.

*Some material above adapted from 7-15-2014 Quick Books feature by business writer, Bridgette Austin.

What’s the Average Sign Project Lead Time?

April 16, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Average Sign Project Lead Time?

What’s “AVERAGE”?

First of all, what does the term “average sign project” mean? If “sign projects” range the gamut from the “I’ll Work for Food” marker-on-cardboard signs to the mega-digital signs at New York’s Time Square, then where does the average sign project fall?

Instead of focusing on what’s average, let’s consider the usual sign project stages. That should help answer the question,”What’s the average sign project lead time?”

Stages That Determine a Sign Project’s Lead Time:

Conceptual Stage: Customers realize there is a problem and some type of sign project needs to be contemplated. This stage involves various meetings that consider current challenges and possible resolutions with help from our sales staff, another sign consultant, a collaboration of professionals, or independently by our clients. Depending on the type of project, importance, motivation, budget, and other factors, this stage could range from a few weeks to many years.

Preliminary Design Stage: Customers take a closer look at what could work to produce the most effective results within the existing conditions of code, budget, audience, viewing zone, desired ambiance, surrounding architecture, etc., etc. In this stage, customers may want to see prototypes to help nail down decisions. This stage typically ranges from several weeks to several months depending on the scale of the project, level of design, and whether or not prototypes are used.

Final Design Stage: Once preliminary designs are approved, the project moves into final design, where working drawings are produced for sign manufacture and installation. This stage usually moves fairly quickly, again depending on the project scale, usually ranging from a few days to several weeks.

Permitting Stage: Depending on the locality, permits can take time, and it needs to be factored into sign lead-time estimates. We generally allow for 1-2 weeks for localities to approve permits, varying slightly by locality. Usually the more dense the population the longer the permitting will take. So obtaining sign permits in Northern Virginia (Fairfax, Arlington, Prince William, Stafford, etc) generally takes longer than say Chesterfield, Hopewell, Colonial Heights, etc.

In rare instances we find out that an Overlay District or some other special circumstance overrides the sign ordinance that we weren’t informed about when we initially called for code research. This requires us to go back to the customer with new drawings for approval and then back to the locality for approval. Relationships with localities go a long way and often help expedite the permit process. Our good, established relationships create great channels of communication and can make any required revisions go much faster.

Manufacture Stage: Unless a permit waiver is signed, which can allow production to start in advance of receiving a permit, manufacture can’t proceed until permits are approved. Once it’s a go with the locality, production can be scheduled. Since there are jobs in production ahead of the new project, it may be several weeks until its slot comes up in the production schedule. Most small electric sign projects, like a set of custom channel letters, take about 3-4 weeks; larger projects take at least 4-8 weeks or longer. Signs for large projects are sometimes done in phases that may last more than a year.

Delivery and Installation Stage: Holiday Signs does an excellent job in coordinating manufacture and installation of projects. Arrangements are made for deliveries and installations quickly after sign production is complete. Things that can delay installation range from weather to construction delays on the project itself where areas are not yet ready for signage, etc. Typically, installations do not take as long as other project phases, ranging from a few hours to a few weeks on bigger jobs. Projects involving masonry bases, concrete foundations or multiple facets take longer to coordinate than say installing a simple set of channel letters.

Summing it up, a typical sign project at Holiday Signs can take from several weeks to several years to move from concept to reality. We hope you will allow us the opportunity to find solutions for your upcoming signage problems!

Do You Have a Project Need Like any of These? (CLICK ON PICTURES FOR CASE STUDIES):

What’s the Cost to Upgrade Message Boards?

April 14, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Cost to Upgrade Message Boards?

SPONTANEOUS PEOPLE
Have you ever made a spontaneous retail purchase? I recently bought a gift after an electronic message sign told me roses were on sale and it just happened to be our anniversary. Since this kind of thing happens to me often, I firmly believe that digital messaging works. Academic studies back this up, showing that 50-60% of on-premise purchases are spontaneous. It pays to have a way to trigger spontaneity at the point where most people pass your store, so clearly street-side advertising signs are smart ideas. But the question is, “What’s the best way to get my message out there and if I’m using banners or manual reader boards now, what’s the cost to upgrade my existing messaging system to digital options?”
BANNERS COST MORE THAN YOU THINK
The most common barrier to scrapping static messaging systems and going digital is perceived cost. Businesses opting to hang out a banner or two a month to carry their message may be spending more than they realize. The average 32-square foot banner costs $160-$320 in Central Virginia, so a typical annual banner budget to promote a mere 12 messages a year could be as much as $1,920-$3,840 or more per site. Occasionally add in a few 10′ high vertical flag pennants that average another $400-$600 each, and the 10-year cost for this changeable messaging system could easily reach the $20,000-$40,000 range. Compare that with the cost of an average 32 square foot electronic message center of $18,000-$35,000 (plus the cost of electric), that blasts messages as quickly as every 4 seconds, 24-hours a day, and banners aren’t any less expensive. Also consider the appearance of your messages: while banners sag and get torn up in the wind, digital promotions remain crisp and bright.
MANUAL-CHANGE MESSAGE BOARDS
Businesses that use some form of static message system understand roadside messaging works. It’s just that some systems are better than others. Choosing message systems is like choosing any other system. A young couple with a starter home bought three window AC units for $750 to cool most of their house. The units were extremely noisy, it was hard to regulate an even temperature, and they soon felt the pain of getting them in and out twice a year. Comparatively, a decent central air system for their house cost $3,500-$4,500. Over ten years the cost for the window units was still less than the central air system which used less power, but results measured in comfort level would have greatly exceeded the extra cost.
GOING DIGITAL
The average 32-square foot manually-changeable sign unit costs $4,500-$8,500. The average 32-square foot electronically-changeable sign unit costs $18,000-$35,000. Is it worth it? Consider the added value of upgrading to digital:

1.   Provides multiple, customized messages to reach diverse demographic groups with a variety of goods and services (not just the same static message for long periods);
2.   The movement and brightness of digital gets more attention;
3.   Since 50-60% of consumers make last minute purchase decisions, quick-changing digital messages ups the chances to reach them with the right message at the right time;
4.   Creates new advertisements quickly and inexpensively;
5.   Viewers can understand an image much more quickly than words;
6.   With digital you don’t have to worry about an employee’s safety as they update copy in parking lot traffic or bad weather;
7.   Digital software is equipped with spell check features so there are no embarrassing misspelled words in public;
8.   No worries about not having enough letters for the messages you want;
9.   With digital the wind won’t blow letters off your message;
10.   Ability to pre-schedule messages and not worry about who’s going to change the sign.

Of all changeable message systems, digital systems are the best value because of their 24-hour visibility, on-going attention, aesthetics, message changeability and adaptability for targeted marketing strategies.

Read these essential articles as you compare static and digital messaging options:

Part 1- Connecting with Your Community

Part 2- The Value of CO-OP Advertising

Part 3- Blast Your Message to the Masses!

Part 4- Advertise on Your Own Network

Part 5- Time & Temperature Worked

Part 6- Promote Loss Leaders

What’s the Cost to Add Message Boards to Signs?

April 10, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Cost to Add Message Boards to Signs?

3 TYPES OF CHANGEABLE MESSAGING:
Adding a changeable message board to your existing main identification sign kills two birds with one stone. You effectively brand your business while advertising your products and services at the same time, a winning combination! To get to the cost to add message boards to signs, you must first understand your options. There are basically 3 types of changeable message boards businesses use for promotions:

Banners
Manual Change Boards
Electronic Message Centers

Let’s take a closer look at options two and three.

MANUAL-CHANGE (STATIC) MESSAGE BOARDS:
   These are message systems made of box-type metal sign cabinets using internal fluorescent lighting and plastic sign faces with tracks spaced horizontally across that hold changeable plastic letters. Since these signs lights up from within, the faces are typically translucent white or off-white in color with clear letter tracks. Letters are factory-produced in black or red printed on clear flat plastic, but could be customized in any color. Special symbols like the blue Facebook and Twitter logos are now available in changeable letter sets. Specialty letters that are clear with black backgrounds called “MoonGlo Reverse Copy” are also a choice, but you have to use solid black letter tracks and block-out squares to block the light to maintain a solid black background, so these are not very popular.
   The median cost range to add a 32 square foot manual reader board to the average existing two-sided sign is around $4,500-$8,500 depending on the number of letters, height above ground, and existing structural conditions, which could add cost. If just changeable letter faces are needed for an existing box sign that’s functionally working, the cost for that averages in the $1,800-$2,400 range, depending on the size and number of changeable letters.
   Adding a manual change reader board to an existing sign makes good sense, because it’s a way to get customers and prospects passing your business or church each day to engage with your products and services by providing excellent calls to action. But there are limitations and drawbacks when compared with digital message boards:

Digital Messaging provides multiple, customized messages to reach diverse demographic groups with a variety of goods and services;
The movement and brightness of digital gets more attention;
50-60% of consumers make last minute purchase decisions and digital ups the chances to reach them with the right message at the right time;
Digital Messaging creates new advertisements quickly and inexpensively;
Viewers can understand an image much more quickly than words;
With digital you don’t have to worry about employee safety as copy is updated in parking lot traffic or bad weather;
Digital software is equipped with spell check features so no embarrassing misspelled words in public;
No worries about not having enough letters for the messages you want;
With digital the wind won’t blow letters off your message;
Ability to pre-schedule messages and not worry about who’s going to change the sign.

DIGITAL MESSAGE BOARDS (ELECTRONIC MESSAGE CENTERS):
These are outdoor digital message signs that have black plastic faces with LED pixels arranged across the faces, lighting up to form remotely-programmable graphics that are readable from a distance. In monochrome message boards, a pixel is one LED, in RGB message boards there are 3 LED’s per pixel. Spacing between pixels is called “pixel pitch”. The closer the distance between each pixel, the more LED’s are needed for the sign; therefore a message board with a 16MM pixel pitch uses more LED’s than a 20MM version, and the pricing of digital signs increases as the LED spacing narrows. (SEE THE BASICS OF DIGITAL SIGNS HERE.)
U.S. Manufacturers of Digital Message Centers include Daktronics, Watchfire, Optec, and Formetco. Cost factors include overall equipment size, who’s the manufacturer, monochrome or full-color, pixel pitch, wireless or hard-wire communications, and design of structure, but the average cost range to add a two-sided 8′ wide X 4′ high electronic message board to an existing sign would be somewhere around the $18,000-$35,000 range.

Contact:

Mark Hackley, Account Executive

Holiday Signs

mhackley@holidaysigns.com

Office: (804) 796-9443 Cell: (540) 416-3154

Here are some other sign-related articles you may like:

Customer Spotlights…

Lifepoint Church New Life Church Grace Church

Capital Ale House Virginia Diner

Lucy Corr Village Augusta Health Pharmacy & Lab

Mobility Supercenter Puritan Cleaners Green Top Sporting Goods

Pioneer Bank Connects Credit Union

ACAC Fitness & Wellness Centers Virginia Repertory Theater Altria Theater

Shenandoah University Ferrum College

Rockwood Square Shopping Center Towne Center West MWV Corporate Headquarters

Electronic Message Centers

WE WORK IN YOUR TOWN:

(Click on a city below to see some of our work in your area!)

Charlottesville Chesapeake Fredericksburg Harrisonburg

Leesburg Lynchburg Newport News Richmond Roanoke

South Boston/Halifax Staunton/Waynesboro Yorktown

Thanks to everyone who’s been involved with the many interesting sign projects we have been challenged to tackle over the years!

Contact us at (804) 796-9443
mhackley@holidaysigns.com

www.holidaysigns.com

What’s the Operating Cost of Digital Signs?

April 8, 2015/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Operating Cost of Digital Signs?

JUDGING THE POWER COST
People interested in digital messaging often ask, “What’s the operating cost of digital signs?”

That’s a very valid question. People investing tens of thousands of dollars in digital signage need a basis to formulate an accurate operating budget. So is there an easy way to estimate the annual cost of operating a digital sign?

The answer is yes, once you determine what type of equipment is right for your custom situation. The trick is figuring out what’s right:

Size of display (Determined by viewing distance, speed of passing viewers, and local codes)

Monochrome or full-color (Determined by content type and personal preference)

Pixel pitch (Determined by viewing distance and speed of passing viewers)

Expected Hours of Operation per Day (Determined by personal preference and sometimes code)

SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP
People considering digital signage should consult with a knowledgeable local electric sign company to help them with proper equipment selection. Once you know the specs, it’s just a matter of plugging in the sign’s power requirements, your estimated usage, and local cost per kilowatt hour to come up with an operating cost.

The leading US brands of digital signs are Daktronics, Watchfire, Optec, and Formetco. Daktronics has an “Operating Cost Calculator” tool that inputs the max wattage of your particular equipment but takes into consideration power reduction for content usage and day/night brightness fluctuations. This simply means that some of your message content will use less than 100% of the available LED’s so the sign never operates on max power. (An example is black backgrounds use less power than white or colored ones.) Likewise, night and cloudy-day messages consume less power than messages in full sun with Daktronics equipment due to their automatic dimming features.

Competitive second-tier brands of digital signs may not have built-in dimming features that maintain sign appearance and reduce power consumption using internal timers or light sensors. The difference in power cost in an offshore model running 24 hours at 100% because it has no dimmer, versus a market leader brand running at 25% at night can make a big difference in operating costs.

For a good operating cost example, let’s consider a 2-sided Daktronics 3500 Series Full-Color (RGB) Model, 8′ wide X 4′ tall, with a 24 x 64 matrix (34MM pixel pitch resolution), 1,860 max total watts. Using this configuration and an average electric utility cost of 8 cents per kilowatt hour (a good average commercial utility cost for Central Virginia), the estimated daily cost of power is 63 cents, and the estimated annual power cost using the calculator tool is $225.37. Take the same 8′ wide X 4′ tall sign, but boost the matrix size to 64 X 144 (16 MM pixel pitch) and wattage to 3,620, and the power cost doubles. Considering an average LED pole-light in a parking lot costs about $240* to operate year round, 12-hours a day, the operating cost of an average 32 square foot, double sided RGB digital sign would be about the equivalent of adding a parking lot light or two at your site, depending on the resolution you need. (*Source: Lighting Research Center)

I hope this information was helpful as you investigate the costs of owning and operating your own on-premise digital advertising sign. Our project managers have access to many tools that can help you determine the right sign for your site with a cost estimate, return on investment and utility cost forecast.

Contact:

Mark Hackley, Account Executive

Holiday Signs

mhackley@holidaysigns.com

(540)416-3154

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Capital Ale House Virginia Diner

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Mobility Supercenter Puritan Cleaners Green Top Sporting Goods

Pioneer Bank Connects Credit Union

ACAC Fitness & Wellness Centers Virginia Repertory Theater Altria Theater

Shenandoah University Ferrum College

Rockwood Square Shopping Center Towne Center West MWV Corporate Headquarters

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What’s the Maintenance Cost of Digital Signs?

April 3, 2015/1 Comment/in Holiday Signs /by Mark Hackley

What’s the Maintenance Cost of Digital Signs?

THE BIG UNKNOWN

What is the maintenance cost of digital signs? You may be contemplating digital signage as a potential marketing tool but you’re concerned about the after-sale costs. Just like any other equipment, digital signs wear out over time, but how much do they cost to repair?

Holiday Signs specializes in LED Digital Signs which can sometimes be confused with two other types of digital signs: LCD and Incandescent bulb type signs. This article will focus on LED-type sign repair and not LCD or Incandescent type digital signs, however, if you still have an incandescent message sign, you should replace it as soon as you can if you’re concerned about sign maintenance costs.

LED MESSAGE CENTERS

In this article, I will be discussing maintenance issues with on-premise digital signs. These types of signs are usually free-standing out by the road or sometimes building mounted. Common brands include Daktronics, Watchfire, Optec, and Formetco.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG?

If something can go wrong, maybe it will, but since the leading digital sign manufacturers offer 5-year parts warranties, you won’t have to worry about maintenance costs with parts for at least five years. Some manufacturers’ warranties include service, so check to see if that’s an option. If not, typical labor rates for sign repairs apply and will vary depending on the scope of the repairs and distance from the sign shop doing the repair. Digital sign repair labor rates are calculated including travel to and from the site and can range on average in the Richmond area from around $100-$220 per hour depending on the number of qualified technicians and type of equipment needed for the job.

WHAT’S THE COST?

What special situations could increase the bill?

Signs above the average size or height;
Signs that would require special access;
Service situations needing special equipment, trained IT personnel, lots of trouble-shooting, or multiple trips.

Here are the main things, in order of predominance, that can go wrong with digital signs, thus requiring maintenance. When the sign warranty expires, the sign equipment owner would have to pay for parts and labor as needed unless he purchases an extended warranty. (Contact a Holiday Signs Project manager to discuss any questions you may have concerning an upcoming digital sign project.)

www.holidaysigns.com-richmond-va-digital-sign-repair-troubleshooting

How a sign appears when one LED module goes out.

1. Module failure: Sometimes you will notice a black square on your sign, indicating a module is out. This is easy to troubleshoot and usually takes less than an hour to swap out parts for the repair. The cause is normally a loose connection or a short in the input/output connections.

2. Power Supply failure: If an entire portion of the sign goes out, it usually indicates a power supply problem. Like module replacement, the usual time needed to replace a power supply is typically about an hour for the experienced sign mechanic or perhaps a little more on older digital sign models.

3. Communications failure: Many EMC’s use wireless communications technology so a clear path from the sign to the antenna needs to be maintained. If the distance between the transmitter and receiver is too far, or if there are obstructions, then your software may not be able to communicate with the sign and you will have service issues. We have had several issues where ice has been the culprit in breaking antennas. In these cases, customers removed the source of the problem and it was no longer a problem. Time requirements for communications repairs are hard to estimate time since each case is different.

4. LED failure: LED’s normally never burn out, they just get dimmer over time. If individual LED’s should go noticeably out before their time, the repair would be similar to a module failure where the entire module of LED’s is replaced.

5. Controller failure: If the entire sign goes out and it’s not an antenna issue, then you may need a new controller. Labor time for EMC controller replacement may take a little longer than module or power supply repair, and sometimes extra time is needed for troubleshooting with the manufacturer.

I hope this has given you a little more insight on the maintenance cost of digital signs.

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