Site Surveys, Sign Permits, City Inspections, & Landlord
Approvals
Our installation
quotations include preparing drawings of your new signs
for your Landlord, if required, and also for your City
Sign Permit Application.This means we will either send our people to
measure your property or have a subcontractor do the
measurements (a site survey.) We will then produce
detailed drawings of the sign, how it is built, and the
property where it will be installed.
We deal with the
City so that you do not have to! We have Staff that does nothing but this! We also help you
provide the necessary materials to get approval from
your Landlord.
We
will send our drawings to your Landlord, and deliver them
to your City with a Sign Permit Application.
If your Landlord has
sign criteria, please give us a copy. It will help
us insure that the Landlord
quickly approves the layout for your new sign.
When your City
approves your permit they will usually require the sign
company to return to City Hall to pick up the permit in
person.This
is also included in our quotation.
If the City
doesn't approve your permit, and you want to appeal their
decision, we are very skilled at obtaining a "Variance."
Our record is nearly perfect.
If your City requires
a pre-installation sign inspection we will comply.
After the sign is
installed, the City will inspect the sign, and your
electrical connection to the sign.*
*NOTE:Most cities, and the National Electrical Code,
require that a sign have a disconnect (switch).If your channel letter sign is being
installed on a raceway, our price includes installing a
switch on the raceway.If not, and if your electrical service
to the sign does not have a LOCKABLE disconnect, we have a
solution!
If your sign is being
installed by us, locally, and you are present at the sign
installation, we will tell you if your existing electrical
does not have a lockable disconnect.We can install one for you at the time
of sign installation for $79.95 plus tax.
If we are shipping the
sign to your location and you know that your electrical
will not pass inspection because it does not have a
LOCKABLE disconnect, for the same price we can include a
switch when the sign is shipped.
The lockable switch
price includes a label, installed by your electrical
service panel, noting that your lockable disconnect is
installed on a transformer box.
You will need to have
a ladder available, or keep the transformer box visible,
until the City Inspector has inspected your sign.
Some cities require
that you have permit copies on-site before they will
inspect, some do not.We will give you copies of what is required to be
posted.
To view the
"Home Page" for a city, "Click" on that city (below) and
you will be forwarded to its individual page if we have
created one. Not all the cities above have separate
pages.
Green cities have websites
accessible for specific sign ordinance and permit information from
http://www.tml.org/links_cities.html.
A word of warning; cities change sign ordinances on a
whim.
New ordinances are NEVER as liberal as the ordinances they
replace. If your sign is installed under the
provisions of an older ordinance you probably have a
competitive advantage over your newer neighbors IF you
installed the maximum signs allowed!
"
...See that Which-Wich business? He's going to be out of business in less than a year only because his sign is so small. Our City Sign Ordinance forced him to do this. But now because we don't want this shopping center to be a ghost town we're letting businesses put up pretty much whatever they need to stay in business regardless of what our Sign Ordinance says, if they know to ask the right people like you do. Unfortunately, our next mayor thinks that businesses do not need signs, so most new businesses that come here will also be doomed."
A City Sign Inspector who asked to remain anonymous, but one who cares
Hole-drilling Inspections
The State of Texas requires that we
mark the location where a hole is to be drilled and notify
the State of our intentions.
The State notifies all regulated
utilities (electric, gas, telephone, cable, and pipeline
companies, etc.) of our intentions, and we must give them
three work days to verify that we will not hit any of
their underground components. If there is a
potential conflict they must visit the site and mark the
location of their components.
Although not required by law, we also
notify water, sewer, and private communications entities
(school districts, fire, police, city, etc.) before
drilling. We have developed proprietary contact
lists for use in every city in the metroplex over the
years.
The City itself usually inspects
detached sign locations to insure that they comply with
the permit location before drilling.
After a hole is drilled, the City
usually inspects the hole prior to it's being filled with
concrete.
Certified Engineering
Almost all cities require that
Certified Engineering be presented prior to Permit
Approval to prove
that the design of a pylon sign will withstand a 100
m.p.h. wind (140 m.p.h. in Florida.)
No one wants to hurt someone
We prepare certified engineering on
all our free-standing signs.
When hurricane Ivan hit the
Florida panhandle in 2004 with 140 m.p.h. winds no cabinet
sign we manufactured was damaged, except by flying
objects; no free-standing pylon sign even lost a sign face
(2 small changeable-letter readerboards with plastic faces
lost their faces.) One of our customers had 2
previous sign suppliers; none of their signs survived.
Portable Signs, Banners, and Pendants
We furnish our customers a "Grand
Opening Package" featuring a free parking lot
"Coming Soon" free-standing portable sign to attract
attention while their sign is being constructed.
We can also supply banners and pendants.
"Coming Soon" and/or "Grand Opening"
Banners, pendants (small plastic flags on a rope), and
portable signs are very good ideas if your landlord and
City allow them.
Almost every City requires an additional Sign Permit for
banners and portable signs, and allows their use for one
month four times a year. Most cities do not allow
pendants.
We will file for your Portable Sign, banner, and pendant
permits for free while we are filing for your major sign
permit. We only charge for the actual cost of the
City permits.
Almost no City allows banners to be placed on existing
free-standing signs, fences, or between light poles.
Click our "Other
Products" tab for construction details on
banners.
LED Message Center Rentals
Signs Manufacturing rents SunburstDisplays™ LED full-color digital animated electronic message centers.
This may be perfect for your Grand Opening or other special event.
