Guides
Guides for sign shops
Practical write-ups for running sign work in order, from pricing to installation, and comparisons of the tools shops use today.
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Guide
How to price a sign: cost items and a worked example
A sign's price is the sum of materials, lighting, workshop labour, design and installation, plus an overhead share and profit, with VAT added last. This guide shows how to measure each item and walks through an example.
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Channel letter production, step by step: how channel letters are made
Channel letters are made by surveying the site, designing and getting approval, choosing materials, cutting faces and backs, bending and joining the returns, fitting LEDs and the power supply, painting, checking, packing and installing. Here is what to watch at each step.
Read moreGuide
Sign installation checklist: before you leave, on site and after
A good sign installation starts before the van leaves: check the approved artwork, measurements, parts, permits, access and customer contact. On site come safety and a qualified electrical connection; afterwards a test, cleanup and a photographed handover.
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How to get design approval from a customer, and keep the record
You get design approval by showing the customer the final file with its dimensions, colours, material, mounting and quantity, and having them approve that file explicitly, in a way that leaves a record. If they ask for changes, the new file needs a new approval.
Read moreComparisons
Compared with Excel
Tracking orders in Excel, or in SignFlow?
For a shop taking a few orders a week, run by one or two people, Excel or Google Sheets is often enough. It reaches its limits when the sheet becomes a job list that several people edit at once, with stages, files and installations.
Read moreCompared with WhatsApp
Tracking orders in WhatsApp: where it works and where it breaks
Many sign shops run their orders in WhatsApp groups: the artwork goes into the group, the workshop replies “OK”, the install crew posts the photo there. With a few jobs that works; as jobs and people grow, files get lost in the chat, approvals cannot be proven and nobody can see which job is late.
Read moreCompared with a generic ERP
An ERP for a sign shop, or software built for sign shops?
A generic ERP or accounting program does invoices, customer accounts and stock valuation well, but it was not built around a sign job's design approval, cross-department production and installation. SignFlow is the opposite: it tracks the shop floor and is not an accounting program that issues your own sales invoices. For most shops the right answer is to use both.
Read moreOpen your next order in SignFlow, not WhatsApp
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