Sign Builder April 2022 by Sign Builder Illustrated

THE HOW-TO MAGAZINE

A PR I L 2022 | S I G N S H O P.CO M

SIGN BUILDER

ILLUSTRATED

THE ELLA MURALS:

SINGIN’ ABOUT GRAPHICS!

LIGHTING: REDISCOVERING RETRO

SHOP WORKFLOW:

PUTTING PROJECTS TOGETHER

CONTENTS APRIL 2022

VOL. 36

NO. 321

HOW-TO COLUMNS

FUNDING YOUR BUSINESS, PART ONE

By Jim Hingst Lending a helping hand to loans.

FUNDING YOUR BUSINESS, PART TWO

By Jim Hingst The five Cs of business credit.

BUILDING A BETTER CODE

By David Hickey Helping all Americans participate as fully as possible.

DEPARTMENTS

Cover Photo: Jake Van Yahres/JVY Creations.

10 50 52

EDITOR’S COLUMN

Editor Jeff Wooten speaks with one sign shop owner about why he believes that wearing too many hats at a shop is a detriment.

IN THE INDUSTRY

A multi-purpose community center goes digital, a historic sign is relit at the Walker Center in Salt Lake City, and most sectors of the sign and graphics industry are looking on par or slightly better for 2022.

SIGN SHOW

The newest products and services from sign manufacturers.

SBI MARKETPLACE

Advertisements and announcements from the sign trade.

SBI OPERATIONS

In the finance-or-lease debate, Jim Hingst provides some key points to acquiring new equipment.

FEATURES

34 41

41 signshop.com

JAZZING UP AN INTERIOR

By Jeff Wooten One artist “dreams a little dream” for recent Ella Fitzgeraldinspired murals.

STARLIGHT, NEON BRIGHT

By Maura Keller Rediscovering retro with a Wisconsin sign shop.

MANAGEMENT SPEAK

By Jeff Wooten Multi-faceted project management advice for shops.

April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

INDUSTRY EXPERTS FOR OVER 75 YEARS arkramos.com | 1.800.725.7266 | customerservice@arkramos.com

IN THE INDUSTRY

MULTIPURPOSE COMMUNITY CENTER

randon, Wisconsin—The Forest County Potawatomi recently opened a 105,000-square-foot community center that includes a network of interior LED video screens from SNA Displays’ BOLD™ Interior display series. Camera Corner Connecting Point (CCCP), a technology integrator specializing in A/V solutions, managed the project. “From the beginning of this project, there were four main goals—deliver cutting-edge display technology, integrate flexible AV solutions, make the entire system easy to operate for community center users, and most of all, incorporate everything into the facility’s existing aesthetic rather than detracting from it,” said Scott

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April 2022

Tomashek, senior vice president of AV strategy at CCCP. The building’s design was informed by the Forest County Potawatomi culture, from the two levels that follow the natural grade to lessen environmental impact to the floorplan inspired by the form of an eagle in flight. Overall the community center project includes thirteen new LED displays and approximately 22 million pixels of digital canvas. The new LED screens are used primarily as scoreboards and to share information with visitors. Fieldhouse LED Chandelier. The most eye-catching LED display feature in the community center is the fieldhouse’s

digital chandelier. The 2.9mm pixel pitch center-hung display has two main digital signage elements: an outwardfacing, 360-degree ring display and a circular screen that faces down toward the field. The digital chandelier contains approximately 2.3 million pixels. Gymnasium LED Chandelier. After the fieldhouse chandelier was installed, the Forest County Potawatomi decided to add a second center-hung to the digital signage network in the venue’s gym. The digital chandelier consists of a ring section only. Like the fieldhouse center-hung display, it has a 2.9mm pixel pitch. Software upgrades were implemented per request so that both center-hung features can show signshop.com

All Photos (this spread): SNA Displays.

GOES DIGITAL

ECONOMIC REPORT FORECAST

AIRFAX, VIRGINIA— Most sectors of the sign and graphics industry are looking on par or slightly better for 2022, according to the Sign Industry Quarterly Economic Report produced by IHS Markit for the International Sign Association. The report covers the fourth quarter of 2021 and was prepared in December. The report assesses four segments of the industry: two supplier markets (printing and electrical/ digital signage) and two end markets (electric/digital signage and architectural signage). It also forecasts commodities. The report says: Gross domestic product is expected to grow at 4.1 percent for 2022, down slightly from 5.7 percent growth in 2021. Inflation is expected to be 4.2 percent for 2022, thanks to a sharp jump in consumer prices. Steel prices are expected to drop as demand falls. The infrastructure bill will have a small impact on steel prices and demand in 2022 but will drive demand in 2023. Lumber prices are also expected to drop in the first quarter of 2022. All four sectors of the industry are expected to recover in 2022, though architectural signage will cool slightly due to a weakening construction market.

Photo: Shutterstock/ iQoncept

creative content and scores for live events. Common Area. The common area includes three wall-mounted, high-definition 2.5mm interior displays. The architectural elements of the common area meant that multiple screens were necessary so all visitors had a clear view. CCCP provided a Cloud-based digital signage network that permits each screen to show synchronized or unique content, and the video-over-IP routing system allows for flexible usage of the screens. Pool. The community center’s pool area has two 2.5mm displays used for exercise videos, informational purposes, and family night activities. The pool LED signshop.com

display panels and internal components are conformal coated to withstand the high humidity levels in the space. Peerless-AV engineered all mounting systems for the wall-mounted displays. Each mounting system was custom designed with high engineering tolerances to ensure a proper fit during the installation. Polar Focus provided design and engineering for the intricate mounting structure needed to hang the video circles in the fieldhouse and gym. Because the venue’s roof structure slanted upward from the center of the room and also from front to back, a unique solution was required to suspend the center-hung video displays. To view more photos of this project, visit https://bit.ly/3u3YKQF. April 2022

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IN THE INDUSTRY FIRST VETERANS IN VICTOR PROGRAM

HISTORIC SIGN RELIGHTING

ALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—The fabrication, installation, and relighting of the historic Walker Center weather tower in Salt Lake City was undertaken by YESCO, the 102-year-old company known for creating, repairing, and maintaining internationally recognizable signs. The sixteen-story Walker Center, formerly the Walker Bank building, was the tallest building between Chicago and San Francisco when it was completed in 1912. In the 1950s, YESCO installed a unique sign that flashed different neon colors to indicate the changing weather. For residents throughout the valley, it served as a highly visible weather forecaster for four decades. The weather tower was taken down in the 1980s due to a city ordinance but replaced in 2008. The colors of the weather tower indicate the type of weather. Steady blue means clear skies, flashing blue means cloudy skies, steady red means rain, and flashing red means snow. The tower will also change colors for the holidays and special occasions including pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October and green for St.

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April 2022

Patrick’s Day. The project encompasses 1,656 linear feet of LED lighting. The LED lighting system comes from YESCO’s supplier, GLLS, and has been uniquely designed with seventeen pixels per foot. The program running the lighting system is called LED CTRL, which is based in Australia. The system is capable of controlling every individual pixel. The program is only limited by the imagination and capabilities of the designer creating the programming. The project was completed using a portable winch and custom brackets fabricated by YESCO’s Victor Aguirre. The system lowered the letters down onto the roof so that YESCO could safely remove and dispose of the neon per EPA standards before raising them back up into place. “This is one of the coolest projects we have done in my time at YESCO,” said Aaron Green, Rocky Mountain Region project manager at YESCO. “It is enormously gratifying to be able to work on a project with so much history and to know that Utahns can once again see their weather conditions indicated in lights.”

AIRFAX, VIRGINIA—The first recipients of the VICTOR program were announced last month by the NCCCO Foundation and Heavy Equipment Colleges of America (HEC). The Veteran In C ra n e Tra i n i n g O u tsta n d i n g Recognition (or V.I.C.T.O.R.) award is presented to the top-performing veteran in each HEC training class for NCCCO mobile crane operator certification. HEC runs training classes for veterans both at Fort Irwin Army Base in California and at Joint Base Lewis-McChord location in Washington State. The four awardees who graduated top of their class are: David Carter and Gabriel Hope (Fort Irwin) and John Bleignier and William Hare (Joint Base LewisMcChord). Each received a $100 gift card, a YETI tumbler, and a Certificate of Achievement plaque. While receipt of the VICTOR award surprised most awardees, all felt gratified to be so recognized. “Receiving this award encouraged me to pursue my education and fur ther my career in this industry,” said Carter. Gabriel Hope set a goal of getting a crane operating job “so that I can make a career out of it and become a proficient, outstanding operator.”

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SIGN SHOW DIGITAL PRINTING EQUIPMENT/ SUPPLIES

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES FASTSIGNS Sets Its Sights on Further Increasing Franchisee Profitability

Vanguard Digital Printing’s LED Inks Obtain GREENGUARD Gold Certification Vanguard Digital Printing System—A Durst Group Company—is pleased to announce that the company has received the UL Greenguard Gold certification for their SVR5D, VK300D, and VKM600 UV LED inkjet ink sets. Products that have achieved GREENGUARD Certification are scientifically proven to meet some of the world’s most rigorous third-party chemical emissions standards, which help to reduce indoor air pollution and the risk of chemical exposure. By choosing Vanguard’s ink sets that are GREENGUARD certified, graphics providers and endusers are creating a healthier indoor environment for an office environment and reducing chemical exposure. GREENGUARD Certification Standards are among the most rigorous in the world, so you can be confident that these certified products from Vanguard Digital Printing System live up to their claims. vanguarddigital.com

FASTSIGNS International, Inc., is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to promising to help its franchisees generate more revenue and profits in 2022. The global franchisor has joined forces with ProfitKeeper, a leader in financial data consolidation and analysis. Franchisees can now sync their accounting software to upload financials each month and receive instant feedback on how their center is performing in relation to other centers within the network. The ProfitKeeper software program is complementary and offered to all franchisees as part of FASTSIGNS support. “Our most important Key Strategic Objective is to help each of our franchisees further increase profitability by 25 percent, after already achieving the prior goal–set in 2009–to increase franchisee profitability by 50 percent. We are committed to providing our franchisees excellent support and service, focused on increasing profitability and driving high-margin revenue,” said Catherine Monson, CEO of FASTSIGNS International, Inc., about why they selected ProfitKeeper. fastsigns.com; profitkeeper.com

ROUTERS/ENGRAVERS Decrease Iteration Time and Leave the Housekeeping to the New Bantam Tools Vacuum Accessory Bantam Tools is excited to introduce its new Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Vacuum Accessory. This new tool follows on the heels of the manufacturer’s recent introduction of the Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Air Blaster Accessory. The Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Vacuum Accessory seamlessly attaches to the Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Milling Machine, allowing for live vacuuming to increase chip evacuation and decrease clean-up time. The vacuum accessory allows for better material visibility, decreased iteration time, decreased clean-up time, and a smoother finish and helps maintain the life of end mills. “Our customers have been requesting more accessories to go with their Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Milling Machines, and we have been hard at work creating these new accessories,” said Bre Pettis, CEO of Bantam Tools. store.bantamtools.com

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SIGN SHOW VINYL/VINYL FILMS Drytac Announces the Global Availability of Polar Choice White Gloss and Matte Films Drytac, an international manufacturer of self-adhesive materials for the large format print and signage markets, has announced the global availability of its popular Polar Choice White monomeric PVC films. Available with a gloss or matte finish and featuring a permanent gray adhesive, the 3.2-mil film maximizes adhesive performance on a wide variety of substrates. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications—with a durability of up to five years—these films are ideal for flat signage and general advertising applications (including windows, point-of-purchase displays, stickers, and decals). Drytac Polar Choice White films are compatible with Latex, UV, and eco-solvent printing technology. Offering high levels of reliability and flexibility, they also carry the Class C-s1, d0 (EN 13501-1) fire rating, further ratifying their safe usage in multiple environments. The range has been engineered to offer printability on all platforms and provide stability for print and cut applications. The films also have a two-sided PE release liner for extra lay flat performance. drytac.com

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April 2022

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SIGN SHOW SOFTWARE-DESIGN/ESTIMATING/PRINT/ROUTE Valuable Updates to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Will Power Productivity in Graphic Design CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite, the professional graphic design solution for vector illustration, layout, photo editing, typography, and collaboration, has introduced several valuable updates for subscribers. These updates allow individuals to maximize their creativity and productivity, while remaining connected with clients and colleagues in an ever-increasing world of remote-first work. The all-in-one design solution delivers a new personalized learning experience that empowers users to expand their knowledge and skills tailored to their unique needs and interests, while access to real-time collaboration makes it easy for clients and teams to work together from anywhere. Additionally the updates include accelerated photo editing alongside time-saving enhancements to a variety of features across the suite, making it faster than ever for subscribers to achieve their unique creative vision. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite subscribers can enjoy a more flexible way to stay up to date with access to the newest tools, enhanced features, learning materials, additional fonts, creative templates, and support for the latest technologies to maximize their creative potential. New subscriberexclusive updates include the ability to create stunning images fast with enhancements to photo editing, the opportunity to find recommended learning content based on how you work and what you want to see in the Learn docker/inspector, and the capability to deliver professional results with access to a variety of modern new templates to inspire your creativity and customize templates with ease to produce unique designs. A new product feedback loop empowers designers to contribute directly to the future design of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite with the ability to submit development ideas and vote on suggestions presented by others. coreldraw.com

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SIGN SHOW DIGITAL PRINTING EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES Mimaki USA’s New 330 Series Delivers “Something New and Something Different” Designed and developed from the ground up, the new 330 Series of large format inkjet printers from Mimaki USA showcases twenty years of accumulated knowledge and technological expertise. The two flagship models introduced in the 330 series are the JV330-130/-160 and CJV330-130/-160. Catapulting from the highly popular 100 Series, these new printers offer impressive image quality, high productivity, and value-added functions, providing new middle and high-end buying options. The 330 Series incorporate “Mimaki Weaving Dot Technology (MWDT),” a printing technology that changes the order of ink droplet placement depending on printing conditions. This suppresses the unexpected occurrence of streaks or uneven printing caused by slight individual differences in the print head or subtle deviations in adjustment. Mimaki USA has also developed a new input profile, “Deep Color Natural,” a standard format for color management. Making full use of the wide color gamut of the market-proven “SS21” and the company’s eco-solvent inks, this new profile reproduces fully vivid solid color expression, natural gray tone, and natural skin tone, which was difficult to produce simultaneously in the past. Two additional high value-added functions now offered are the “XY slitter” and the “Media changer,” both promising to save on work and labor time. The XY slitter has an in-line function that cuts all sides of the media after printing, enabling automatic slit processing without removing media. This significantly shortens post-process work and reduces the previously required space needed for manual cutting. The Media Changer accommodates up to three media rolls, allowing the operator to change media by simply turning the handle with light force. mimakiusa.com

Quality products and trusted solutions since 1852 Stimpson has shipped over 150 billion parts including Eyelets, Grommets, Washers, Hole Plugs, Snap Fasteners, Vents, Clamps, Ferrules and many additional metal products. Grommets & Washers: Quality sheet metal, rolled

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April 2022 Sign Builder Illustrated

SIGN SHOW DIGITAL PRINTING EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES Roland DGA Launches Its Third Generation of State-of-the-art Inkjets The TrueVIS™ VG3 and SG3 series of large format printer/cutters from Roland DGA have been engineered for even greater image quality, productivity, and ease of use. The TrueVIS VG3 Series—Roland DG’s top-of-the-line printer/cutters—usher in a new era of productivity, color control, efficiency, and convenience, while the value-packed SG3 models make the latest TrueVIS technology accessible to print providers who are just starting or seeking to build their businesses. The VG3 and SG3 printer/cutters, Roland DG’s most intuitive, efficient, and versatile TrueVIS machines ever, are ideal for a wide range of applications, including signs and banners, window graphics, labels, decals, floor graphics, vehicle graphics, interior décor, heat transfer apparel, and more. In addition to enabling users to optimize production, they offer dynamic ink configurations, exact color targeting, and unsurpassed print-and-cut accurac. Every TrueVIS VG3 and SG3 combines the precision printing made possible by Roland DG’s latest FlexFire™ print heads with incredibly accurate integrated contour cutting, allowing for smooth, reliable unattended printing. One of the main distinguishing hallmarks of TrueVIS printer/cutters is the stunning colors they produce. These incredibly vibrant results are further enhanced by the latest True Rich Color 3 preset (in the included VersaWorks® 6 RIP software), which now supports RGB mode to push the limits of color saturation. Each VG3 and SG3 printer/cutter comes with a redesigned take-up system that not only provides increased stability for a smooth post process but also incorporates several new features that simplify set up and optimize workflow. Fully adjustable tube holders accommodate any tube size for easy media placement, while a choice of two different modes enable the take-up to handle everything from thin films to heavy canvas materials. rolanddga.com/VG3; rolanddga.com/SG3

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SIGN SHOW LED MODULES/STRIPS/TUBES Next Generation Lighting Solution for Fabric-face Light Box Displays SloanLED, leaders in light technology for sixty-five years, announces the availability of SloanLED BrightLINE 2, the next generation of its innovative alternative for single-sided light box illumination, ideal for shallow depths 1.2 to 4.7 inches (30 to 120 mm). SloanLED BrightLINE 2 delivers several improvements over the previous generation with lower energy consumption, allowing more product per power supply and 6500 K and now 4000 K CCT (color temperatures) for greater versatility in illuminating warm to cool colors and skin tones. The new LP (low power) version, optimized for applications at or below 1.57 in (40 mm) deep, balances brightness and product spacing to achieve incredible loading of 44 (Long) sticks per 100 W power supply. SloanLED BrightLINE 2 is available in Long (pictured) and Short lengths and features prism lens technology that captures otherwise wasted light and redirects it toward the illuminated surface. The result is bright, even illumination and wider spacing with greater protection against accidental damage to the LED system when the retailer is replacing the graphics. SloanLED BrightLINE 2 is conformal coated and protected from condensation that can form during indoor use, is cuttable in width and length for zero waste, and comes pre-wired, using fewer connections for increased reliability and faster installation times. SloanLED BrightLINE 2 includes SloanLED’s industry-leading five-year parts and labor assistance warranty. sloanled.com

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April 2022 Sign Builder Illustrated

SIGN SHOW VINYL/VINYL GRAPHICS Hit the Road with DriveOn Graphics from FloorSignage, LLC Customers have embraced floor graphic materials for outdoor ground graphic needs, however, up until now, many of these products could not withstand the wear and tear accumulated from vehicle traffic. FloorSignage, LLC, solves this issue with the introduction of DriveOn Graphics, the world’s first wide format print media designed to be applied to surfaces that support both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. DriveOn Graphics is the first retro-reflective digital print media created with drivers in mind. DriveOn Graphics can be applied directly to streets, parking lots, and driveways providing motorists with clear visual communication. This first-ofits-kind material offers ground graphics in full color that will stand up to the rigors of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. DriveOn Graphics provides a slip-resistant, pedestrian-safe product that reduces accident risk. DriveOn Graphic’s retroreflectivity results in a highly visible material both day and night. This new material can be cut to shape and used as turn arrows, symbols, and other traffic control and curbside messaging. DriveOn Graphics is matte-white and direct printcompatible with latex, UV flatbed, and hybrid printers. Made in the U.S.A., DriveOn Graphics offers easy, heat-free installation and is sold in 44-inch-by-35-foot rolls to suppliers. floorsignage.com

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HOW TO BUSINESS | BY JIM HINGST

Funding Your Business, Part One

veryone needs cash to open a new shop. To fund your business, you can beg and borrow from your friends and family. You can apply for a loan from a bank or online lender. Or you can scrimp and scrape until you have enough cash to self-fund your business. In a perfect world, self-funding your business is generally great advice for startups. However in the real world, many entrepreneurs who launch a new business usually need to borrow money at some point. That may not be for a couple years because banks typically don’t fund startups. On the other hand, banks generally view new ventures favorably, if the owners initially self-fund the business during the first years. It tells the lender that you believe in yourself and in your vision

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for your business. Why should anyone else invest in your shop—whether it is a bank, your family, or your friends—if you aren’t willing to put your personal money at risk? As a business owner, you have to deal with tremendous pressure at work. Taking on a loan can subject you to additional pressure that can affect your physical and mental health. If you have a family, your relationships can also suffer. To make matters worse, if you fail to make a payment, it can affect your credit score, making it difficult to secure additional funding, not only for your business but also to get loans for a home or car. Taking out a loan may seem easier and provide more advantages than self-funding. In most cases, you would be wrong. The main disadvantage is that you must

pay back the loan with interest. And failure to repay a loan opens you up to liability. If you have set up your business either as a sole proprietorship or as a partnership, you are personally responsible for failure to repay your business loans. In these cases, lenders can seize your business assets as well as personal assets, such as furniture, cars, and even your home, to cover any debts that your shop accumulates. Your best financing option is to selffinance. That means that you need to save enough money to get started. What’s more, it also means that you will probably start out small. That’s okay— if you work harder and smarter, your business will probably survive. By financing your own business, you avoid the additional pressure of making loan payments. It gives you more time signshop.com

Photo: Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.

Lending a helping hand to loans.

HOW TO

TAKING OUT A LOAN MAY SEEM EASIER AND PROVIDE MORE ADVANTAGES THAN SELFFUNDING YOUR BUSINESS, BUT IN MOST CASES, YOU WOULD BE WRONG. to worry about your shop operations and marketing your services instead of worrying about the money you owe someone else. Types of Business Loans Lenders provide many different types of business loans to small businesses. Each type has advantages and disadvantages. Which type of business loan is appropriate for you relies on several factors. Most importantly, the right loan for you depends on what you need it for. Other factors include how quickly you need the money and for what period of time. Some of the types of funding available include business term loans, SBA loans, and a business line of credit. Business Term Loans. If you are looking to expand your business, a 22

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business term loan can provide you with a lump sum of cash to fuel your enterprise. This standard loan covers a fixed “term” or specified period of time, usually between one and five years. The term for buying real estate can be as long as twenty-five years. Over the life or term of the loan, you will make fixed installment payments. Business term loans are generally used to purchase long-term assets, also called fixed assets, such as real estate, shop equipment, and vehicles. This is not the type of loan that you will use to buy short-term assets, such as inventory. Getting approval from either a bank or online source is generally easier and faster than other types of loans, if your business is well established and has a good credit rating. When applying for this type of loan, you should have all of your financial

statements, tax returns, and bank statements available for the lender. Prior to applying for a loan, check your personal and business credit rating. Lenders use credit scores as a barometer of the likelihood that you will pay back the loan on time. FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) is one brand of score. The rating ranges from 300 to 850. The higher the credit score, the better. Banks use this rating in determining whether or not to grant a loan and when deciding the credit limit and interest rate for the loan. Your business may also have a credit rating, especially if your company has borrowed money in the past or has been issued a business credit card. Your payment history with utility companies or with any vendor or distributor who has extended you credit will likely affect your credit score. While you can use term loans to obtain larger amounts of financing, you very likely will need collateral, such as real estate or equipment, to secure this type of funding. Loans from online sources are usually faster than getting a loan from a bank, but interest rates are typically higher. SBA Loans. The SBA or Small Business Administration is not a lender. Instead this government agency works signshop.com

Photos: (Left) energepic.com from Pexels; (Right) Tara Winstead from Pexels.

BUSINESS | BY JIM HINGST

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HOW TO BUSINESS | BY JIM HINGST

with banks and other lending institutions to help small businesses obtain SBA-guaranteed loans. In the loan approval process, the SBA sets the guidelines, although the lender usually has some of their own credit policies. There are many different types of SBA loans. However, more than 75 percent of these loans are 7(a) loans. Within the 7(a) category, there are sev-

rates range from prime +2.25 percent to prime +4.75 percent. The repayment terms for 7(a) loans can also be attractive. Repayment terms for equipment is up to ten years. Loans for working capital can be as long as seven years. Down payment for an SBA loan may also be significantly lower than with a conventional loan. In addition, fewer fees, if any, may apply.

lender acts as a go-between for you and the SBA. For this reason, the qualification process, when using a non-preferred lender, can be quite lengthy. Your chances of getting a 7(a) loan are about 65 percent, which is typically better than getting a regular bank loan. To qualify for a loan, you will need a good credit score (over 650) and have been in business for a mini-

eral variations of loans, such as the 7(a) Small Loan and the SBA Express Loan. You can obtain an SBA 7(a) loan to fund a wide range of business activities. These include purchasing equipment, business expansions, acquisitions, buying real estate, or providing your company with working capital. What makes these loans attractive are the loan rates, which are some of the lowest rates on the market. These 24

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The downside of an SBA loan is the qualification process. A standard loan can take as long as six weeks for approval. In some cases, it can take months. The length of time for the loan approval sometimes depends on whether you are dealing with a preferred lender or not. A preferred lender, which includes most major banks, can make its own credit decisions. On the other hand, a non-preferred

mum of two years. You will also need to put up collateral for the loan and sign a personal guarantee. Business Line of Credit. It doesn’t matter how big your shop is—sometimes the spaghetti just hits the fan and you run into a cash flow problem. For that reason, every company should establish a business line of credit with their bank. The line of credit gives you the flexsignshop.com

Photo: John Guccione advergroup.com/Pexels.

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW BIG YOUR SHOP IS—SOMETIMES YOU RUN INTO A CASH FLOW PROBLEM. FOR THAT REASON, EVERY COMPANY SHOULD ESTABLISH A BUSINESS LINE OF CREDIT WITH THEIR BANK.

HOW TO

BUSINESS | BY JIM HINGST

ibility to write checks so you can buy inventory, pay operating expenses, and make payroll. It is not intended to finance the purchase of real estate or shop equipment. The line of credit is a type of shortterm loan that covers your checks when the well temporarily runs dry. To cover the amount needed, the bank charges you an interest fee. Generally this fee is at a much lower interest rate than other types of loans because it is comparatively low risk. New businesses are generally required to secure a line of credit using personal assets, such as real estate, as collateral. If you have a partner, both of you will most likely need to put up personal assets as collateral. Not until your shop becomes financially stable will banks extend your company an unsecured line of credit.

In most cases, to get a business line of credit without a personal guarantee, your shop needs to have been in business for a couple of years and have strong revenues and an outstanding credit report. As an alternative to traditional banks, you can also get a business line of credit from online alternative lenders. These institutions have different practices for evaluating your credit worthiness. Alternative lenders will check your banking activity and have different standards for the revenue that your shop generates. Generally you can get approved for a business line of credit much faster than going to a bank. Make sure that you investigate the repayment terms as well as all of the fees that an alternative lender may charge you (such as an inactivity fee).

Business Credit Card. If you don’t have a business credit card, you should get one. Then make sure that you pay off the balance each month in full. This helps improve your business credit rating. A good rating increases your chances of getting a loan at a good interest rate. Before applying for a business credit card, compare the advantages of the different cards. Your comparison should include spending limit, interest rate, rewards, and annual fee. Generally business credit cards have higher credit limits and lower interest rates than personal credit cards. Business credit cards also have some great perks, such as memberships in airline lounges. To read about equipment leasing versus equipment financing, read our “Operations” column on page 52.

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April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

September 19-21, 2022

Rhode Island Convention Center Providence, RI

Prepare Your Sign Shop for Success Learn how to increase your sign shop’s sales and profits through strong business management, improving operational efficiency, and expanding product offerings. SBI and NSSA have collaborated to create a program designed to help both sign shop owners and employees navigate a rapidly changing industry landscape, an unstable economic outlook, and the influx of non-sign companies offering signage services. PLUS: A large exhibit hall will showcase digital and flatbed printers, laminators, CNC routers, engravers, LED Displays, channel letter benders, service trucks and many more—everything you need to serve existing clients and attract new clients.

EXHIBITORS GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

EXHIBIT SALES: David Harkey T: 973.563.0109 E: dharkey@sbpub.com QUESTIONS: conferences@sbpub.com

Registration Opens 4/15 | www.signshop.com/nssa

TOP 5 REASONS TO ATTEND: • Spend time building your business instead of just working in it. • Streamline your workflow by maximizing your shop layout and production methods. • Learn how to combat the labor shortage with better hiring and employee retention practices.

• Expand your profits with proven sales strategies and methods to break into new markets. • Walk away armed with all the tools you need to become a better business owner.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE: AUTHOR DAVE FELLMAN to speak on employee retention and 5 principles for sales success.

HOW TO FINANCIAL

BY JIM HINGST

Funding Your Business, Part Two

n the approval process for business loans, lenders use the “five Cs of credit” as their standard for credit analysis. If you want to improve your chances of getting a business loan, you need to satisfy the requirements in these five areas: Capacity, Capital, Character, Collateral, and Conditions. Let’s take a closer look at these five Cs.

Capacity In rating a business’s capacity to repay a loan, lenders generally evaluate the company’s Cash Flow Statement for at least two years. Startups, on the other hand, need to prepare a projection of their cash flow for the first year. An evaluation of cash flow statements will reveal whether your 28

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April 2022

business generally has enough cash to repay its loans. In addition to your cash flow statement, your lender will want to know what personal sources of income that you could use to make payments, such as checking and savings accounts or even your spouse’s income. Character In deciding whether to approve your loan application, bankers will assess your “character.” This has a little less to do with your personal integrity than it does to your credit score and creditworthiness. More than one-third of small businesses whose loan applications were denied or did not receive all of the funding requested resulted from a less-

than-desirable credit score. Two factors that greatly affect your credit score are an existing high level of debt and having an insufficient credit history. Lenders use your personal and your business credit scores as a measure of your ability and willingness to pay back a loan. Before you apply for a business loan, examine your personal and business credit scores. Lenders also view your past credit history as a barometer of future financial success. From the viewpoint of a lender, a low credit score equates to high risk. Consumer credit scores are based on a mathematical model, which estimates the risk of someone going ninety days late on a payment during a two-year period. FICO scores range from 350 to 850. Lendsignshop.com

Photo: Andrea de Santis from Pexels.

The five Cs of business credit.

HOW TO FINANCIAL

ers view scores above 750 favorably. Business credit scores are connected to your company’s EIN (Employer Identification Number). Banks use credit scores from different reporting agencies, such as Dun and Bradstreet (D&B), Experian, and Equifax. The models used for business credit scores predict the chances that your business will run ninety days late within a year. Some scoring systems will also forecast the possibility of your business encountering a financial catastrophe. The D&B score is called the PAYDEX score. They base their score on how promptly you have paid your vendors over the last two years. PAYDEX scores range from 0 to 100. Anything above 80 is a great rating. Some credit risk scores use a blended system, which evaluates both your personal and business credit history. For example, SBA uses the FICO SBSS score as a basis for approving all SBA 7(a) loans. FICO SBSS scores range from 0 to 300. Loans are rejected for any score below 160. Many other factors are used in developing a credit score. These include the number of years in business, company assets, revenue, and cash flow. The best way to improve your credit score is to pay your bills on time. In determining how much credit that a bank will extend to your business, they will check whether you have maintained a minimum daily balance of $10,000 for the last 90 days. Banks will also look at frequency of deposits and the age of your account. Some of the factors that credit agencies and banks use are within your control. Others are not. In some cases, credit ratings take into consideration your industry and general economic conditions. You can’t control external financial considerations, so only focus on those components that you can influence. Based on the information in your financial documents, a lender will also make a number of critical calculations signshop.com

to ascertain the health of your company. These assessments include: Debtto-Income; Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR); and Debt Ratio.

BY JIM HINGST

5 C’s of Credit

Debt-to-Income. One of the measures banks use to assess the ability of a business to repay their loan is debtto-income (DTI) or sales ratio. DTI describes a relationship between what a company owes versus its revenue. A rule of thumb is that your DTI should not be higher than 45 percent. So an $85,000 monthly debt divided by a $290,000 monthly income equals a 29.3 DTI Ratio.

Capacity

Debt Service Coverage Ratio. DTI and Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) are similar but not the same. The DSCR is usually (but not always) calculated over a year. It compares your net operating income to your debt service for a specified period of time.

Capital

Debt Service. Your annual debt service covers all of your payments on your loans for company vehicles, real estate, and shop equipment. This includes both the principal and the interest for all outstanding loans. In many cases, debt service will be listed as an expense on your income statement, which makes it easy for a lender to identify it. To calculate the DSCR, divide your annual Net Operating Income by your annual Debt Service payments. Your operating income equals your revenues minus Cost of Goods Sold and Shop and Administrative Expenses. As a rule of thumb, the minimum DSCR value required for a bank to approve a loan is typically 1.25 or 125 percent.

Character

Collateral

Debt Ratio. Your debt ratio compares your total debts (liabilities) to total assets, and a lender can calculate this using your balance sheet. For example, if your liabilities are $200,000 and your assets are $450,000, your

Conditions

April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

HOW TO BY JIM HINGST

debt ratio is 44.4 percent. Capital Banks may also check the amount of money that you personally have invested in your business. Lenders generally believe that if you personally have “skin in the game,” you’ll be more likely to repay the loan. As a rule of thumb, banks like to see that the owner’s personal investment in their business is at least 25 percent. Collateral When starting a business, one of your worst options for financing is a bank loan. You take a big risk when you take out a loan—the reason being that you commit to paying the loan back on a schedule. Collateral is an asset that you (as a borrower) pledge as security to obtain a loan. When you default on a loan, the bank can seize the assets that you used as collateral to recover 30

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their losses. To secure a business loan, you can use the following assets: • Commercial property; • Vehicles; • Shop tools and equipment; • Inventory; • Accounts receivables; • Cash; and/or • Personal property Conditions You can control some factors of your business destiny. Other factors are beyond your control. In approving your loan application, banks will take into consideration many of those conditions that you cannot control. These include the effect of inflation on the economy. Many predict that we could be heading into a recession in 2022. Lenders will also evaluate the conditions within your specific market and your competitive environment. In addressing these conditions, your

business plan should expound upon the opportunities available, as well as the numbers of competitors and the threats that they pose to your shop. Your plan should also include your sales and marketing strategy and how you would respond to an economic downturn. (Note: To read additional loan requirements and conditions, please read the expanded version of this article on signshop.com.) Rejecting Loan Applications The primary reasons for loan rejections are insufficient collateral, poor credit rating, and high expenses in relation to revenues. To improve your chances of getting a loan, you can take the following steps: Create a business plan, provide sufficient collateral, improve your credit rating, reduce your shop and administrative expenses, and increase your revenues. signshop.com

Photo: Shutterstock/ Amnaj Khetsamtip.

FINANCIAL

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HOW TO PRODUCTION | BY DAVID HICKEY

Building a Better Code Helping all Americans participate as fully as possible.

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April 2022

to succeed can only increase with local regulations that allow these establishments to effectively brand their locations and attract customers without red tape or lengthy delays. In communities with more diverse populations, local regulations can affect whether signs can communicate with non-English speakers. A number of jurisdictions unknowingly have regulations that hinder communication in these multicultural neighborhoods by allowing just one sign per façade in an area with a variety of ethnicities. This can limit the ability of the enduser to effectively convey products and services. In such cases, the sign codes need the flexibility to be more inclusive. Another way that sign regulations help increase access to civic life is through

Photos: Shutterstock.com/(Top) LeighTrail; (Bottom) Thanatos Media.

he pandemic proved how vitally important signs and graphics are in helping businesses and local jurisdictions communicate with the public during uncertain times. Likewise recent events have also shown that signs and graphics play a critical role in working to ensure that everyone is able to participate, prosper and reach their full potential. We know, for instance, that signs mean business—for everyone. As more minority entrepreneurs open businesses, our industry can play an important role in their success. It might mean working with new business owners on permitting or variances or helping their communities and neighborhoods develop reasonable sign codes. Sign codes know no color, and the ability of minority-owned businesses

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the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA requires that signage be provided directing people with disabilities to the accessible features and spaces in buildings and a community. Meanwhile the American Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Code Council establish best practices and specifications for ADA signage, which state and local governing authorities can reference or adopt. The International Sign Association has established a new ADA and Building Codes Subcommittee and has representation on the ANSI 117.1 code panel in order to provide guidance and expertise to those sign and graphics companies that are in the ADA signage business. The end goal of providing ADA signage is to help all Americans participate as fully as possible in our society. Effective this year, the American Planning Association is requiring a new annual “social equity” Certification Maintenance (CM) requirement for planners who need to maintain their AICP certification. This creates yet another opportunity for ISA and our industry to work more deeply with planners, to help them understand the power of signs and the importance of ensuring that sign codes work for everyone. The International Sign Association and the Sign Research Foundation have spent the last few years helping planners learn about the constitutional issues involved with signs and how signs helped maintain a level of certainty during the pandemic. Now we can show local officials how signs and sign regulations can promote more inclusive communities. We believe this is a very compelling and unique topic in which the planning community will be interested. It will build on the trust and credibility already established between these local officials and our industry, which will continue to enable us to work with them productively on the more traditional sign code issues that affect your bottom line.

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David Hickey is vice president of Government Affairs with the International Sign Association. Questions or comments can be emailed to him at david.hickey@signs.org. signshop.com

April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

FEATURE NAME MURALS BY JEFF AUTHOR WOOTEN

JAZZING UP AN INTERIOR

Sign Builder Illustrated

April 2022

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All Photos: Hightech Signs.

he Ella Apartments is a brandnew complex located in Richmond, Virginia that prides itself on mixing harmony with residential living and is appropriately named after legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald. Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” the renowned vocalist used to sing at a nightclub across the street from the namesake apartments. Walk into the ground level of The Ella Apartments, and you’re going to notice three distinct murals inspired by Fitzgerald and the jazz stylings of her time. The even-more-eye-catching aspect of these three murals is that the architecture of the building played a role in each of their designs. A bass player plays the downspout in a graphic by an entrance door in the parking garage. Fitzgerald brings a microphone closer to her mouth on the door of, what is dubbed by the residential complex, The Ella-Vator by the main entrance. Meanwhile the door of the Ella-Vator in the main corridor features a trombone player extending and retracting his instrument thanks to the opening and closing doors. The behind-the-scenes artist who hit all the right notes and came up with the design and implementation of these creative murals for The Ella Apartments is Jake Van Yahres. This talented artist operates his single-person business, JVY Creations, in Richmond, where he has already been doing a fair number of murals around the city for three years now. In fact, Van Yahres has been doing artwork as far back as he can remember and figures he came by his talents naturally. His sister was an artist, and his parents were landscape architects. (Note: Van Yahres is a really wellrounded individual, as he is also the co-owner of a tree care and preservation company.) Not wanting to follow the “starving artist” route, Van Yahres put away his pens and brushes during college and pursued sports activities before making the move post-graduation into creative advertising art in Atlanta and San Francisco. He eventually started dabsignshop.com

bling in the field of political advertising and then cartooning, turning plain yard signs into humorous statements for both candidates during the TrumpClinton presidential campaigns six years ago. These caught people’s attentions

One artist “dreams a little dream” for recent Ella Fitzgeraldinspired murals. online and even made him a bit of a star on Reddit. He also garnered acclaim for his chalk drawing of intertwined black and white colors that he used to transform the crosswalk

in Charlottesville, Virginia after the tragic death there during an out-ofcontrol rally back in 2018. He also received attention for a mural of his favorite basketball player, Kobe Bryant, that he created out of paper balls made shortly after the athlete’s death. He soon found that his murals were becoming the number-one photos of the day on social media, as well as generating coverage on the national news (and even shared by Bryant’s widow Vanessa on Instagram). “Eventually I started getting enough side [projects] where I didn’t have to work at agencies anymore, and I could start my own company,” says Van Yahres. “That was the beginning.” Van Yahres became involved with The Ella Apartments when a good friend of his (who also happened to be a developer on the project) approached him and put a bug in his ear about the need for murals at this new loca-

Van Yahres incoporated the downspout into the mural with the musician playing the bass. April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

tion. Van Yahres and his friend ended up scouting possible spaces where he could do the murals while the complex was still under construction. While surveying the location, Van Yahres knew that his interspersed murals needed to be put in places that people would actually see them. One thing Van Yahres always tries to do with his artwork—whether it’s a logo or a mural—is to incorporate some sort of “a-ha” twist with them. “There’s always a concept where you kind of have an ‘a-ha’ moment,” he explains. “Think about the concept of the FedEx logo with the arrow in it pointing right. So all my artwork will feature that ‘a-ha’ component to it. “The apartments are named after Ella Fitzgerald, so obviously any art piece I was going to do would incorporate her in some way.” A lot of times Van Yahres will take a picture of the space and then start sketching in order to arrive at the concept. The downspout in the parking garage proved instrumental to Van Yahres as he envisioned his painted bassist playing it. “When looking at that space, I did sketches of what if I did this with that door? What if I did this with the downspout?” he explains. “And then, as soon as I have the concept that the downspout could be the upright bass as well as the strings of the upright bass, things started cooking and coming really fast for me.” Van Yahres takes his sketches and imports them into a computer for further designing. “For this design, I used Adobe Illustrator,” he says. “I took all the measurements, so I knew exactly how big the space was that I was working with, so I can put that space into the computer and work off that.” Once that design is ready, Van Yahres will use a projector to place the image onto the wall and start sketching it out with chalk. This gives him a good idea of what something will look like before it goes up fully. “Then I’ll come back and paint to where the chalk marks are,” he says. Van Yahres really unleashed his creativity further with the other murals. Because of the open-and-close doors

Van Yahres always incorporates an “a-ha” moment into his artwork

Sign Builder Illustrated

April 2022

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April 2022

for one of The Ella-Vators, he knew it would be perfect for Fitzgerald to be singing into a microphone here, as the door brings it closer to her mouth. The trombone player on the other Ella-Vator was a bit more challenging for its location and its theme. “The space ended up not being exactly where we thought it was going to be,” says Van Yahres, noting that the original idea was for it to be placed outdoors. This was again going to repeat the Fitzgerald-singing-into-the-microphone motif, but Van Yahres wasn’t thrilled to repeat the same design twice. Instead he decided to brainstorm other kinetic, motion-oriented instruments and sent his idea for a trombone player instead to his friend, who quickly approved it. “It’s a good thing that I did [the murals] in stages, because if I was just doing it all at once,” he says, “then I would have done the same mural twice.” Van Yahres completed the first mural in a couple of days in the middle of December. For each of the Ella-Vators, he had to get special permission to be able to set up and work. “The first mural is right next to a parking lot, so I had to cordon off the parking spaces to prevent anyone from parking there,” he explains. “And then when I was doing each one of The Ella-Vators, I had to work with management’s schedule just a little bit to shut the elevator down so I could work on it. I couldn’t just do it anytime I felt.” The second mural Van Yahres painted in a couple of days after Christmas, and then he finished the third mural a week later over a three-day period. Van Yahres utilized house paints bought at a paint store for the murals. He used two full cans of black paint and then a quart each of the remaining colors. Perched on a ladder, he started work at the top and then moved down to the bottom. “That way, I knew my hands were

never going to smear the paint,” he says. He did one color at a time, applying three coats of each color. “I wanted them to look really sharp and super crisp,” says Van Yahres, noting that he just touched up all the lines at the end. The graphics on the elevator door are actually vinyl. Van Yahres contacted a sign shop in Richmond to print them out for him. “It was a little bit of a process to match up the paint with the vinyl on the door,” he says. Van Yahres made the exact process simple for the shop—supplying them with the image file that was the exact size he needed with the exact colors. Van Yahres also sent them a design of what it would look like when he was done so the shop could visualize it better. “I tried taking the work out of their hands as much as I could,” he says, noting that he simply picked up the adhesive-backed vinyl graphic and directly applied it to the elevator door using a dry installation method. Van Yahres finished painting the mural before applying the vinyl to the elevator doors. “I wanted to make sure that I got the colors right for the last Ella-Vator though,” he says. “So I actually put the vinyl up first and then matched the paint colors to that vinyl because there’s a purple in that one.” Reaction to the murals both during painting and afterwards has been nothing short of incredible. The images for this project appeared on Reddit and again went straight to the top of their design page. “Ella Fitzgerald used to play at a club right across the street, so it was cool that there was real meaning to these murals,” says Van Yahres.

THE APARTMENTS ARE NAMED AFTER ELLA FITZGERALD, SO ANY PIECE I WAS GOING TO DO WOULD INCORPORATE HER.

To see the Ella-Vator murals in action, visit signshop.com. signshop.com

MAY 4–6

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CNCLIGHTING ROUTER

BY BY BRAD MAURA BURNETT KELLER

STARLIGHT, NEON BRIGHT Rediscovering retro with a Wisconsin sign shop.

All Photos: Sign Art Studio.

n the small, charming town of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, you will find Dan Yoder busy in his ever-growing sign shop, Sign Art Studio. As president of the company, Yoder started the original oneman operation in 2005, and currently, he has eighteen employees on his team. “When I was about nineteen years old, I saw these custom-painted vans running around the town I was in. They were for a shop called Vital Signs in Verona, Wisconsin,” says Yoder. “It turns out that my mom had gotten some work from them, so she connected me with the owner, Mike Chamberlain. “Mike graciously offered me a job, and from the moment I stepped foot into that shop, I knew I found something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” At the time, Vital Signs did a lot signshop.com

of custom vehicle graphics, custompainted bikes and helmets, handpainted signs, and hand-carved signs along with typical vinyl-type signage. Yoder says he was very fortunate to learn hand lettering and pinstriping during his tenure with this company. Yoder continued to work there for five years, learning all the tricks of the trade, before parting ways and opening his own shop. “I always had an interest in metal fabrication but never had the tools or knowledge to further my interests,” he says. “Once I was out on my own, I started to go after more architectural and electrical projects.” Currently electrical signs make up about 60 percent of Sign Art Studio’s revenue. Without a doubt, these types of

projects are Yoder’s favorite kind. Outside of neon, Sign Art Studio has started to set itself apart by doing unique projects that typically involve non-standard materials or lighting effects. Recently Yoder and his team had the opportunity to create a sign for the Starlight Bar & Grill, a small town bar tucked into the heart of Mount Horeb. Prior to this project, Sign Art Studio had completed work for the bar’s client and her husband, but that was for their electrical company—mainly doing vehicle graphics and some exterior signs for their buildings. “It’s my understanding they have long talked about opening [the Starlight Bar & Grill], so when they finally did, they called us,” says Yoder. “When meeting with the client, they expressed April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

that they wanted something very cool and a little ‘dive bar-ish.’ Beyond that, they just told us, ‘Have at it!’” With that imperative, Yoder rolled up his sleeves and got to work. With the accelerated growth experienced at Sign Art Studio, it is fairly rare that Yoder finds time to personally design signs anymore. Rather he relies heavily on

From a design standpoint, Yoder embraced the full retro feel with the shape, copy style, and graphics of the sign. “I knew I wanted to propose neon to them, so this turned into an all-out retro sign with the need for retro design and the use of old school methods,” says Yoder. Yoder knew from the outset that neon was the only lighting style for this

soul, as far as I am concerned,” he says. “But those in the industry know that neon comes with its challenges.” For example, Wisconsin winters, filled with extreme cold and snow, can periodically prove problematic for neon. “That being said, we always educate our clients that they are purchasing a dying art and that it will come

IT’S PROJECTS LIKE THIS THAT REMIND ME OF WHY I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS TRADE TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO.

the creativity and skills of his team. “But this sign was for a special client, and it was a special project, so I wanted to get ‘back to my roots,’ so to speak,” says Yoder. 42

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project. “We didn’t feel any other light source would capture the feel that we were after,” he says. Neon is by far Yoder’s favorite type of illumination. “Nothing has more

with maintenance,” says Yoder. “We always try to balance form and function, and with neon, form can be a challenge due to the cabinet sizes that are needed to house big transformers.” signshop.com

Iconic Marquee Goes Digital AS PART OF A TWELVE-YEAR restoration and preservation of the historical Hollywood Theater on West Main Street in Gowanda, New York (located in Erie County), the theater’s iconic marquee has been refurbished to include a Watchfire Signs 8mm LED sign. Signs Unlimited in Eden, New York completed the digital upgrade, restoring the sign for its recent reinstallation. The company previously removed the wood-framed glass marquee the theater had been using since 1926. The theater will continue to

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April 2022

show movies at the venue, as well as host multiple theater and music camps for the community, while the content on the new high-resolution digital sign will appear just like the letters that had been used on the long-time marquee.

Yoder and his Sign Art Studio team ended up using roughly ninety feet of neon overall between both sides of the sign. For neon colors, they employed Snowhite, Red, Neo Blue, and Clear Gold to really make this identity sign stand out. They used four 30am France ServiceMaster transformers (9030 P5G-2UE) and France #100 glass housings to power the sign. The Sign Art Studio team made the two-by-four-foot cabinet housing the Starlight Bar & Grill neon lettering eight inches deep in order to allow for ample room and easy service. In fact, the entire sign is fabricated from aluminum to keep the weight down. (Note: In this case, the finished sign ended up weighing 140 pounds.) Since the sign was going to be mounted to the upper corner of the building, they made the mounting plate as a Vshape. They attached the sign using four 1/2-inch lag bolts per side. “We also re-used the five existing guy line attachments—three on the top and two on the bottom,” says Yoder, “as well as provided a new chain and turnbuckles.” To place the sign onto the building, the Sign Art Studio installers used an Elliott Equipment Company L55 to pick up the sign and an Elliott HIREACH V60 basket for the team to guide the sign into place and attach. “In regard to installation, outside of the anxiety of glass being mounted on either side of a sign cabinet, there wasn’t much in the realm of challenges,” says Yoder. For the first time in about six years, Yoder had the opportunity to design, build, paint, hand letter the graphics, and install a sign. “Hands down, hand lettering the graphics for it was my favorite part,” he says. The clients called him later that evening after installing the sign. “They were both standing outside looking at the sign and shared that they were almost at a loss for words,” says Yoder. They were stunned with how the sign turned out. One of the owners said, ‘I’m standing here looking at this [sign] and having a moment and wanted to share it with you.’ “It’s projects like this that remind me of why I fell in love with this trade twenty-two years ago.” signshop.com

Everything You Need to Know to Manage a Successful Sign Business To run a successful sign shop, you need to run a successful business. Sign Builder Illustrated can help. Not only do we focus on the work you do on the shop floor, but we also focus on the work you do to improve the success and wellbeing of you and your team.

www.signshop.com

FEATURE NAME WORKFLOW BY JEFF AUTHOR WOOTEN

Multi-faceted project management advice for shops.

hether you’re working on projects that require multiple components or a lengthy amount of fabrication time (weeks or months instead of days), scheduling and workflow management are critical components to making sure that both you and your customer will be happy with the timetable and the end-results. Adam Brown, president of custom sign manufacturer Sign Effectz, Inc., in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, says that, when it comes to approaching large jobs, it’s best to “get the elephant” in small chunks. “You’ve got to first segment the design, manufacturing, and install processes and then separate them into even more detail,” he explains about planning a work schedule. “Once you break it down into the steps for each one of those categories that you can get your 46

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April 2022

head around, you can then start assigning the work that needs to be done for each one of them. “Ask yourself how long is it going to take your shop to do this step with one person? With two? With more?” Brown leads a collective group of artists, designers, metal fabricators, engineers, installers, and more at Sign Effectz to create visually effective and physically durable custom signage in a timely manner. One way he is able to achieve this is with proper scheduling and project delineation. It’s all about putting together reasonable timelines. While Brown says these practices can be employed on a spreadsheet or a simple piece of paper, he does lean toward advising consideration of the free software programs that are available. These are easily modifiable and shareable. For example, Brown uses Gantt Report to draft and chart working schedules line by line. These lines range from customer interaction to design to fabrication to installation to final payment. He also always takes into account the survey-

ing process, permitting, billing, calculations, and customer interaction. You have to be analytical and detailed when putting together a work schedule. According to Brown, the best way is to work backwards. “Start with the installation and then plug in how many people you estimate you’re going to need for this portion of the project. Then move to production, planning, and surveying,” he says. After coming up with a color-coded rough draft of the Gantt Report, he conducts his first weekly roundtable meeting with his team members that are going to be involved on the project (engineering/production drawings, material acquisitions, estimating, fabrication, installation, etc.). Brown breaks down the hours and puts them in as separate lines under the appropriate category. His team will let him know if he’s scheduled too many hours on one focus and too few for another. “A roundtable meeting gives them the opportunity to bring up what they see and notice and what parts of their job that I may not be intimate with that they have the opportunity to signshop.com

All Photos: SIgn Effectz, Inc.

MANAGEMENT SPEAK

insert into other pieces into the schedule,” he says. Comparing this process to working out or going on a diet, Brown says that these meeting are about persistence and staying on top of them. “This is our standard meeting every week until this project is done. We add it to our calendars—say every Wednesday at eight o’clock, for example,” he says. “At a bare minimum, you’re getting updates. The behavior of having it, even if it’s just for five minutes, brings that information back to the front of everybody’s minds which allows for less opportunity for mistakes.” This type of tab project scheduling chart generated by the Gantt Report is ideal at his shop. Brown can see that he cannot start one task until the next one is complete. “There are other tasks that can run parallel,” he says. “I can cut and route material at the same time, which is why they are parallel to each other, but I can’t do anything until the production drawings are done.” Brown reminds shops that this industry is filled with visual people who respond well to being shown. “Lay your plan out where your people can see it,” he says. “I don’t care if it’s Post-It notes on a whiteboard—here’s the first step, here’s the second step, etc.” A lot of sign shop management teams can be overwhelmed these days by having to handle larger projects with fewer resources. “However the problem can shift from figuring out how to get it done to finding the resources to get a project done,” he says. Brown states that it’s all about giving thought to the steps needed and applying a timeline to each one of them, making sure they’re in line with each other. “I can adjust hours accordingly to the job,” he says. “For example, if I add more bodies for a process, then I can shorten the hours needed for it.” For a current hospital project his company is working on, Brown recognized that he needs to bring four more fabricators onboard (via Indeed.com) for five months straight. He intends on using them on the back end of the project. Until these new hires get up to speed, he plans to move over more signshop.com

veteran resources in their stead. Viewing his workflow chart allowed him to arrive at this solution before the project due date. According to Brown, it’s important to remember that planning a schedule is always a “living, breathing thing,” and that no matter your best pre-planned efforts, changes or unforeseen events (a sick employee, a structural element that doesn’t work and needs redesigning, a customer change to the design, etc.) are always going to happen. Brown also has several other pieces of advice to help you successfully fulfill large projects at your shop. Be honest with your clients and keep them informed. Brown also shares his Gantt Report schedule with his customers, sending it to them as a PDF file. For larger, longer projects, he’ll send this report out weekly to them. “They really love this kind of organization,” he says. “It spells everything out and shows them a timeline instead of just being a spreadsheet with dates on it. They can see the process.” It’s important your customers understand any hiccups and hurdles with a project. “They have to understand the

struggles you’re going through for them on their project,” says Brown. “The sooner you make them aware, the easier it is. It’s not about dropping a big bomb on them; it’s letting them in on some of the things you see coming up.” Develop a relationship with your plan examiner. Don’t think for a second that any plan examiner jumps on your email about the great sign package you’ve put together as soon as it arrives in their inbox. Don’t sit back and wait for a response from them. Brown advises always staying in communication with them. “The better your relationship with them, the less it will feel like you’re bugging them,” he says. Also Brown recommends taking other projects with you when meeting with a planner. “You may have an allotted thirty minutes of their schedule and get a permit approval for your project in five minutes,” he says, “so you may be able to fit another one in during the remaining time.” Communicate with third parties as soon as possible. As soon as you develop the process steps of a project, you’ll know which pieces require outsourcing. “Excavation is a good one,” says

LED enclosures for “Escape Destinations” created and installed in downtown Seattle.

April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

ers. The sooner you contact them, the quicker you’ll get pricing and inventory.

A twenty-eight-footlong sculpture at the Maplewood-Manchester station of the St. Louis Light Rail. Commissioned by Metro Arts in Transit.

Brown. “Talk to them early on about the project. Explain the concept to them and let them know it’s in the pipeline and ask for an estimate. If it’s in the Gantt Schedule and you review it once

a week, you’ll know it’s coming up. The earlier you keep in contact with them and keep them informed, the more likely you are to have firm dates.” The same applies to materials suppli-

Understand that obstacles are always going to happen. Brown says that bottlenecks and hurdles are just the nature of the beast, regardless of any best-laid plans. “If you have all your steps laid out, everybody is informed and you can come up with a solution much faster to get over the hurdle or improve the bottleneck,” says Brown. Customer approvals could be one type of problem bottleneck, particularly when it comes to sticking to or adjusting production schedules. “Adding ‘approvals’ to the Gantt Chart starts urgency for the approval. They can see how their decision today is affecting the end date,” says Brown. “They expect you to build and install in this short period of time, but showing them a schedule like this demonstrates what you are doing for them and helps get approval from them.”

Celebrate the Wins Avery Dennison® Graphics Solutions This year at ISA, let’s celebrate all the wins we’ve achieved together through the continual perseverance, commitment, and collaboration with each other and our signage community. Experience new products, new business ideas, hands-on training and more, as all of us look forward to a successful year in 2022. Visit Avery Dennison at ISA Sign Expo booth #2713.

Sign Builder Illustrated

April 2022

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Material acquisition is another possible roadblock. “If our steel guy tells us that it’s going to take six weeks longer to receive our materials, I’ll adjust it on the schedule,” says Brown. “We can just move over to working on the aluminum.” Brown states that “critical paths” are wildcard elements on his Gantt Chart lines, which can have an effect on the end date. “I can’t do anything without customer approval. I can’t build anything without having the materials in hand. Those are critical paths,” he says. “There may be adjustments in the critical path, and the software will adjust and let you know what we can be working on instead to avoid a project stalling.” Always be prepared. For an interactive public art project in downtown Seattle, Washington, Sign Effectz collaborated with professional artist Janet Zweig for “Escape Destinations,” where modular enclosures were created at a

public park under construction that would feature beautiful art on one side and an LED binary code that communicates with Amazon on the other side (https://bit.ly/3CyLUxD). However obtaining a street closure permit was going to take longer than expected. This required them to consider alternative solutions such as sub-contracting this work to a local sign company that could do installs in two-hour increments or using a labor-intensive forklift jack. Fortunately, when they arrived, they found the park was still under construction, and they would be behind a construction fence and not out in traffic. However they had possible solutions ready. A recent RGB LED project for a library in Sacramento almost came apart when UPS lost all the programming and electrical components Sign Effectz created and shipped to the site. Instead of panicking, Brown sent some of his team

to UPS to try to locate the missing pieces, while he went about acquiring and modifying replacement pieces to try and recreate it on the first day. The pieces eventually turned up—a week later and with no home. “Now who’s going to pay for that?” posits Brown. “I can’t return all the electronic components that I modified for the replacement. It’s an insurance claim now, and I’ll solve that problem when it comes up.” At the time, the last thing on Brown’s mind was figuring out who was going to pay for what; instead it was making sure that his client was happy. “Some people may wonder how we can do that, but we’re in the business of solving problems,” he says. “And that’s what we do for a living—that’s what most sign companies do for a living. “And when you come to recognize you’re really good at problem solving, there are very few that are intimidating to you, no matter how big they are.”

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April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

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Graphics. Dimensional. Lighting. Digital. Installation. Operations.

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SIGN BUILDER’S

BUYER’S GUIDE

Your Direct Source for Products & Services Get access to vital product and service information from manufacturers and distributors by visiting www.signbuilderdirectory.com

COMPANY

URL

AP Lazer

www.aplazer.com

InfoDirect #

PAGE 14 5

ARK Ramos Foundry & Mfg Co Inc.

www.arkramos.com

Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions

www.averydennison.com

Coastal Enterprises/Precision Board

www.PrecisionBoard.com

Duxbury Systems

www.duxburysystems.com

Echod Graphics

www.echodgraphics.com

Elliott Equipment

www.elliottequip.com

Epilog Laser

www.epiloglaser.com

FASTSIGNS

www.fastsigns.com

G2G Lighting

www.g2glighting.com

Gemini

www. geminimade.com

International Sign Association

www.SignResearch.org

iSIGNS Inc.

www.isignsled.com

Keystone Technologies

www.KeystoneTech.com

LMT Onsrud LP

www.onsrud.com

Matthews Paint Company

www.matthewspaint.com

Mimaki USA

www.mimakiusa.com

MUTOH

www.MUTOH.com

Nova Polymers

www.novapolymers.com

SBI/NSSA

www.signshop.com/NSSA

26-27

SDS Automation

www.sdsautomation.com

Signs365.com

www.signs365.com

SinaLite

www.sinalite.com

Southern Stud Weld

www.studweld.com

Stimpson

www.stimpson.com

ThinkSign

www.thinksign.com

Trotec Laser Inc.

www.troteclaser.com

UltraFlex Systems Inc.

www.ultraflexx.com

Watchfire Signs

go.watchfiresigns.com

Wilkie Mfg.

www.wilkiemfg.com

COMPANIES IN SIGN SHOW 31

Bantam Tools

www.store.bantamtools.com

Corel Corporation

www.coreldraw.com

Drytac

www.drytac.com

FASTSIGNS International, Inc.

www.fastsigns.com

FloorSignage, LLC

www.floorsignage.com

Mimaki USA

www.mimakiusa.com

ProfitKeeper

www.profitkeeper.com

Roland DGA

www.rolanddga.com

SloanLED

www.sloanled.com

Vanguard Digital System

www.vanguarddigital.com

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April 2022

Sign Builder Illustrated

SBI OPERATIONS BY JIM HINGST

Equipped to Finance or Lease Some keys to acquiring new equipment.

hen acquiring new equipment, such as a wide format printer or a service truck, one of your key decisions is whether to buy or lease. One advantage when leasing is no down payment is required. What’s more, at the end of the lease term, you can either buy the equipment at a discount or upgrade to the next latest-and-greatest technology. Financing business equipment is a type of business loan that is strictly used for buying equipment (see page 26). This type of loan is not quite as difficult to obtain as other types of loans—the reason being that the equipment you are buying is in itself collateral for the loan. That way, it is less of a risk for the lender. If you are borrowing money for equipment, explain to the lender exactly what type of equipment that you want to buy or lease, its cost, and why it’s important for your business. Tangible assets, whether they rapidly become outdated or not, depreciate over

time. In some cases, leasing makes more sense than purchasing, if the equipment has a relatively short lifecycle. For example, it may be wiser to lease digital printing equipment because the technology changes quickly. In financing equipment, lenders look at three key factors—your credit score, your annual revenue, and your length of time in business. Because the equipment serves as collateral for the loan, you may qualify for financing even if your credit score is less than ideal. However if your business is a startup or you’ve been in business for fewer than two years, getting approval for a loan may be difficult. Lenders may also require a down payment in approving financing for an equipment purchase. When deciding whether to buy or not to buy, ask yourself: Is the equipment a necessity for staying competitive in your market? What increase can you realize in employee output? How will the equipment improve the quality of your finished goods? What improvement in sales

Sign Builder Illustrated Magazine (Print ISSN 895-0555, Digital ISSN 21614709) (USPS#0015-805) (Canada Post Cust. #7204564; Agreement #40612608; IMEX Po Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada) is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, 88 Pine St. 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10005. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices.

for in U.S. funds only. Prices are subject to change.

Pricing, Qualified individual working in the sign industry may request a free subscription. Non-qualified subscriptions Print version, Digital version, Both Print & Digital versions: 1 year US/Canada/Mexico $50.00; foreign $99.00. Single Copies are $15.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid

For Subscriptions, & address changes, Please call (402) 346-4740, Fax (847) 291-4816, e-mail signbuilder@omeda.com, or write to: Sign Builder Illustrated, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, PO Box 239, Lincolnshire IL 60069-0239 USA.

Sign Builder Illustrated

April 2022

COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2022. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information, contact: Gary Lynch, Publisher (212) 620-7247 or glynch@sbpub.com.

and profits will you generate? How long will it take to pay for the equipment? An advantage to leasing is that lower initial cash is required. What’s more, leasing packages will occasionally cover maintenance. In some cases, lease payments are tax deductible. However depreciation of leased equipment is not deductible. Ideally, when buying equipment, your best option is to pay cash and avoid the headaches involved in the loan process. Of course, that usually isn’t practical. Paying cash depletes your working capital, which is the money you have on hand to pay your current financial obligations. These obligations include paying vendors and utility bills along with paying your employees. If you’re considering paying cash when buying equipment, estimate whether you will have sufficient cash following the purchase. To determine your working capital needs, track your monthly inflows and outflows of cash. Using this data, you can anticipate sales and expense trends.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sign Builder Illustrated, PO Box 239, Lincolnshire IL 60069-0239 USA. Instructional information provided in this magazine should only be performed by skilled crafts people with the proper equipment. The publisher and authors of information provided herein advise all readers to exercise care when engaging in any of the how-to-activities published in the magazine. Further, the publisher and authors assume no liability for damages or injuries resulting from projects contained herein.

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Photo: (Top) Stephanie Faust Photography; (Bottom) Esco Mfg.

EQUIPMENT

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WILKIE MFG. L.L.C 2640 NW 2nd Street Oklahoma City, OK 73107