Salsa Signman

In regard to most situations An old saying goes like this: Trust in God. but tie your horse. Even though I have many handshake agreements with honorable people when there are large stakes involved I always have a written agreement. So while it is very nice to have trusting business relationships with respect for each other a contract is always a good idea when there is a large amount. I have ruined a few business friendships over the years due to lack of a written agreement which could have been avoided had a written agreement been in place. You just have to decide what you can live without if someone defaults and just write it off on the books and your heart.

We normally read through the contract and then have our attorney review it. Sometimes he will call back on certain contracts we've sent him and say I hope you didn't sign that contract! jokingly knowing we had not. Remember there are sharks out there and tuna (clueless) that will get you in trouble. Hang out with the porpoises in life and you will be OK. They look out for each other.

In GA the contractor laws are different. Everyone should be familiar will your state laws concerning contracting and sub contracting. Here is the link to the GA site explaining the contractor law. http://sos.georgia.gov/plb/faqs/49%20faqs.htm. Also some of the contract provisions that would not hold up in CA are binding in GA and other states. Our attorney normally charges about $300 to review and red line a contract. On a big project or if you are going to have an ongoing work relationship based a contract then you should have the contract reviewed by an attorney. After a while you should be able to pick out the bad one sided contracts yourself with out the attorney.

I spent some time the other day reading through the fine print in a contract. The contract was from a National Sign & Lighting Maintenance Co. in PA. One of their project managers badly needed help on a project however after reading the contract terms I declined to sign the agreement. I told them I was will willing to use our standard agreement which protects both parties equally and they said they were required to use their contract. I was willing to use their agreement if we removed several clauses in the contract which I though were unreasonable. They declined. So I decided to google them and lo and behold they were listed as a rip off in the rip off reports. See if you agree the clauses in their contract are unreasonable. Below are the sections I thought were very unreasonable: 1. If they did not pay you on time or pay you or at all you had to agreed not to file a mechanics or material mans lien on the property where the work was performed. :bitchin: 2. You also had to agreed they could sue you if you filed a lien. and you would pay for "their attorneys fees 3. You had to agreed that they did not have to pay you until their customer paid them! I don't know about you but I like a win/ win situation and this contract was a definite win/lose contract. Win for them and lose for the serviceman or installer. Lots of warning lights went off in my head. So the moral of this story is please read the contract "before"you sign it and avoid doing business with people like these as they are definitely not looking out for you. These type of people always seem to operate in a frenzy. Example I need this project done right away can you drop everything and help me. Don't get suckered in. And remember the saying "Profit Before Vanity" Just because it looks like a large profitable job for a national company doesn't mean it is profitable. The large companies have someone on payroll and their only job is to shave money off projects and find the cheapest providers. Some sign companies want their Vanity Stroked because they want to brag to others and say they did a big project. They may have landed a big project but was it profitable and were they able to finish it honestly and pay all their installers and suppliers? So remember PROFIT before VANITY and don't be lured by false verbal promises - read those contracts! That is where the true intentions of a company are revealed. If we all read our contracts and avoid these companies that will leave room for honest sign companies to flourish and the others will fail. I believe a contract should protect both parties equally! Any of you have a horror story about contracts?

Here is the list I complied from your posts. 1. Chandler Signs. 2. Coast Signs. 3. Colite Signs. 4. Federal Heath 5. I D Associates. 6. Image National. 7. Keiffer. 8. Montreal Neon. 9. Persona, Inc. 10. Velocity. 11 Visual Products. Thanks All!

Here are some of my pet peeves with sloppy & dangerous installers: 1. Using Gorilla tape or Duct Tape to block out a business name. This is down right ugly. Or just flipping sign faces over to the blank side. You can still the message at night. How about remove the old vinyl first and clean off the adhesive residue so the dust does not stick to it. How about a new blank panel or at least use a uniform opaque vinyl to block out the previous store name Think before you quote that project so you can do it right. 2. Using toggle bolts to attach a sign to an EIFS wall (Foam & Drywall) without attaching it to the frame work of the building. If it wasn't for the ledge this could have fallen on someone. The wind may pull it off the ledge one day. For Pete's sake charge enough to do this kind of work. 3. Using electric tape as a conduit connector to join 2 different types of flex conduit. Also why not hide the conduit after you have the correct kind behind the raceway. If ithe conduit has to be exposed at least have the pride to do it right and paint it to match the wall. 4. Building a half a sign cabinet without a bottom and then installing the fixtures only in the middle. I know the economy is tough but doing it right would not have added that much. here is the bottom view of the cabinet. Showing the fixtures and taped in faces coming loose from heat expansion. . Have some pride - BE a professional signman.

Drive around town with a digital camera and take night shots of signs that are not lighting properly. Do it by grids so you can thoroughly cover an area. Download photos and edit so you don't waste a lot of black ink. Staple your business card on them neatly. Go hand the photos out with your business card attached and offer to help them repair their signs. Make sure to ask for the manager or owner. If they are not in give it to the clerk and get their name. Most will want an estimate. Tell them you will need to talk it over with your technician and get back with them (even if you are the tech.) So this way they will be inclined to give up the phone number or email of the owner or manager. This is a way to get their email and contact info so you can fax or email the estimate and then you have a way to contact them later if they don't go for the repair on the first offer. You will not get all of the repairs however you will get a good number. We have many repeat customers that we found using this method. Sometimes you will be asked to quote on other sign work while handing out the photos. Sometimes we all get complacent sitting in our chairs waiting on the deals to walk in the door. In this economy you just have to hump it!

Thanks for the info! An LED version would be advantageous for longevity and reduction of the weight. I agree the designs could be more creative. How much does it take to get DOT approved? Maybe you could find some venture capital and someone to manage it using your design. I would definitely have an agreement draw up by an attorney you trust and have all parties involved sign off. Probably a non -disclosure agreement with limited non-compete for a set period of time. Also send in your copyright & trademarks paperwork so you are protected in those areas. I have attached the copyright forms to send in to the Library of Congress. We fill these forms out and send them in on all of our medium & large projects. It cost $45 but worth it in the long run. Good luck on your project. Form_40_Copyright_Registration_for_Works_of_the_Visual_Arts.pdf Circular_01.pdf

We recently attended a Matthews Sign paint training class. We learned a lot about painting techniques and new products. The class was not boring alike some training classes. We did a lot of hands on training. We learned techniques for paint gun set up, substrate preparation, paint safety, spray patterns & techniques to avoid striping, how to keep metallic paint from mottling, how to spray base coat clear coat on signs, textured coatings and a lot of other cool stuff. We had great results preparing and spraying HDU sign foam, aluminum sheet and acrylic plastic with the Matthews paints. It's a free class all you have to do is sign up in advance. You will get a little paint on you by the end of the training session and it does get rather hot in those safety suits with the hoods and rubber gloves so be prepared to perspire. Have any of you been to one of the Matthews training classes. Is any one having problems with spraying paint and achieving great results. If so what problems are you having? :talk4:

We noticed the City of Sandy Springs, Georgia in the Metro Atlanta area has installed internally illuminated sign at several busy intersections. See attached photo. I guess the city finally figured out it is much easier to read a sign that is internally illuminated. It is so much safer now with these new internally illuminated signs as you can read them much quicker and from a greater distance. It gives you more time to react safely and make the correct move in high traffic situations. The same safety logic and enhanced readability can be applied to internally illuminated signs for our customers. It still surprises me when I here about a city banning internally illuminated signage. Internally illuminated increase traffic safety and visibility and cut down on last minute lane changes by giving drivers more time to change lanes safely. Does anyone else know a city or county using internally illuminated signage for traffic signage? If so, maybe these examples could be used to educate and change the sign codes in the cities that have banned internally illuminated signage.

Does anyone know who is in charge of the Holiday Inn re branding in the south eastern states? Thanks, Alan

Hello Clermont Florida sign shop, We have a customer that needs help with a sign project in your area. Please contact us for details. Thanks, Alan