Rocco

Hi all, If you know of anyone in the general Philly area that has a 12 foot wide hydraulic press brake, please let me know. I have a customer who wants a 132" wide C channel (plus some other things) made from .125 aluminum. Thanks Rocco Abco Signs 856-663-6001 Pennsauken NJ

I think its a case of people finally getting tired of just "holding on" and their banks getting tougher on financing. Plus with the internet & direct mail we hear about all sorts of auctions that in times past wouldn't have been known to us. For example, we regularly get notices about equipment auctions all the way out in CA and I'm in NJ. Also, the "by order of bank" could mean most anything. The Bank of My Wife is ordering me to sell off my other toys if I want to buy a boat.

In a similar vein, I once had to go back to service a sign about six months after installing it and found my missing cordless drill on the raceway. Oops! After removing the wall sign from an "exotic dance studio" we found a hidden room that hadn't been opened in decades. There was nothing much in it other than some old Saltwater Sportsman magazines.

I was working at the Sands casino in Bethlehem PA. We were required to park all trucks in the large vehicle area, where buses, RV's etc get put. I parked my bucket truck and was walking in when I noticed this sitting in the lot.

Ignoring the LED issue, at least it appears that this community isn't as anti-sign as a lot of other places. Maybe the tide is turning away from many places hating signs, be they lit with neon or otherwise. "Charlene Roise, president of Hess Roise architectural consultants, said neon was once commonplace in the Twin Cities and other urban areas when it was the most effective way to draw attention to your business. Today, even as LED takes over, there’s a growing interest in the legacy and craft of neon. Roise said that a neon museum recently opened in Las Vegas, paying homage to what was once a ubiquitous feature of the urban landscape. “It’s really important to stop the losses and fix them up so we have them around,” she said. “As we’re aware at this time of year, there is a lot of darkness — they can really take the chill out of a Minnesota night.”

I guess I need to take a rid up the turnpike. We got 6 cents a pound for transformers and 8 or 9 cents for ballasts on my last run just before xmas. I had about 40-45 transformers and was disappointed when my son got back from the scrap yard.

Has anyone ever dealt with these folks? They have a Wilkie 52 that I'm interested in buying but I'd like to know if they are good people to deal with. Thanks for any input.

Congrats on 30! I've found some interesting things in holes, but that tops my list by a good margin.

What they are banking on is that they WON'T get the same response from everyone. IIRC the quote is "there's a sucker born every minute" and these nationals are figuring that there are sign companies that open every day. Go fix a XXXXXXX sign for us and some newbie will bite because that's a "great account to have", or so they think until they don't get paid. And yes, I do love the "we have XXX budgeted for this job". One recent "emergency" service call with a budget was to fix an interior neon sign (obvious broken unit) that was 104 miles away from me - each way. Their budget was ~$300.00 and they wanted it done in one day.

You folks are making me want to move someplace sane. I've been asking account execs as well as the responses here and it seems to just be a northeastern US thing - for now. At least I charge by the hour for permitting (with costs additional) so it's not all bad. It's getting so that on small jobs the permitting can be more expensive than the actual work.

In my area, we have to get permits and sealed plans for most anything, even inside malls. Heck, we recently had to get sealed plans on a set of FCO letters behind a cashwrap inside a store. Total size 24" x 60". It's all a case of CYA. The township doesn't want to be responsible for saying that the design is acceptable. They require sealed plans so the finger can be pointed at the engineer, who would point at us. It's all due to huge legal fees, lawsuits, judgements, etc IMHO. The first thing that people think is "who can I sue" after they trip over their own two feet. Maybe old Will was right - ''The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers,'' "

We all know that just about every outdoor sign requires a permit of some sort. Permits are the bane of my existance some weeks (months, decades) but I manage. My question is about permits inside malls. In my area, most municipalities (but not all) require a building permit with the occasional township wanting a zoning permit as well. I cover most of NJ, eastern PA plus the northern half of DE. What about the rest of the country and Canada? I'm not so concerned about the details or difficulty, just if needing a permit inside a mall is more common than not. I'm asking because recently a few account execs have acted surprised that permits inside a mall would be required. One just didn't believe me and wanted to 'check with the mall' even after I gave her the name/phone number of the local construction officer. Whats it like in your neck of the woods? Are permits required inside malls or not?

Thanks folks. I'll make some phone calls. I could get them from a wholesaler, but am still not sure if I'm "allowed" but we will see.

I got an RFQ from an architectural firm for a Sprint store in a mall. They want a cost to make and install the signs. BTW, it's channel letters with no specs other than " to match mall criteria" (sigh) and a drawing of two elevations. I'm not an approved Sprint fabricator and so would want to pass this to whoever has the Sprint account. Hopefully I can get the installation work. Anyone know who does these signs these days?

1960 (yes really) 85' skyhook HD crane for parts or restoration or... Mounted on a 1985 Chevy truck - not running. Manual outriggers. The crane is set up to run on 24V but will need a pair of new 12V batteries (darn thieves) to operate. With new batteries it operated all day without needing a re-charge. The tubes are straight but the beast needs an overhaul (cables, wiring, etc). This was used regularly til the truck died. However, it's more involved to restore this than I have the time/inclination for right now. Lincoln welder generator is also available separately. Photos on request. Located in Pennsauken NJ - 08110. Price - $2500.00 OBO call Rocco @ 856-663-6001

And here I was going to complain about having to be outside last week for a night job where it was a wonderful 9 degrees when we got to the jobsite. That was almost tropical compared to a -48 windchill.

The FAA may contact you and ask you to turn it down a bit. ;) Nice rig.

JJ Kane has regular auctions just outside of Phila. Of course it's buyer beware at an acution but when I drive past thier lot (off the turnpike near Norristown) and they have loads of trucks when thier sale day is drawing near.

"To obtain a State Sign Contractor’s License the company must be represented by a Master Sign Electrician (12,000 hours of training minimum)," From thier site. That can't be true. 12K hours is 1500 eight hour days = six years at 40/hr week. Perhaps you can file a complaint with state about false licensing claims? However I know nothing about TX licensing so that could actually be technically correct - i.e. 12k hours of working in the trade = "training"?? Also, thier "quality certified sign technician" link brings you back to thier website or rather thier .org site. Some people! I hope that your lawyers gets you some gratification.

We have Harleysville (and thier various subsideries) for all of our insurance although I don't know if they do all areas of the country. The only company that I would recommend against is CNA.

Has anyone ever worked for Burton Signworks of N Carolina? I've been asked to take over a job in mid stream and can't find any info on them on the net. Usually that's a good thing but you never know. Thanks!

I'll second the motion. Keep that insurance though I expect it's probably basic. Full Blue Cross/shield around here with prescription coverage, etc would be about $1400/month per worker.

Oops is right. I have to admit that it's actually easy to "miss" something like that if you are young and inexperienced. Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth I was about 16 and working with my Dad. I had recently gotten my drivers license as well. We had just finished a job with our 65' crane (all manual btw other than the hydraulic cylinder) and he was inside talking with the customer. I decided to show him that I was a capable adult. I put the crane up so I could pull the tubes back in, pulled in the outriggers, put the welding leads back, etc and drove the truck around to the front of the building. i sat there in the drivers seat with a smug smile on my face and just couldn't understand why he came out the door yelling at me. After a minute or so he pointed up. I hung my head out the window to see the crane straight up in the air. Oops! I was lucky that I hadn't whipped the truck around but had driven it gently or it would have ended up on its side.

Hmm, we do service for them and haven't had much of a problem. Not a huge amount, but about 8-10 calls a year. What they want you to do is go there, and start to diagnose the problem. Once you reach the NTE amount you STOP and do nothing more - this amount includes your travel back and forth btw. You can usually call them and get the NTE raised if it's not way over the amount. Say you have a ballast and four lamps which (with your travel & site time) would be $412.80 and the NTE was $275. I'm picking numbers ouf of thin air, but you prob already guessed that. You call them, explain what it will cost and they'll usually give you a verbal OK then and there. If it's way over thier NTE, you just got paid to survey the sign for a future service call. You would go back and issue a written quote, they submit it to the customer and then you go back and finish everything up, including your first trip charge. A couple of times we did not go back and finish the call but were always paid for the first trip. It has been a couple of months since we did anything for them, so things might have changed. They are a bit picky about the paperwork requirements, require before/after photos and you need to call in/out. Also, they deduct $7 (or is it $10?) from the invoice for "overhead", but it's easy to deal with that. Now I have never done anything 50 miles away for them, so that might be part of the issue. I'd call and discuss it with person issuing the work order. Of course if you can't reach an agreement, then you just don't go. YMMV

I haven't read the whole thread but... In the Phila area you can be a one man/woman owner operator and also a member of the sheet metal union. It's a bit of a complicated affair in this area. I personally have a shop (good ahead and google me) and all of the expenses that go with it. Quite often I think I'd be better off working out of a large garage from home. If you don't fabricate (I still do a bit of this and that), but just do service and installations you don't need a large shop. No Landlord to pay, no building insurance, no need to heat/cool XXXX square feet, etc. Darn that sounds good right now when I need to call and order heating oil. There are a number of small operations around the Phila area. I think that the union reps are hoping that someone will become the next Persona. I too am in need of a web site, but it's just another of those things that I'll do when I "find a spare moment." However those "spare moments" as rare as a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and I just can't see myself paying anyone to do it for me. I'm cheap, I admit it.