What Happens After You Approve Your Sign?

There’s always a little excitement when a customer gives us final approval on a new sign.

You’ve worked through the design, picked the colors, made the changes, and finally get to say, “That’s the one.”

It may feel like the finish line, but for us, it’s really where the job begins.

Once the design is approved, our team starts turning what you see on paper into something that can safely live on a building or property for years to come.

Depending on the project, that may include final production drawings, a site survey, structural engineering, electrical planning, and permitting with the local municipality. We also confirm dimensions, mounting conditions, colors, materials, and access to the installation area.

Arizona municipalities have their own rules for commercial signs. Those rules may cover the size, height, placement, lighting, and total amount of signage allowed on a property. The City of Phoenix sign department, for example, provides its own applications, checklists, and design review information. Getting these details figured out before fabrication helps prevent surprises later.

If you’re planning a new location and haven’t started the sign process yet, it’s a good idea to bring us into the conversation early. You can tell us about your project and request a free quote.

Once the drawings, engineering, and permits are in place, the project moves into production.

This is one of my favorite parts of the process because it’s where you can actually watch a sign come to life.

Where necessary, your materials such as aluminum and steel are cut and formed. Letters and cabinets are fabricated. Components are welded together, faces and graphics are produced, and paint and finishes are applied.

If the sign is illuminated, LEDs and electrical components are installed and tested. We want to know everything is working correctly before the sign ever leaves our shop.

There are a lot of hands involved in building good commercial signs. Someone may be welding a cabinet while another person is preparing acrylic faces, matching paint colors, applying vinyl, or wiring the lighting.

Most customers will never see all those individual steps. They’ll just see the finished sign. That’s how it should be.

When fabrication is complete, our installation team takes over.

Before heading to the property, we coordinate the schedule, equipment, site access, electrical work, and any other contractors involved. Some installations are fairly straightforward. Others require cranes, bucket trucks, concrete work, lane access, or coordination with an active construction site.

Installing commercial signs can mean mounting channel letters to a storefront, setting a monument sign near a property entrance, or installing the foundation and steel structure for a large pylon sign.

Whatever the project involves, the installation has to match the approved drawings and meet the structural and electrical requirements for that location.

The installation crew is often the last group on the project, but their work depends on everything that happened before they arrived.

Once the sign is installed, we check the mounting, alignment, finishes, electrical connections, and illumination. If an inspection is required, that also needs to be completed.

When everything is installed, connected, inspected, and working properly, the project is complete.

At Bootz & Duke, we’ve been making commercial signs for Arizona businesses since 1964. One thing all those years have taught us is that a great finished product comes from paying attention to all the little things people never see.

So, when you approve your sign and wonder, “What happens now?”

Quite a bit. And that’s exactly how it should be.

If you’re opening a new business, updating an older sign, or planning signage for a commercial property, contact Bootz & Duke. We’ll help you work through the design, permitting, fabrication, and installation from beginning to end.