Start With a Site Survey
We measure the building, check the sight lines, find the power, and pull the sign rules for your address. You learn what is allowed before you spend a dollar on artwork.
Surveys & Permitting details
What we build
Commercial Sign Types in Philadelphia
Eight ways to put a business name on a building. Here is what each one is for, and how to tell which one belongs on yours.
How to choose
Five Questions Before You Pick a Sign
Most people arrive knowing they want a sign and not much else. That is fine. Answer these five and the choice usually makes itself.
1. What kind of building is it?
A storefront on a walkable block, a pad site in a strip center, a free-standing building on a highway, and an office suite in a medical plaza are four different problems. A storefront hangs its sign on the wall. A building set 200 feet back from the road needs something at the curb, which is why pylon signs and monument signs exist. Start with where a stranger will actually be standing or driving when they look for you.
2. How far away, and how fast?
Viewing distance sets letter height, and traffic speed sets how much time a driver has to read it. A sign on East Passyunk is read by somebody walking at three miles an hour from twenty feet. A sign on Roosevelt Boulevard is read at forty-five from six lanes away. The second one needs bigger copy, fewer words, and more contrast. We measure the real sight line during the survey instead of guessing from a photo.
3. Lit or not lit?
The test is simple: do you make money after dark? Restaurants, bars, gas stations, and urgent care do, and an unlit sign costs them customers every night. Nine-to-five offices and daytime services often do not. Lighting adds cost for the sign, the electrical run, and the permit, so buy it when the hours justify it. Channel letters, light boxes, and electronic message boards all glow. Flat panels and most awnings do not, unless you ask.
4. What do zoning and your landlord allow?
This is the question that kills the most good ideas late. Philadelphia sign work generally needs an L&I permit, and suburban townships in Bucks and Montgomery County run their own reviews with their own height caps, area limits, and setbacks. Historic districts add design review on top. Then there is the lease: multi-tenant landlords usually publish sign criteria that dictate letter style, size, mounting, and even color. We check both before we draw, not after you have fallen in love with a concept. That is what our surveys and permitting desk is for.
5. What is the budget, really?
Tell us the number. It is not a negotiating game. It changes what we recommend. The same storefront can carry a printed awning, a flat panel with dimensional letters, a light box cabinet, or a full set of halo-lit letters, and those are very different invoices. A good sign inside your budget beats a perfect sign you cannot order. And a sign sized right the first time does not get replaced in two years, which is where people actually lose money.
Still stuck?
Different trades buy differently. Our restaurant, retail, gas station, and property management pages walk through what each one usually ends up with and why.
The eight
The Eight, Side by Side
Take your answers from the five questions above into this grid. Each page covers how that sign gets built, what it takes to light it, and the kind of building it belongs on.
Not sure yet
You Do Not Have to Decide Alone
Picking the sign type is our job, not yours. Two ways we take it off your plate, both free before you commit to anything.
See It on Your Building
Our designers drop the concept onto a photo of your actual storefront, at scale. Two or three options side by side beats arguing about a description over the phone.
Sign Design details
Free quotes. Straight answers.
Tell Us the Address and We Will Tell You the Sign
Send a photo of the building and what you want it to say. We will come back with the sign type that fits the site, the rules, and the budget.
267-344-8492