General signage

Most fascia signs run two to three weeks from the moment you approve the layout. The first week is design and ordering material, the second is fabrication in our Taunton workshop, and fitting is booked once the sign is finished and checked.

Some things stretch that. Scaffolding or a traffic management order has to be booked around other people's diaries. Landlord's consent on a leased unit can take a fortnight on its own. Illuminated signs need the electrical work coordinating. We tell you which of these apply at quote stage rather than letting the date quietly slip, and if you have a hard opening date, say so early and we will work backwards from it.

Often, yes. Advertisement consent is generally needed for illuminated signs, for signs above a certain size or height, and for almost anything on a listed building or in a conservation area. Taunton has a good deal of both, so it comes up regularly.

A straightforward non-illuminated fascia replacing a like-for-like existing sign frequently falls under deemed consent and needs no application at all. We will tell you honestly which side of the line your job looks to be on before you commit, and we can supply scaled drawings and elevations if you do need to apply. We are not planning consultants and the council has the final word, but after nearly forty years of putting signs up in this district we have a fair idea of what gets waved through and what does not.

Yes, and it is the normal way we work. Send whatever you have — a logo file, a PDF from a designer, an old brochure, or just a clear photograph of the existing sign. From print-ready artwork we match exactly. From a photo we match by eye against physical colour swatches and show you the result before anything is cut.

Where a brand has drifted over the years and the van, the fascia and the letterhead are all slightly different reds, we will point it out and ask which one is right. It is a much cheaper conversation to have before manufacture than after. Whatever we settle on is kept on file, so the next sign matches this one even if it is three years later.

A sign tray is a fabricated aluminium box with returned edges that fixes to the building, rather than a flat panel screwed straight to the wall. The face is smooth, the fixings are hidden, and the returned edge gives the sign a crisp shadow line and a finished depth of anything from 25mm upwards.

You do not always need one. A flat aluminium composite panel is perfectly respectable on a modern unit and costs noticeably less. But on a shop front where the sign is the first thing a customer sees, a tray is the difference between looking like a business and looking like a temporary measure — and it holds up better, because there is no exposed edge for water to get behind. We will quote both if you are undecided.

Yes. A large part of what leaves the workshop never goes outside: reception logos in built-up or stand-off lettering, door and desk plates, wayfinding and directory boards, meeting room signs, window frosting for privacy, and full wall graphics.

Statutory and safety signage is part of the same job — fire exit routes, fire door notices, first aid points, hazard marking and site rules, produced to the correct photoluminescent and reflective grades rather than printed on whatever was to hand. If you are fitting out a unit, it is worth walking round it with us once, because doing the whole schedule in one visit is cheaper than calling us back four times for one sign at a time.

Get in touch and we will come and look. Because we made it, we still have the artwork, the material specification and the fixing details on file, so a replacement panel or a repaired section matches the original rather than being an obvious patch.

Accidental damage, storm damage and the occasional reversing lorry are not covered by any manufacturing guarantee, but they are usually straightforward and cheap to put right on a sign that was built properly in the first place. If the damage is a manufacturing or installation fault, it is ours to fix and we will fix it.