TURN-KEY
Design, Manufacturing, Installation, and Service
Why not buy from a Sign Dealer (also called a Sign
Broker or a Sign Store?)
Would you give a car dealer $10,000 and tell him to buy
you the best car he can for the money, sight unseen (or from a
drawing?) Don't you think you would get the car that made him
the most?
Do you think you could meet your needs asking for the
cheapest car he can buy?
Why would a sign dealer (sign broker or sign store) be
any different? Remember, they are merely buying a sign from a
manufacturer to resell to you, usually to resemble a drawing, making
the most money they can.
You need to know ALL of the details on how your sign
will be manufactured, and how it will be installed. It needs
to meet YOUR needs, not the seller's profit goals. What is he
telling the manufacturer you don't need?
Believing "...a sign is a sign" gets you a Yugo instead
of a Cadillac. Remember the Yugo? They didn't last
very long, either.
Also, most sign dealers, sign brokers and sign stores
cannot legally install or service an electric sign. Ask to
see their license.
Ask to see a manufacturer's license also. A
few are not licensed to do electrical work, either, they also have to
hire other companies to install the signs they make.
Now, who provides the warranty? The
manufacturer, the installer, the salesman, anyone? If the
sign was installed illegally do you think they'll honor their
warranty? Did they REALLY obtain your City sign
permit? Is the sign even safe?
As a large, both UL and ETL listed manufacturer, our
name is on all our signs. Just like you, we can't afford to
have a bad sign destroy our business. We have to care,
particularly with our LIFETIME* warranty.
If you wonder if a sign-seller can legally install and service
electrical signs through-out Texas go to
https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch,
enter "Electricians" in the "Inquire by License Type" box and the name
of the sign business or person in the "Inquire by Name" box.
If they are not licensed they can not.
So someone can sell you signs and not be licensed to
install or service them. You may have to have this
done. But unless the electrical signs you buy are "listed"
(U.L. usually) they won't be allowed to be installed in Texas, a State
of Texas Consumer Protection Safety Law designed to insure that signs
are safe to use, with a few local city ordinance exceptions.
It is not illegal to sell them to you, however. Buy carefully.
The State of Texas does NOT allow the installation on non-Listed electrical
signs, and a Texas Sign Contractors License (TSCL) is not evidence of an
OSHA approved Listing for electrical signs. Additional approvals are
required.
"I had a
****-a-**** (sign company) right across the street " that store's out
of business now " I found out they hired some other company to build
and install our sign and they did a really #@%&&$ job,
the thing has never lit right. ****-a-**** Corporate won't do
anything, they say the closed store was an independent franchise, and
the sign builder/installer won't fix it, they say we weren't their
customer. I need you to come out, tell me what it will cost
to get the thing working properly and get it fixed."
Chris Jennings, Jimmy Johns