Nobody asks this question casually. If you are searching for it, you have either just been quoted for a sign and want to know whether the number is reasonable, or you are about to ask for a quote and would rather not be surprised.
The honest answer is that illuminated signs vary more in price than almost anything else a sign company makes. Two shops on the same street can get quotes that differ by several thousand pounds for signs that look broadly similar from across the road. This guide explains why, so you can read a quote and understand what you are paying for.
The four things that actually move the price
1. The type of lettering
This is usually the biggest single factor.
An internally illuminated tray is a shallow box with a printed or vinyl face, lit from behind. The whole panel glows. It is the most economical illuminated option and the one you see most often on smaller high street units.
Face-lit built-up letters are individual three dimensional letters with a translucent acrylic front, lit from inside. Each letter is made separately, which means more fabrication time, more wiring and a longer install. The finish is much sharper than a tray and the price reflects that.
Halo-lit letters, sometimes called reverse-lit, are solid letters with the light thrown backwards onto the wall behind them. The letter itself stays dark and sits inside a glow. They look excellent on brick and stone, which is partly why they turn up so often on converted buildings. They cost more again, because the letters have to be mounted off the wall precisely and the wall behind them has to be in good enough condition to take the light.
Trough lighting is an external light bar mounted above a non-illuminated sign. Cheapest to fit, easiest to get approved in a conservation area, and it works with a plain painted or vinyl fascia.
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive of these on the same shopfront can easily be 3x more expensive.
2. Size
Signs are priced by area, so a fascia that is twice as long is more than twice as expensive once you account for the extra structure needed to keep it flat and the extra LED modules inside it.
Height matters too, though not for the reason people expect. A tall sign is not much harder to make. A sign fitted at height is considerably harder to install.
3. Getting up there
Access is the cost people forget.
A sign at ground floor level on a wide pavement can go up from a ladder or a small tower in a couple of hours. The same sign three storeys up on a narrow street in a city centre might need a cherry picker, a pavement licence, a traffic management plan and an early morning slot before the shops open. That can add more to the job than the sign itself.
If you are getting quotes and one is much lower than the others, check what it assumes about access.
4. Power
A new illuminated sign needs a fused spur, and where that comes from depends on your building. If there is an existing supply from a previous sign in roughly the right place, it is a small job. If the nearest suitable point is on the other side of the unit, or the landlord’s building has no external supply at all, you are paying an electrician to run a cable through a wall and certify the work.
Older buildings, listed buildings and units in shared blocks are where this gets expensive.
What about running costs?
Much less than they used to be. Nearly all commercial illuminated signage is now LED, and the energy use is low enough that most small business owners never notice it on a bill.
The thing worth asking about is not power draw but lifespan and serviceability. LED modules and drivers do fail eventually. A sign built so the face can be removed and a module swapped out is a much better long term proposition than one that has to be taken down to be repaired.
Ask any supplier what the warranty covers, whether it includes labour, and whether they hold the components. A five year warranty is not worth much if the components are discontinued in year two.
The costs that turn up after the quote
Advertisement consent. Most illuminated signs need express consent from the local authority. There is an application fee and a wait of several weeks. Some suppliers include the application in their price and some do not.
Structural survey or fixings. If the wall is in poor condition or the building has insulated render, you may need a different fixing method.
Removing the old sign. Taking down and disposing of the previous sign is usually a separate line. Making good the wall behind it can be another.
Landlord consent. Not a supplier cost, but if you are in a leased unit your lease almost certainly has something to say about signage. Worth reading before you commission anything.
So what should you budget?
We do not publish price lists, because the numbers would be misleading. Access and power vary so much between buildings that the same sign can differ substantially in cost from one unit to the next. We survey the building first and then quote.
How to compare quotes properly
Ask each supplier the same four questions.
What type of lettering is quoted, and is the illumination face-lit, halo-lit, internal or trough? “Illuminated fascia” on its own tells you nothing.
What does the price assume about access, and what happens if a platform is needed?
Is the electrical connection included, and does that include certification?
Is advertisement consent included, and who submits the application?
If two quotes answer those four questions the same way and the prices still differ a lot, then you are comparing like for like and you can make a decision. Most of the time they do not, and the cheap quote turns out to be a tray where the expensive one was built-up letters.
Before you order
Check whether your sign needs consent. Our guide to planning permission for illuminated signage covers the rules in more detail, and if you are in Greater Manchester there is a local version with the conservation area detail.
Then get someone to look at the building. Any supplier quoting an illuminated sign from a photograph is guessing about the two things that matter most.
We make and fit illuminated signage across Warrington, Cheshire, Manchester, Liverpool and the wider North West. If you want a price for your unit, tell us the address and we will come and look at it.
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