My First HDU Sign

[The Hobbyist]

I agree, nice layout, but not sure the substrate used was the best choice...and bonding to plywood, no. The plywood WILL warp and rot eventually.

Both the owner and I will be dead before that happens.

 

[Marlene]

Both the owner and I will be dead before that happens.

what kind and what thickness plywood? did you prime and paint it or is it just bare wood?

 

[Billct2]

Yea, we quit using MDO or any wood based panel as a backer years ago.
No matter what the prep, they always rotted away.
But he did say it was capped with .040 so it should be fine.

 

[J Hill Designs]

Just out of curiosity, and as a guide, what SHOULD I have charged for it? I welded the frame together, and made the faces and the caps. Go ahead. Tell me. I can take it!


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minimum $2500 + permitting and install

 

[CanuckSigns]

I don't deal with HDU or dimensional signs much but do know that the stuff isn't cheap. Build in all the setup, routing time, painting/finishing, welding, install, permit application (assuming it is required in your state) and you've easily got 10 hours into the job.

I would guess it should be at least $1500 but that's just a shot in the dark.

Hopefully you can get some insight from members that deal with these types of signs more.

I would say more, HDU isn't cheap, plus it's very labour intensive to finish, If we were doing that sign the way you did it, including the welding and install, we would be closer to $3000, of course we would never get the job at that price because it's the wrong materials, I would have gone with a sheet of max metal and cut the lettering from black and blue acrylic on our laser, my material cost would be 1/3 of yours and I have no painting or finishing to do, the 2 signs would look absolutly identical from the ground.

 

[The Hobbyist]

minimum $2500 + permitting and install

:ROFLMAO: You Californians! gotta love ya!


The customer handled the "permit." He called city hall and said, "Bobby, I'm puttin' up a sign out yonder. Uh huh ... 4 x 8. 'Bout twelve feet. Right. Okay, thanks!"

Permit recorded.

God Bless Kentucky! :Big Laugh


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[The Hobbyist]

what kind and what thickness plywood? did you prime and paint it or is it just bare wood?

1/2" plywood, outdoor grade. Not primed. However, the plywood and the HDU are snug in the channel on all four sides, with horizontal and vertical expansion room. I don't think it will be a problem.



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[B Snyder]

Does it get humid where that sign is?

 

[The Hobbyist]

Yes. Kentucky gets humid in the summer months.

If the faces fail, I will just make him some new ones out of another material, like Dibond or PVC sheets or vinyl on plexiglass. Or maybe I'll cut sign faces out of steel with my plasma table and have them powder coated, and back them with colored plex.

The purpose of THIS sign at THIS time was to get SOMETHING up by the deadline, have something nicer than the plywood and coroplast signs that are all up and down the same street, go through the exercise of doing a real project in my home "hobby" shop as a one-man show, carving HDU for the first time, and doing a favor for a good friend.

Across the street are vinyl on coroplast signs screwed directly to the asphalt shingles with wood screws and fender washers.

So the cost of the materials, the labor involved, the price he paid ... none of that came into play here. He WAS going to have someone hand paint a sign on two sheets of plywood with a paint brush, and hang a wooden frame around the pole. So I think I topped that, at the very least :Big Laugh



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