Signage questions, answered

Choosing the right sign

What types of business signage are available?

Business signage falls into six broad groups: fascia and shopfront signs, illuminated signs and lightboxes, window graphics, free-standing signs such as pylons and A-frames, vehicle graphics, and temporary signage like banners, corflute and fence mesh. Most businesses end up using three or four of these together.

In practice a typical Sunshine Coast retail or trade business runs a fascia sign above the door, window graphics or frosting on the glass, vehicle signage on the work ute or van, and a corflute or A-frame for promotions. A café or restaurant will add a menu board and under-awning signage. An industrial estate tenant usually needs a building sign, a directory strip at the estate entrance and safety signage inside the premises.

How do I choose the right sign for my shopfront?

Start with three things: how far away people read it from, whether they are walking or driving past, and how much of the building you are actually allowed to use. Those three answers set your minimum letter height, your lighting requirement and your maximum sign size — and the material choice follows from there.

A useful starting point for letter height is roughly 25 mm of capital letter height for every 3 metres of reading distance for a sign you want people to notice, and more if traffic is moving quickly. A shopfront read from 10 metres across a footpath needs letters around 80–100 mm tall. A sign read from a road at 60 km/h needs to be several times that. If your building sits back from the road, consider a pylon or free-standing sign rather than a bigger fascia sign — height and position beat sheer size.

What is a pylon sign?

A pylon sign is a free-standing sign on its own post or structure, set at the property boundary or driveway entrance rather than fixed to the building. They are used where the building is set back from the road, where several tenants share a site, or where traffic passes too quickly to read a fascia sign.

Pylons are usually a fabricated aluminium or steel frame skinned with ACM panels, often with an illuminated lightbox head and a tenancy directory below. Because they are free-standing structures they almost always require engineering certification for footings and wind loading, and they are the signage type most likely to need a Council development approval.

What is the difference between a lightbox and 3D fabricated letters?

A lightbox is a sealed box with a translucent printed or vinyl-applied face lit from behind, so the whole panel glows. 3D fabricated letters are individual letters and logo shapes built as objects and fixed to the building, either lit from within (face lit), lit backwards onto the wall (halo lit), or not lit at all.

Lightboxes are cheaper per square metre, deliver a large bright panel and suit under-awning and pylon positions. Fabricated letters look considerably more premium, read as architecture rather than as advertising, and are what most modern shopfronts and offices specify. The trade-off is cost: every letter is a separate manufactured item, so a 12-letter business name is 12 fabrications plus a mounting pattern.

Which is better — corflute, ACM or aluminium?

Corflute for short-term and disposable signage, ACM (aluminium composite panel) for permanent flat signage, and folded or fabricated aluminium for anything structural or premium. The right answer is almost always driven by how long the sign needs to last rather than by budget.

Materials & durability

What is ACM and why is it used for so many signs?

ACM stands for aluminium composite panel — two thin aluminium skins bonded to a solid polyethylene core. It is the standard substrate for flat signage because it stays perfectly flat over large spans, weighs a fraction of solid aluminium, cannot rust, and takes vinyl and direct printing beautifully.

Common brand names include Alupanel, Alucobond and Dibond. It is supplied in 3 mm and 4 mm thicknesses for most signage work, routed and folded for tray-style signs, and cut to shape for logo panels. Fire-rated core grades are required in some building applications — worth flagging early if your sign is going onto a multi-storey or commercial building facade.

Will my sign colours fade in the Queensland sun?

Yes, eventually — everything fades. How fast depends on the print and film grade, whether it is laminated, and which direction it faces. A laminated cast vinyl on a north or west-facing wall on the Sunshine Coast should hold colour for five to seven years; an unlaminated digital print in the same position may visibly shift inside 18 months.

Reds, oranges and some spot-matched brand colours fade first because the pigments involved are the least UV-stable. If your brand hinges on a particular red, tell us — we can specify a more stable ink or film, or use a coloured film rather than a printed colour. A UV laminate over a digital print is the single most cost-effective thing you can do to extend a sign’s life.

Can you match my exact brand colours in signage?

Close, and usually close enough that nobody but you would notice — but an exact match is not always physically possible. Signage colour is produced three different ways (printed CMYK ink, coloured vinyl film, powder-coat or paint) and each has a different achievable gamut, so the same brand colour can land slightly differently across a project.

Supply your Pantone (PMS) references and we will match to them. Where a job mixes methods — say, printed panels alongside powder-coated letters — we will show you samples before manufacture so the whole installation reads as one. Bright oranges, deep blues and metallics are the usual trouble spots.

Can you replace the face on an existing sign frame?

Usually yes, and it is a lot cheaper than a new sign. Lightbox faces, tray sign panels, pylon inserts and directory strips can all be refaced while the existing structure, wiring and fixings stay in place. We measure the existing frame, make a new face and swap it.

This is the standard approach for a rebrand, a change of tenancy, or a lightbox face that has gone brittle and yellow. The exception is where the old frame is corroded or the wiring is at end of life — in a lightbox still running fluorescent tubes, converting to LED at the same time usually pays for itself in power and lamp replacement.

Illuminated signage

What is halo lit signage?

Halo lit — also called reverse channel or backlit — is where LEDs are mounted behind solid letters, throwing light onto the wall so each letter is surrounded by a glow while the letter face itself stays solid. It is the most understated and most architectural of the illuminated options.

Halo lighting needs a clean, light-coloured wall behind it to work, and the letters have to stand off the surface by 40–50 mm to spread the glow evenly. It reads very well at night and looks like a plain 3D letter set during the day. Face lit letters, by contrast, glow from the front — brighter and more visible from distance, less subtle.

How long does LED signage last?

Quality signage-grade LED modules are rated around 50,000 hours, which is roughly 11 years running 12 hours a day. In practice the power supply usually fails before the LEDs do, and the realistic service expectation for a well-built illuminated sign is 7–10 years before anything needs attention.

Two things shorten that considerably: cheap unbranded modules, and moisture. Outdoor signage needs IP-rated modules and correctly sealed penetrations. On the coast, drainage inside the sign matters more than most people expect — a sign that traps water will fail regardless of the LED quality.

Do I need an electrician for an illuminated sign?

Yes. Signage fabrication and installation is our work, but the final connection to your building’s power supply must be made by a licensed electrician in Queensland. We coordinate this as part of the install and leave the sign wired to a connection point ready for them.

If you want the sign on a timer or photocell so it runs to set hours, tell us at quoting stage — it is much simpler to build in than to retrofit, and it meaningfully reduces running cost.

What is an under-awning sign?

An under-awning sign hangs below the awning, perpendicular to the shopfront, so it is readable by people walking along the footpath rather than only by those standing directly in front. They are usually double-sided and often illuminated as a slim lightbox.

Under-awning signage is one of the highest-value signs a strip-shop business can buy, because it is the only sign that reaches pedestrian traffic approaching from either direction. Councils typically set rules on minimum clearance height above the footpath and maximum projection, so it is worth checking before you commit to a size.

Window graphics & frosting

What is one way vision window film?

One way vision is a perforated vinyl — typically a 50/50 or 60/40 pattern of tiny holes — printed on the outside face and black on the inside. From outside you see the printed graphic; from inside you see out through the holes. It is how shops and vehicles cover glass with full-colour graphics without blacking out the interior.

Two practical points. It works by contrast, so the effect weakens at night when it is brighter inside than out — lit interiors become partly visible from the street. And the holes reduce effective resolution, so fine detail and small text do not survive; keep graphics bold.

What is window frosting and can it be printed?

Frosting is a translucent film applied to glass that mimics acid-etched or sandblasted glass, used for privacy in offices, meeting rooms and bathrooms, and for compliance marking on large panes. Yes, it can be printed — full-colour graphics, logos and patterns are cut or printed into the frost.

Frosting is also frequently required rather than optional: large areas of clear full-height glass in commercial buildings generally need visual markers so people do not walk into them. Cutting your logo or a banded pattern into the frosting turns a compliance requirement into branding.

Can window graphics be removed later?

Yes. Standard signage vinyls are removable from glass with heat and the right solvent, and there are films made specifically for short-term promotional use that come off cleanly with minimal effort. What matters is choosing the right film at the start for how long you want it up.

A permanent-adhesive film left on glass for eight years in full sun will take real work to remove and may need professional removal. A promotional film specified for a three-month sale peels off easily. Tell us the intended life at quoting and we will specify accordingly.

Vehicle wraps & graphics

What is the difference between a full wrap, a partial wrap and cut vinyl?

Cut vinyl is individual letters and logo shapes applied directly to the paint — the cheapest option and the standard for trade vehicles. A partial wrap covers sections of the vehicle with printed vinyl, usually the rear and lower sides, with the factory paint showing through. A full wrap covers every painted panel, effectively changing the vehicle’s colour.

How long does a vehicle wrap last?

Five to seven years for a quality cast vinyl with a laminate, garaged or shaded when parked. On the Sunshine Coast, a vehicle that lives outside in full sun is realistically at the shorter end — four to five years before the horizontal surfaces (bonnet and roof) start to show it.

Horizontal panels always fail first because they take the most UV. It is common and completely normal to refresh a bonnet and roof at year four while the vertical panels have years left. Cheaper calendared vinyls will lift on curves and complex panels well before a cast vinyl would.

Will a wrap damage my vehicle’s paint?

On factory paint in good condition, no — a properly specified wrap actually protects the paint underneath from UV and stone chips. The risk is with repainted or resprayed panels, where the vinyl adhesive can lift paint that was not correctly prepared or has not fully cured.

Always tell us if any panel has been resprayed, and how recently. Fresh paint needs to cure — generally several weeks — before vinyl goes on it. If a panel has been repaired with cheap paint or has existing clear coat failure, we will flag the risk before we start rather than after.

How do I look after a wrapped vehicle?

Hand wash with mild detergent, avoid high-pressure jets aimed at the vinyl edges, skip the automatic brush-style car wash, and don’t use cutting compounds, polishes or wax on the print. Get bird droppings, fuel spills and tree sap off quickly — they etch the laminate if left.

Touchless automatic washes are generally acceptable; brush washes will lift edges over time. If a section lifts, get it back to us early — a small edge lift is a quick fix, while a lifted panel that has taken in water and dirt usually means a reprint.

What artwork do you need for a vehicle wrap?

Vector artwork for logos and text, plus any photographic elements at high enough resolution for the finished panel size, laid out on the correct vehicle template. We work from make, model, year and body variant — a 2019 HiAce LWB is a different template to a 2023 SWB.

If you don’t have vector logo files, we can redraw them — see our artwork guide on vector files. Send us photos of the actual vehicle as well as the details: roof racks, ladder frames, existing signage, tow bars and window tint all affect what can be wrapped and where.

Portable, temporary & event signage

What is corflute and how long does it last outside?

Corflute is a lightweight fluted plastic sheet — think plastic corrugated cardboard — printed directly or with applied vinyl. It is the standard for real estate boards, election signs, site signs and short-run event signage. Outdoors it holds up for roughly 6 to 18 months before UV makes it brittle.

Flute direction matters. Vertical flutes give a board more rigidity standing up and let water drain out; horizontal flutes suit boards that need to bend around a frame. For anything staked in the ground, vertical flutes are almost always right.

What size are A-frame signs and can I change the inserts?

Standard A-frames take A1 or A2 inserts in a snap-frame or slot-in channel, and yes — swappable inserts are the point. You buy the frame once and print new corflute or poster inserts whenever the message changes.

For footpath use, check your Council’s rules before you buy: there are typically requirements about how far the sign can sit from the shopfront, the clear footpath width that must remain, and whether a permit is needed. Weighted-base frames survive Sunshine Coast afternoon winds considerably better than light spring frames.

How are vinyl banners finished?

Standard finishing is a welded or stitched hem all round with brass eyelets at roughly 500 mm centres, which lets you rope or cable-tie the banner to a fence or frame. Options include rope-in-hem for tensioned installations, pole pockets for hanging banners, and reinforced corners for high-wind sites.

Allow for the hem in your artwork — 40–50 mm of the printed edge folds back and disappears. Keep logos and text at least 50 mm inside the finished edge so nothing is lost in the hem or covered by an eyelet.

When do I need a mesh banner instead of a solid one?

Use mesh whenever the banner is on a fence, a scaffold, or any exposed elevated position. Mesh is perforated so wind passes through instead of loading up the banner, which stops it acting like a sail and tearing out its eyelets or pulling down the fence.

The trade-off is that mesh looks slightly softer and less saturated than solid vinyl because of the holes. For construction hoarding and fence mesh — very common on Sunshine Coast development sites — mesh is the correct product and often what the site’s safety requirements specify.

What is hoarding signage?

Hoarding signage is the printed panelling around a building or development site — usually printed ACM or vinyl on a plywood hoarding, or printed mesh on temporary fencing. It screens the site, keeps the public out, and turns an eyesore into marketing for the project.

Development hoardings on the Sunshine Coast are frequently a condition of approval, so the site has to have them regardless. Since the panels are being paid for anyway, they are usually printed with project renders, the developer’s and builder’s branding, and sales contact details.

Are pull-up banners reusable?

Yes — the cassette hardware is designed to be reloaded, so you can replace the printed graphic while keeping the base and pole. On mid and premium grade bases the graphic is a replaceable cartridge; on the cheapest bases it is often not economical to reprint.

Standard sizes are 850 mm and 1000 mm wide by around 2000–2100 mm visible height. The important detail for artwork is that the bottom 60–100 mm rolls into the cassette and the top is gripped by the rail, so keep logos and text well inside those zones. See our pull-up banner artwork setup notes.

Real estate & property signage

What sizes are real estate signboards?

The common Australian residential sizes are 600 × 900 mm and 900 × 1200 mm for standard listings, with 1200 × 1800 mm and larger for premium properties, development sites and commercial listings. Most are printed on corflute for short campaigns or ACM for repeated use.

Agencies typically also run a set of accessories from the same brand template: directional corflutes, open-home arrows, A-frames, “sold” and “under offer” stickers, photo strips and post kits. We produce these as a matched set so the whole campaign looks consistent across a suburb.

Do you supply the posts and hardware too?

Yes — timber and metal post kits, ground stakes, frames, sliders and stickers are part of what we supply alongside the printed boards. Most agencies order boards and hardware together so a listing can be installed the same day it goes live.

What is a site sign or builder’s sign?

A site sign identifies the builder, project and trades on a construction site, and is usually a fixed requirement of the building approval as well as a marketing opportunity. They are commonly 1200 × 1800 mm or larger, on ACM or corflute, mounted to the site fence or on posts.

Safety & compliance signage

Do safety signs have to meet a standard?

Yes. Workplace safety signage in Australia follows AS 1319 — Safety signs for the occupational environment — which sets the colours, shapes, symbols and text conventions for prohibition, mandatory, warning, danger, emergency and fire signage. Using the correct format is not a style choice; it is how the sign is legally understood.

Practically, that means a prohibition sign is a red circle with a diagonal slash, a mandatory sign is a solid blue circle, a warning sign is a yellow triangle with black border, a danger sign carries the white-on-red DANGER header, emergency information is white on green, and fire equipment signage is white on red. We supply standard signs off the shelf and custom-worded signs built to the same conventions.

Can I get custom-worded safety signs?

Yes, and it is common — site-specific wording, your company name, contact numbers, site rules and induction requirements. The key is that custom wording still sits inside the correct AS 1319 format so the sign’s category is instantly readable.

Do you produce evacuation diagrams?

Yes. Evacuation diagrams and fire safety signage are produced to the relevant Australian Standards and Queensland fire safety requirements, mounted in the correct locations, and updated when the building layout or occupancy changes. Supply your floor plan and we will draw it up.

Council approval on the Sunshine Coast

Do I need Council approval for a sign on the Sunshine Coast?

Often, yes. Permanent advertising devices in the Sunshine Coast Council area are assessed as operational work under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. If the sign meets the self-assessable criteria in the Advertising Devices Code for your zone, no application is needed. If it does not — because of size, height, illumination or position — a development application is required.

Temporary signage such as real estate boards, election signs and roadside banners is dealt with separately under Council’s local law rather than the planning scheme. Free-standing signs, signs on top of buildings, signs on awnings and painted wall or fence signs are the categories most likely to need approval. What is permitted varies significantly by zone — commercial and industrial zones allow considerably more than residential or rural zones.

Does a sign need building approval as well?

Sometimes. Under the Queensland Building Regulation, a sign on private property is generally exempt from building approval if it is detached from a building, no higher than 2 metres and no wider than 1.2 metres, and structurally sound. Anything bigger, taller, or fixed to a building may need building certification.

Pylon signs and large free-standing structures normally require engineered footings and a certifier’s sign-off for wind loading. We build to engineering specification where it is required and can arrange the certification as part of the project.

What signage usually doesn’t need approval?

Signage that sits within the self-assessable limits for its zone generally does not require an application — typically modest fascia signage on an existing commercial building, window graphics, standard real estate boards displayed for the marketing period, and signage inside the property that is not visible from the street.

The traps are illumination (an internally lit sign may fall outside self-assessable limits where an identical unlit sign would not), total signage area across the whole site rather than per sign, and heritage or character overlays, which apply in parts of the Sunshine Coast and change the rules entirely.

I lease my shop — do I need landlord approval too?

Almost certainly. Most commercial leases require the landlord’s written consent before any signage is fixed to the building, and shopping centres additionally run their own signage design criteria covering size, style, illumination, materials and install hours.

Get the landlord’s or centre management’s approval in writing before manufacture starts. We can supply the scaled drawings, elevations and material specifications that centre management will ask for — this is a routine part of a shopfront signage job, not an extra.

Can I put a sign on a power pole or in the road reserve?

Not without permission. Signage on power poles requires referral to Energex, and anything in the road reserve — including footpath A-frames, banners across streets and signage on Council land — is controlled by Council and generally needs a permit.

Installation & maintenance

Do you install signage or do I arrange that?

We install. Design, manufacture and installation are all handled in-house, which is deliberate — the person who built the sign knows how it needs to be fixed, and there is no gap between two suppliers when something on site turns out different to the drawings.

We install across the Sunshine Coast, from Caloundra through to Noosa and into the hinterland. For sites outside that range we can supply signage ready to install with fixing instructions and a hole pattern.

What if the sign is high up or over a footpath?

High-level installs use an elevated work platform or scissor lift, and installs over a public footpath or road usually require a traffic management plan, permits and sometimes a lane closure. These are quoted as part of the job because they can be a meaningful proportion of the total cost.

Tell us early if access is restricted — a shopfront with overhead power lines, a narrow arcade, a site with no vehicle access, or a centre that only permits after-hours installation all change how the job is priced and scheduled.

Can you install after hours for a shopping centre?

Yes. Shopping centres and many commercial buildings restrict signage installation to outside trading hours, and we work to those windows. Centre management will normally also require insurance certificates, inductions and permits, which we arrange as part of the job.

How do I clean and maintain my signage?

Wash with warm water and a mild detergent using a soft cloth or sponge, rinse, and let it dry. Avoid abrasive pads, solvent-based cleaners and high-pressure washers aimed at edges or seams. Twice a year is enough for most signs; quarterly if you are close to the beach.

The reason to bother is that salt and grime accelerate degradation, and a sign that is washed occasionally simply lasts longer. While you are there, check fixings for corrosion, look for water pooling inside illuminated units, and note any LED sections that have dropped out — a single failed module is a cheap fix, a whole failed run is not.

What warranty comes with signage?

Workmanship and materials are warranted, with the period depending on the product and the manufacturer’s own warranty on the components — LED modules, power supplies and vinyl films all carry their own terms. Fair wear, storm damage, vandalism and third-party alterations are not covered.

Ask for the specific warranty terms on your quote so the expectation is set before manufacture. We would rather tell you a coastal install will need attention at year five than have you assume it will not.

Cost & timing

What affects the cost of a sign?

Six things, roughly in order of impact: size, whether it is illuminated, the material and fabrication method, how it is installed and at what height, whether artwork needs to be created or redrawn, and whether a Council or landlord approval process is involved.

• Size — material and print cost scale with area, but so do freight, handling and installation method.
• Illumination — LEDs, power supplies, wiring, sealing and an electrician’s connection all add cost, and the sign becomes a serviceable item.
• Fabrication — a flat printed panel is a fraction of the cost of individually fabricated 3D letters.
• Installation — ground-level install on an accessible wall is straightforward; elevated work platforms, traffic management, after-hours access and engineered footings are not.
• Artwork — supplying press-ready vector artwork costs nothing extra; a logo that must be redrawn from a low-resolution JPG is design time.
• Approvals — drawings, elevations and engineering for a development application add time and cost before anything is built.

How long does signage take?

Simple printed signage — corflute, banners, window graphics, vehicle lettering — is typically a few days from artwork approval. Fabricated and illuminated signage runs longer because of manufacture and component lead times, and anything requiring Council approval is governed by that timeline rather than ours.

The two things that most often delay a signage job are artwork that arrives in an unusable format and approvals that were not started early enough. Get your artwork sorted and your approval path confirmed and the manufacturing timeline is the predictable part.

Will you do a single sign, or is there a minimum?

A single sign is fine. We produce one-off shopfront signs, single vehicle letterings and individual corflutes as readily as fleet and multi-site rollouts. Per-unit cost naturally drops with quantity, but there is no minimum order.