I got started in the sign business 35 years ago, working for a sign service company. For a while, I did installation and repair of fluorescent and neon illuminated signs and operated a 65' Skyhook. I left that company to take a better paying job shortly before I got married. The better paying company fell apart and I got laid off a month before my trip down the aisle. I started up my own service company but soon found out my customers were happier when they were buying new signs than having to pay to fix their old ones, and from then on I concentrated on new work.
I have cut out countless plastic, metal, and wood letters on a bandsaw and trimcapped all I ever want to do. I have welded up plenty of channel letters. In the mid ‘70s, we started doing dimensional work and we were among the first to do sandblasted signs in this area.
For the last twenty years or so, our main business has been in the apartment industry. Since vandalism and maintenance are big problems there, in the early ‘90s, we started building signs with Granite faces, which is about as durable as a product can be. Apartment sign packages are our mainstay.
We build most of the main ID signs as masonry monuments. Secondary signs will often be Aluminum structures, sometimes with Granite faces. We also do the signs in the leasing centers, pool areas, door signs and building ID signs. What I enjoy about the apartment industry is that we get to take off and fly artistically. What I don’t enjoy is that most management companies wouldn’t qualify to rent their own apartments. You have to pay your bills on a timely basis to live there, you don’t have to if you own or manage.
We also do plenty of painted Sunbrella awnings and eradicating masks for the awning companies around here. They bring the awning covers to us, we letter them and they pick them up.
In the sign business, I get to be a painter, metal smith, computer geek, wood worker, designer, stone mason, plastic fabricator and countless other jobs. It is never boring.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5099 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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lets see...what don't i do?..oh yeeeeeaah... swallow...but seriously now...bawahahahahaha
i am a one chick gig...i have too much equipment for one person to operate it all efficiently...but i try my best...and i'm a big fat glutton for punishment! i started in 93 partime while still doing accounting(my former profession). i also cleaned banks at night so i could pay for my training...meaning the accounting and cleaning supported me while i learned everything the hard way...i hadn't found letterville! i have a 2 story shop at the homestead...my equipment is a 4x8 pos cnc, a lovely 54" versacamm and seal laminator...oh and a 24"vinyl cutter and several computers....and tools....did i mention i love tools?
these days i'm working hard on picking and choosing what i want to do. controlling my company not letting it control me...so i'm kinda wanting to stay away from the big heavy 3d stuff between granite posts...ya know the kind that needs 3 or 4 guys or a crane to put it up...the kind that i bust a gut trying to lift the material, the kind that f-n stresses ya when you have to redo because of a paint failure(oops did i say out loud). right now i'm liking vehicle lettering, indoor dimensional stuff, banners, dibond and vinyl signs...the quickneasy or the creative fun stuff.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Let's see: In the art world- I design logos, advertising stuff, flash websites, airbrush, paint murals, some sign stuff...
In the music world- I play the drums (since age 9) I have a couple of bands that I play for semi-regularly, and play on our church's worship team, do some recording here and there. I just started learning the banjo- cool,no? I can sorta peck around on the bass- I have a fretless Washburn with EMG pickups, it sounds and plays great. (My bass player has a 5-string fretless Pedulla that he had custom built- no fret lines on the board.
In the rest of my world- I coach basketball and teach multimedia design to high schoolers.
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1736 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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What do I do these days? Not as much as I used to---just lettering trucks and boats. Not much cutting up MDO. or making the basic sign anymore.
The old days---Air Force '54 to '58, hospital orderly, maintenance worker, ambulance driver, later LPN, and later still RN in the ER. Left that in '84, went full time signs afterwards. Signs part time since '62. 26 years at the hospital more or less, and with interruptions here and there.
Married twice, three boys from first marriage, two still living and with families of their own, three grandkids, two boys and one girl. Married to Priscilla for going on 35 years---she is the 3rd degree black belt, and does anyone wonder why the marriage has lasted? Wouldn't dare leave.
Anyhow, just sort of on "cruise-control" these days.
Too much information, I know.
bill preston
-------------------- Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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There IS something else I'm really into now. Learning the Control Room. Oof! Talk about complex stuff! But Dad's a good teacher. The learning curve for this control room is pretty long cuz of the console itself. Its extremely powerful but has so many routing possibilites that its hard to remember it all. We start on a new 10 piece album project next week for an out of town band.
This one is just before Lat cut off all his hair!... and I was just beginning to learn the console.
I started my sign business making golf tee signs back in 1982. It was only meant to be a hobby business but just kept growing. I moved the business out of the house in 1998. I found a nice piece of property, 20 acres, a mile out of town with a 24 x 42 building on it. We added a 12 x 60 section and rewired and insulated the original part.
We do lots of sandblasted signs, doing more and more hand carving, lots of vehicles, and of course your knock it out aluminum with vinyl. I do some airbrushing and am in the process of practicing the Mike Lavallee flames. I'm saving up to add a router and wide format printer. We're also practicing gold leaf and glass work.
Right now we're (me and one employee) very busy painting logos on weight lifting platforms for a company called Life Fitness. The floor manufacturer has finished their new building so soon I'll be painting their portable basketball courts again. Back when they were leasing a building here, I did the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Florida Gators courts. We'll be doing the NCAA final four courts for the next 3 years.
I am a former PBA member and now spend my time bowling in leagues and coaching high school bowling. I am an avid golfer too, but I bowl better than I golf. Although I know I have some musical talent, I only pick a little on the guitar, but I passed it on big time to my son. He will be getting his masters this summer in music and cinematic arts. He started a recording company at his college where he is a professors assistant while getting his masters. The company is for the University musicians and the Univ. changed the prof. asst. requirements from teaching 2 classes the second year to teaching one class and running the recording studio. Cool eh?
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5403 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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I can sorta peck around on the bass- I have a fretless Washburn with EMG pickups, it sounds and plays great. (My bass player has a 5-string fretless Pedulla that he had custom built- no fret lines on the board.
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