Opening a new location: getting the storefront sign, permit and landlord approval right

The lease is signed and the sign is already behind schedule

You have a space, an opening date and a logo. Somewhere in the lease there is a page about signage that you skimmed. Now the general contractor is asking when the sign goes up, the landlord has mentioned sign criteria, and someone said the city needs a permit. You wanted a sign; what you have is a project with four parties and a deadline.

We run the FASTSIGNS center on North Jim Miller Road near Fair Park in Dallas, and the new-location sign is the project we see most. It is also the one with the most avoidable delays, because the sign itself is rarely the slow part. Approvals are. This guide lays out what the landlord and the city will want, how the sequence actually runs, what drives the price, and how to plan it so the sign is lit when the doors open.

Why a storefront sign takes longer than you expect

A permanent exterior sign is a small construction project. It attaches to a building you do not own, often with electrical, and it is regulated by the city as part of the built environment. That brings in three approvals that happen in sequence, not in parallel: the landlord must approve the design against the property's sign criteria, the city must issue a permit based on drawings, and only then does fabrication start. Each step has its own review time, and a design change at any step sends you back one.

Shopping centers and office buildings in the Dallas area almost always have written sign criteria: maximum letter height, allowed sign types, lighting requirements, where on the facade the sign may go, and sometimes the exact mounting method. Cities regulate size relative to the storefront width, projection, illumination and placement, and most, Dallas included, require a permit for a permanent exterior sign. Neither review is a formality, and neither can be skipped because the opening date is close.

The fabrication itself, especially for illuminated channel letters, involves custom metal work, acrylic faces, LED modules, wiring and a raceway or backer, followed by an installation that may require a lift and a licensed electrician to make the final connection.

What to pull together before you call a sign company

Start with the lease. Find the signage exhibit or sign criteria and read all of it; it tells you what is allowed and often what is forbidden, such as cabinet signs or exposed raceways. Ask the property manager for the current criteria document if the lease refers to one, since they change. Then get your artwork in a usable form: a vector logo file and your brand colors, not a screenshot from the website.

Photograph the storefront straight on, from across the parking lot and up close at the fascia where the sign will go. Measure the width of your frontage and the height of the sign band. Note what the neighboring tenants have, because the landlord will expect yours to be consistent. Find out whether there is existing electrical at the sign location from a previous tenant, and whether the previous sign left holes or discoloration that will need patching. Finally, decide what else the location needs at the same time: window graphics, hours decals, interior lobby sign, directional signs, a monument panel, so it can be designed as one project.

• Lease signage exhibit and current landlord sign criteria
• Vector logo and brand colors
• Straight-on photos of the facade and the sign band, with measurements
• What the neighboring tenants have installed
• Existing electrical and condition of the fascia
• The full list of signs the location needs, inside and out

When waiting is fine and when the calendar is already against you

If your opening is several months out and the landlord criteria are in hand, you have time to design carefully and consider options. If you are inside six to eight weeks of opening and have not started, every week matters, and you should get the sign company involved immediately so the drawings can go to the landlord this week rather than next. If the space had no previous sign and no electrical at the fascia, start even earlier, because an electrician and possibly the landlord's contractor are now part of the schedule.

A temporary banner is the honest bridge. It can be produced quickly, it tells customers you are there, and it buys time for the permanent sign to go through its approvals properly. What you should not do is let a deadline push you into installing a permanent sign without a permit; a city can require it to come down, and the landlord can hold you to the lease.

How we take a sign from a photo to a lit facade

A project starts with a conversation and a free quote. We look at your artwork, the facade photos and the landlord criteria, and we propose a sign type and size that fits both the building and the rules. Our designers produce a rendering of the sign on your actual storefront photo so you and the landlord are looking at the same thing. Once you approve, we prepare the drawings the landlord needs, and after landlord sign-off we prepare and submit the permit package to the city.

When the permit is issued, fabrication begins. For a channel letter sign, that means forming the letter returns, cutting faces, fitting LEDs and wiring, and building the raceway or mounting pattern. Our installation team schedules the install, coordinates the lift and any electrical connection, and mounts the sign according to the drawings. Project management runs through all of it, so you have one person tracking the landlord, the city and the shop rather than three separate vendors blaming each other.

Because we handle content development, design, production and installation in one center, the interior signs, window graphics and vehicle graphics for the same location can be produced on the same timeline, and they often ship and install the same week as the exterior sign.

• Quote and site review from photos, measurements and landlord criteria
• Design rendering on your storefront photo
• Landlord approval package
• City permit submission and tracking
• Fabrication of the approved sign
• Scheduled installation with lift and electrical coordination
• Interior and window graphics produced alongside

What makes one sign cost more than another

We quote each project individually rather than publish prices, because the same company name can be built a dozen ways. The sign type is the largest factor: non-illuminated dimensional letters, illuminated channel letters, a backlit cabinet and a monument sign are entirely different builds. Size follows, since larger letters mean more material, more LEDs and heavier mounting. Letter count and logo complexity add fabrication time, as do multiple colors and specialty finishes.

Installation conditions matter more than people expect. Height, the need for a lift, the condition of the fascia, whether electrical exists at the location and whether a licensed electrician must make the connection all move the number. Permit fees vary by city and sign size. Finally, scope: pricing a storefront sign, window graphics, lobby sign and directional signs as one project is usually more efficient than four separate orders months apart.

How to pick a sign company for a build-out

Ask whether they handle the landlord package and the city permit or expect you to. Ask whether their quote includes installation, electrical coordination and the lift. Ask to see a rendering process, because a sign approved from a sketch and a sign approved from a photo rendering are two different risks. Ask who the single point of contact is and how they will keep you informed when the city review is slow.

If your organization has supplier diversity requirements, ask about certifications. Our center holds a Small Business Enterprise certification from the DFW Minority Supplier Development Council and a Texas Historically Underutilized Business certificate, which matters to public entities, universities, hospitals and large corporations with procurement goals.

• Handles landlord approval and city permitting
• Quote includes installation and electrical coordination
• Produces a rendering on your actual facade
• One point of contact through the whole project
• SBE or HUB certification if your procurement requires it

Where new-location signs go wrong

Ordering the sign before reading the landlord criteria is the most common mistake, and it means paying for a redesign. Sending a low-resolution logo is the second; a sign is cut from vector paths, and a blurry file has to be redrawn, which takes time and can subtly change the mark. Assuming the previous tenant's electrical works is the third. Forgetting the interior is the fourth: a beautiful exterior sign over a lobby with no signage, no hours on the door and bare windows looks unfinished on opening day.

Scheduling the installation for the day before opening with no buffer is the fifth. Weather, a lift that is late or a landlord who wants one more look can all move an install by a few days, and a few days before opening is the wrong time to find that out.

What happens after you request a quote from us

You reach us by phone or through the website, Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5:00, and tell us about the location, the opening date and what you have in hand. We ask for the artwork, photos and the landlord criteria and come back with a recommendation and a quote at no charge. If you are not sure what you need, we walk through the options for the facade and the interior with you.

From approval forward, you have a project manager who tracks the landlord, the permit and the shop, and who tells you honestly where the schedule stands. Our center serves businesses across Dallas and the surrounding area, and the goal on every new location is the same: a sign that fits the building, passes both reviews the first time, and is lit when you open.

Questions people ask me