"What's a shopfront sign going to cost us?" is one of the first questions almost every new tenant or business owner asks, and it's a fair one — building signage covers everything from a single vinyl-cut name on a door to a fully illuminated pylon sign, and the price range across that spread is enormous. Here's what actually moves the number.
1. The type of sign
This is the single biggest factor. In rough order of cost:
- Cut vinyl lettering — your business name and logo applied directly to glass or a fascia panel. The most affordable option, and still highly effective for a lot of shopfronts.
- Flat-cut acrylic or dimensional letters — raised, three-dimensional lettering mounted off the wall for shadow and depth. A step up in presence and cost.
- Illuminated channel letters or light boxes — internally lit signage that works day and night. More material, wiring and labour, so a higher price point.
- Pylon and monument signs — free-standing structures sized for large sites, visible from the road. The most involved option, often requiring engineering and consent.
2. Size
Signage is generally priced by area, so a fascia sign spanning a full shopfront costs more than a single door sign — but size alone doesn't tell the whole story. A small illuminated sign can cost more than a large flat vinyl one, because the sign type matters as much as the square metres.
3. Material
Acrylic, aluminium composite panel (ACM), corflute and PVC foamex all sit at different price points and suit different uses. ACM is a common choice for exterior fascia panels because it's rigid, weathers well and takes vinyl or paint cleanly. Corflute is cheap and useful for temporary or short-term signage, but it isn't built to last outdoors for years.
4. Installation height and access
A sign that goes up at head height on a ground-floor shopfront is a straightforward install. A sign on a two-storey building, or one that needs an elevated work platform (EWP) or scaffolding to reach safely, adds equipment hire and time to the job. Access is one of the most commonly underestimated cost factors in building signage.
5. Consent and landlord requirements
Some signage — particularly larger illuminated or free-standing signs — needs council sign consent or has to fit within a shopping centre or landlord's signage criteria. Working through consent isn't usually expensive in itself, but it does need to be factored into the timeline, and sometimes the design, before manufacturing starts.
So what should you budget?
We don't publish fixed prices, because a sign quoted without seeing the site or the brief would be a guess. What we can tell you is the order of things: vinyl lettering sits at the affordable end, dimensional and illuminated letters in the middle, and pylon or monument signage at the top. Fit-out signage for a new tenancy often needs a mix of several types at once.
Send us a few photos of the site, the dimensions you're working with, and what you have in mind, and we'll come back with real numbers — usually within one business day.
One more thing worth knowing
Building signage is often the first and most repeated impression a business makes — every customer who walks or drives past sees it, every single day, for years. That makes it one of the better long-term investments in a fit-out, even when the upfront number is one of the larger line items on the list.