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Calculate the right price for any custom sign in seconds. Get industry-standard markups, profit margins, and benchmarks for your sign shop.
Select the sign type to get industry-specific pricing benchmarks.
Industry Benchmarks
Pricing custom signs correctly is the difference between a profitable sign shop and one that leaves money on the table. Each sign type has different material costs, labour requirements, and industry-standard markups.
$400–$1,500
Average retail price
2.5–3.5x
Markup
15–25 min
Quote time
High-margin favourites with low material costs. Typical retail pricing now lands between $400 and $1,500 depending on size and installation complexity.
$3,000–$10,000
Average retail price
2.0–3.0x
Markup
20–30 min
Quote time
Storefront staples with higher fabrication costs. Most projects cluster around $3,000–$10,000 once illumination and installation are included.
$5,000–$20,000
Average retail price
2.0–2.5x
Markup
25–40 min
Quote time
Premium installations requiring foundation work and permitting. Real-world pricing frequently reaches $20,000 for larger or more complex builds.
$10,000–$50,000
Average retail price
1.8–2.5x
Markup
30–45 min
Quote time
The largest custom sign investment. Engineering, permitting, and structural requirements regularly push projects into the $10,000–$50,000 range.
$3,000–$8,000
Average retail price
2.0–3.0x
Markup
20–30 min
Quote time
Workhorses of the sign industry offering solid margins. Quoting covers dimensions, illumination type, and mounting.
$2,000–$6,000
Average retail price
2.5–3.5x
Markup
15–20 min
Quote time
Premium branding option with strong margins. Typical retail pricing now sits around $2,000–$6,000 based on material and installation depth.
Several factors influence the final price of a custom sign beyond base material and labour costs.
The type and quality of materials — acrylic, aluminium, LED modules, vinyl — directly impact your base cost.
Design time, fabrication hours, and installation labour are often the largest variable cost for any sign project.
Rent, utilities, insurance, equipment depreciation, and admin costs typically add 15–25% to production costs.
Height, access requirements, electrical work, and structural considerations can significantly affect final pricing.
Multi-sign orders or franchise rollouts often warrant volume discounts on per-unit pricing and improved margins.
The average sign shop spends 4–6 hours per day manually quoting signs. That's time taken away from actual production, customer relationships, and growing your business.
Sign Customiser automates your entire sign pricing and ordering process. Your customers configure signs directly on your website, see real-time pricing, and place orders — all without a single manual quote from your team.
Automate Your Sign PricingSign shops typically calculate pricing by adding up material costs, labour (design, fabrication, installation), and overhead, then applying an industry-standard markup multiplier. Markups vary by sign type — LED neon signs and dimensional letters typically use a 2.5–3.5x multiplier, while larger installations like pylon signs use 1.8–2.5x. Many shops also factor in installation complexity, permit costs, and rush fees.
The average markup on custom signs ranges from 1.8x to 3.5x depending on the sign type and complexity. LED neon signs and dimensional letters tend to carry higher markups (2.5–3.5x) due to lower base costs, while large-format signs like pylons and monuments use lower multipliers (1.8–2.5x) on higher base costs. Most profitable sign shops aim for 50–70% gross margins.
Manually quoting a custom sign typically takes 15–45 minutes depending on complexity. Simple LED neon signs take 15–25 minutes, channel letters take 20–30 minutes, and complex installations like monuments or pylons can take 25–45 minutes per quote. Sign shops processing 5–10 quotes daily spend 2–6 hours just on quoting. Automated quoting software like Sign Customiser can reduce this to seconds.
Sign shops use a range of tools for estimating, from spreadsheets and manual calculators to dedicated sign estimating software. Popular options include SignTracker for job management, and Sign Customiser for automated customer-facing pricing. Modern sign shops increasingly use online configurators that let customers build and price signs themselves, eliminating the manual quoting bottleneck entirely.