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A frustrating job that i am doing just now…
A local business owned by a couple of good friends are moving premises and needed several signs for the new place. So started before Christmas discussing design materials ets. Several changes but eventually all proofs agreed and signed off.
The main front of shop sign is 6m long and to save money they wanted to use the old Fibreglass boards that were there, which were actually in quite good condition once I had got them down. Spent several days spread over several weeks, removing old vinyl, painting the edges , filling old mounting holes with fiberglass, sanding smooth and eventually flood coating to the new colours. Applied the graphics, borrowed some scaffolding towers and installed today. Considering the age of the old boards they looked damn near perfect and came out much better than I expected. Phew … at last I had got them out of my workshop and could get paid.
Just as I was finishing after drilling 20 bolts into slate and admiring the finished job the owner comes along and rather than going great , Thanks that looks brilliant he goes "Actually now I see it I don’t like the wording we have chosen and I want to change it"
He had used his web address with the WWW. before the name, despite me pointing out at the initial design stage that this is not really normal or look very good. But he waits till I’ve finished before asking for the change. The graphics have been on the flood coat for a week so will not come off easily especially not up scaffolding in cold weather so probably need to take everything down and start again inthe workshop. He was suggesting just taking the www. off the sign but that would look horribly out of balance and sizing all wrong.
More money for me I suppose as in the end the sign will cost far more than double the original quote, but so frustrating when I’m so busy and thought I’d got one off the books. Instead I’m going backwards.
Sorry rant over but the wife is away so no one to moan to 🙂:police: Mod-Edit
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10 Replies
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quote :6m long and to save money they wanted to use the old Fibreglass boards that were there, which were actually in quite good condition once I had got them down. Spent several days spread over several weeks, removing old vinyl, painting the edges , filling old mounting holes with fiberglass, sanding smooth and eventually flood coating to the new coloursTwo sheets of alu. composite…20 mins to flood coat…I honestly can’t see where the cost saving could possibly be, for you or them.
I feel your frustration though – much like being asked to quote on correx (full digital print) because, "doing it on alu. comp. is too expensive." or "yeh, but it’s a temporary sign"
Dave
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Exactly, but they weren’t willing to spend the extra for a frame or tray, which is what it required to make it look nice on the high street.
The finished fibre glass tray does look nice with the raised edge painted and the centre flooded and in actual total time spent on it probably wasn’t more than a couple of hours spread over a couple of weeks so probably about the same price as a 10 x 5 sheet cut in half but better, just had it sat around waiting for paint & resin to dry.
Now its going to cost them the same again to redo it. Hopefully the graphics will come off without damaging the flood coat. -
I have removed vinyl letters off vinyl before. same issues. I get a large snap off Knife blade in a heavy duty scraper with a long handle and scrape it off leaving the glue. If you hone the blade on a car windscreen well by scraping on it first and rocking it a little it will glide across the surface and not dig in. Scraper is held at about 30 degrees and is gently slid across the vinyl to be removed. Dont try and push it into the the letter. Shave it off. Works every time as long as the blade is properly honed.
Dont turn the blade over, it will dig in.
Can use a 2" single edged razor blade too in a decent holder. Just go backwards and forward and rock it it a little with the scraper holder between 30 and 45 degrees on the glass windscreen and then its ready to use on vinyl or acrylic to remove letters without scratching the substrate.
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Edited – missed a post before replying
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Did I do do something dumb with my post
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No, not at all.
I just said about if they had signed off on the proof then it was their problem and would need to pay for the additional work.
From the initial post I thought Stuart was saying he was going to be out of pocket but I missed his last post. ‘Now its going to cost them the same again to redo it.’🙂
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I LOVE customers who tell you how they want their sign, and Ignore your viewpoint till the Job is complete then get it redone to what you suggested 😕
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How about suggesting a logo to cover area that has www on it. That would balance out sign. If they haven’t already got one, you could cut from a waste piece of dibond or foamex and fix over the area you need to cover. Im sure customer would be happier to pay for an "extra" rather than whole new job
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Went back today ready to take it down , strip the graphics or whatever they wanted to find that after sleeping on it for a night they had decided to leave everything, So just dabbed a bit of paint on the bolt heads and job finished at last.
Only thing they did comment on was that there was a gap between the panels. Well I suggested they go look at every other sign that is made of two panels and they will see there is always a gap. Theirs was made of two 20 year old fibre-glass panels and it was impossible to get them exactly flush. So they made me add a strip of vinyl over the join, now we will see how long it lasts.
Still no thanks though. That’s they way it goes sometimes.
Before & after
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You can never win doing jobs for friends or family, I try to avoid them now for an easy life.
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