What’s it cost to produce these twenty 8-by-24-in. reflective signs?
Tracking the time and materials on a very routine sign project
By Michael James
Posted on Monday, April 27th, 2020
Materials:
.080 3003-H14 aluminum: $138.45
3M 3430 EGP reflective vinyl 16 mils thickness: $43.04
Oracal cast vinyl Series 951: $41.21
RTape 4075 RLA application tape: $5.83
Total materials: $228.53
Labor:
Design/file prep: 30 minutes
Cut, weed and mask vinyl graphics: 120 minutes
Apply vinyl graphics: 30 minutes
Cut and apply reflective sheeting: 60 minutes
Shear aluminum: 30 minutes
Round corners: 30 minutes
Total time: 5 hours
A customer recently placed a rush order with us for twenty 8-by-24-by-.080-in. reflective aluminum One Way signs, ten left-handed and ten right-handed. Normally, we would outsource this project, but we simply didn’t have time to wait.
These signs were to go on private property and were not required to meet MUTCD regulations. MUTCD would have required high intensity reflective material and 5052-H38 aluminum. Instead we used engineer grade prismatic reflective material (16 mil) and 3003H14 aluminum. Unlike the 5052-H14, this type of aluminum is soft enough to shear and bend.
