Buyer Guides
RFP questions for a sign vendor (and the answers to listen for).
8 min read
Most signage RFPs ask about price and turnaround and stop there, which is why most vendors look identical on paper and then perform nothing alike in the field. The questions below are the ones that surface how a vendor actually behaves when a permit is slow, a crew is unfamiliar, or an install goes wrong. We've written each one the way it belongs in your RFP, with the answer a real operator should be able to give, so you can use this as a template and judge the responses against it. Where it's useful, the answer is how we'd answer it ourselves.
If you don't fabricate in-house, isn't this just brokering?
Our answer: No, and the difference is accountability, not vocabulary. A broker hands your job to a third party and steps back, and that third party's work becomes the broker's ceiling and its excuse. We own the program end to end: one project manager holds your purchase order, assigns vetted crews working under our supervision, runs photo QA against approved drawings, and signs the closeout. Not fabricating in-house is a deliberate choice that keeps us material-neutral, specifying the right film and substrate for your job instead of the inventory a captive shop needs to move. The answer you don't want here is a vendor who can't explain why not fabricating makes them more useful to you rather than less.
If an install goes wrong, who is accountable?
Our answer: We are. The crew works under our project manager and our standard, and the PO, the relationship, and the warranty pathway are ours, not yours. If a panel is misaligned or a film lifts, it lands on our punch list and our re-mobilization, documented and corrected. You have one number to call, not a finger-pointing match between a fabricator, a freight company, and an installer you never hired. Listen for a single, clear line of accountability. A vendor who answers this by describing who else might be at fault is telling you who you'll be refereeing later.
How do you know the crews in your network are any good?
Our answer: Every crew is vetted before it touches a job: verified general liability and workers' comp, OSHA-10 minimum (OSHA-30 for elevated and rooftop work), fall protection for work above six feet, and a documented track record on the sign types in scope. Certificates of insurance reach your facilities team or GC before a crew arrives on site. Crews that miss tolerance or closeout standards come off the roster. The network is curated, not a directory. The weak answer is "we have coverage in all fifty states" with no vetting standard behind it, which describes a phone list, not a network.
What's included in your quote, and what shows up later?
Our answer: The quote itemizes labor by crew type, materials by SKU, permitting and landlord-approval fees, freight by leg, project-management hours, and any after-hours premiums. Nothing shows up after signoff that wasn't on the original PO. Change orders are written, signed, and visible. The answer to avoid is a single blended per-site number with no breakdown, because an unitemized quote is either padded to cover the unknowns or structured to back-charge them after you've signed.
How do you handle permits across many jurisdictions?
Our answer: Permit research runs across every municipality on the site list, with application packets, stamped drawings where required, and variance support. Jurisdictions with unique rules, historic overlays, coastal commissions, planned-community boards, get flagged at quote time, not on install day, and the secondary markets have a documented playbook too. We treat the permit as a timeline, not just a fee, because the slowest jurisdiction sets the program's finish date. A vendor who only talks about permit fees hasn't been burned by the calendar enough to plan around it.
What reporting and closeout do we get?
Our answer: Live site-by-site status, completed-versus-remaining counts, install photos, and flagged exceptions during the program, then a per-site closeout PDF (signed, photographed, dated) and an aggregate reconciliation against the PO at the end. The reporting should let you stop emailing for status and stop being the human forwarding machine for your own team. A vendor whose reporting is "we'll email you updates" is asking you to do the project management they're being paid for.
Questions people ask
If a sign company doesn't fabricate in-house, is it just a broker?
No, if it owns the program. The difference is accountability, not vocabulary. A broker hands the job off and steps back; an operator keeps one project manager on your PO, assigns vetted crews under its supervision, runs photo QA against approved drawings, and signs the closeout. Not fabricating in-house keeps it material-neutral, specifying the right product for your job rather than the inventory a captive shop needs to move.
If an install goes wrong, who is accountable?
The operator should be, not the local crew. The crew works under the operator's project manager and standard, and the PO, relationship, and warranty pathway are the operator's. A misaligned panel or lifting film lands on its punch list and its re-mobilization. You want one number to call, not a finger-pointing match between a fabricator, a freight company, and an installer you never hired.
How should a vendor vet its installation crews?
Every crew should clear verified general liability and workers' comp, OSHA-10 minimum (OSHA-30 for elevated and rooftop work), fall protection above six feet, and a documented track record on the sign types in scope, with certificates of insurance sent before a crew arrives. Crews that miss tolerance come off the roster. A curated network has a vetting standard; a directory just has coverage.
What should a complete signage quote include?
Labor itemized by crew type, materials by SKU, permitting and landlord-approval fees, freight by leg, project-management hours, and any after-hours premiums, with nothing appearing after signoff that wasn't on the original PO and change orders written and signed. A single blended per-site number with no breakdown is either padded for the unknowns or set up to back-charge them later.