Augusta Sign Company

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20 YEARS AGO…

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20 years ago exactly to the month I sold Tree Street Signs, the small sign company I founded in 1990 in Waynesboro, moving to Crimora in 1991. It was April 1, 2000. The Y2K scare had come and gone but the World Trade Center attack was yet to come. I was over-stressed, over-extended and needed to call it quits. Fortunately for me I had a buyer, the Wilcoxen family from Illinois who wanted to operate a business in a better place for their kids. I had placed an ad in a trade journal and they answered it.

One of the first sandblasted wood signs I made at age 30. Still standing after almost 30 years!

I could say things were all sunshine and roses for both me as the seller and Ted and Sandy as the new owners, but if I did, that would not be accurate. I bounced around in 8 different jobs over the next 15 years, but I always had a job except for a few months in 2001. Sandy discovered she had cancer days before closing the sale of my business and she passed away about 5 years later, and Ted passed away in 2009 marking the end of Tree Street Signs after 19 years in business.

A sign I designed and built for the late T.C. and Tim McDow. Danny Davis did the brick and stucco work !

I was super reluctant to get back into business because the original startup process sucked so much life out of me. I was afraid to get back into the pressure cooker again.

A chain of events in 2015 made my decision clear. My employer had to cut costs after several management changes occurred and I was let go. Immediately, I instinctively re-started my sign business where I left off. But this time, my plan was to be a one-man operation with an occasional helper to assist in more difficult lifting and installations versus a shop with 6 employees. So far my plan has worked, but it is now becoming extra challenging with all the work.

The two big signs I designed and made for Hollister in the 90’s are still doing their job in Stuarts Draft after at least 25 years!

Even with the recent Covid-19 Crisis I have been blessed with work, although many of my customers had to cancel projects or put them on hold for financial reasons resulting from forced shutdowns. I am currently involved with two large projects: building a custom electric church sign in Bridgewater and designing and manufacturing signage for the new Blue Ridge Tunnel Historic Park (Crozet Tunnel) up on Afton Mountain. I also have many smaller jobs that I am able to work on here and there in between the big jobs.

Colorful sandblasted cedar sign I made way back when in downtown Waynesboro!

It’s been an amazing re-start and I’m glad I was put into the position where it was easy to choose entreprenuership once again. Exactly 20 years ago I thought I’d never step back into the sign business as an owner, and here I’ve been back in the game again for almost 5 years!

I hope all my customers and fellow Virginians stay safe during this amazingly crazy and scary time. I’m still in business, still have plenty of work, and still have some capital left, but look forward to Post-Covid times! (And ready for maybe 5 or 10 more good years in business on my own in America.)

One of the first sign projects I undertook when re-starting my sign company in 2015. At this point I was still making signs in the dining room and living room of our house on Magnolia Avenue in Waynesboro!

Mark Hackley owns and operates AUGUSTA SIGN COMPANY, VA

540-943-9818, mark@augustasigncompany.com

Augusta Sign Company: Year in Pictures

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Here are highlights from a few of the many sign projects of 2019…

WINTER

Winter 2019 began by helping my friends at Skipping Rock Brewery open their doors for the first time. I also branded yet another van or two for the Vailes Brothers. Then I helped returning customer, Westminster Presbyterian Church, point visitors to the main sanctuary. Finally, I helped rebuild a brick sign that was knocked down in an ice storm by a wayward vehicle! I’m blessed to have so many friends out there who need me!

SPRING

Spring had sprung! What a grand old time helping brand yet another office for HammondTownsend; Then I built my very first carved plywood sign for a private residence in Rockbridge County; Then I helped my church with interior vinyl graphics and another with a carved wood sign!

SUMMER

Summertime and the living was easy!! I was able to tackle some interesting projects in the summer sunshine. I helped several dental practices renovate their exterior signs and lobbies, some by collaborating with a local commercial renovation contractor specializing in medical office updates; Then I enjoyed creating a beautiful carved and gilded wood sign for a new B&B in Staunton; And then EMU called with many projects getting ready for the new school year. Such a nice campus!

FALL

Autumn leaves began to fall, but I couldn’t slow down! It was a great season for Augusta Sign Company as I was able to coordinate several large projects: First- I provided the dimensional wall letters and emblem that adorn the entrance to Fishburne’s new field house; Then I was able to update signage at several residential housing units in Waynesboro; I also updated signs for several churches, including St. Mark’s Methodist, then capped it off by enlarging the entrance sign for Brite Transit in Fishersville.

All in all, it was a great year for signs! I am blessed and I hope you are too! Please enjoy a BRAND NEW DECADE with me as we enter 2020…and don’t forget to make sure your signs are effective out there in the year ahead…I can always use the work!

Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company near Middlebrook, Virginia. You can e-mail him ideas for your next sign project at mark@augustasigncompany.com, or call him at 540-943-9818.

6 Reasons Why Metal Posts Reduce Sign Maintenance

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USED TO BE A WOOD GUY

Metal posts reduce sign maintenance!

I used to always make signs with treated wood posts, and they make great posts, that’s for sure. But here are six good reasons to consider an upgrade to painted aluminum posts for your next exterior sign project.

 

REASONS I CHANGED TO METAL

First, they just look good. Treated wood posts are never perfectly square on the corners. There’s always an imperfection somewhere. It may be a knot, or it may be a place that’s splintered, or sometimes a big nick in the wood, (no not Santa!) Painted aluminum signs on the other hand are always perfectly square, all sides always perfectly smooth. And they’re easy to clean without worrying about getting splinters!

Second, the bottoms don’t get eaten up by weed-eaters. I can’t tell you how often I see wood posts that were once 4X4’s or 6X6’s reduced in size at the bottoms by lawn equipment. It detracts from their visual appearance, and eventually the posts may fail at the base because of the weakened areas. Metal posts don’t seem to be affected much (if at all)  from weed-whackers.

Third, metal sign posts never warp or twist. Planting wood posts in the soil is kind of like playing Russian Roulette. Every now and then a post goes wild. I’m working on replacing a sign panel in a sign right now originally constructed of a wood post and beam system; and one of the 6X6 posts has twisted about 30 degrees. The posts are at least 15′ out of the ground, so instead of replacing the post, I’m just designing the new panel accordingly. But it’s just not the greatest thing to look at. A metal post will never warp as far as I’ve ever seen.

 

Fourth, you really are never supposed to paint a wood post, especially pressure-treated yellow pine. Besides leaving it natural, you can stain a wood post, but you should never expect paint to last very long. I do it all the time though and tell my customers to expect bi-annual maintenance. Metal posts are painted with acrylic enamels which are the same product cars and trucks are painted with. These types of paints are meant for endurance! You shouldn’t have to worry about repainting for 10 years or more, and you can wash and wax periodically to extend the lifetime even longer.

 

Fifth, with metal posts, you can easily incorporate strong cross beams into the sign design to hang the sign panel(s) from. I included a few pictures of this type of sign design which I am leading customers to more frequently. The aluminum cross beams match the posts and attach with machine screws firmly into each side. Wood posts require notching and heavy bolts, and you just never quite know for sure if everything’s going to stay nice and square after years in the weather. Aluminum post systems don’t have to dry; wood systems do and they tend to move a lot during the drying process.

Sixth, aluminum posts are much lighter in weight than heavy wood posts. This makes installing them easier and sometimes less expensive, especially if the signs are large and high off the ground. 

MAINTENANCE FREE POSTS WORTH CONSIDERING

So next time you’re having a sign designed for your business or organization, consider using painted aluminum posts!

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Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company in Staunton VA, serving Staunton, Waynesboro, Augusta County and beyond!  Contact him at 540-943-9818 for your next signage project.

Providing Entrance Signage for Fishburne’s Hitt-Millar Field House

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www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-va-22980-fishburne-military-school-signage-gemini-letters

Augusta Signs recently provided entrance signage for Fishburne Military School’s Hitt-Millar Field House in downtown Waynesboro, Virginia. My customer’s representative was Carl Kerby, chairman of Fishburne’s Building and Grounds Committee. Carl Kerby, a life-long Waynesboro building developer, owns Westhills Company Builders, a quality Waynesboro developer who has built twelve to fifteen homes a year that range in size from 1,600 to 12,000 square feet and in price from $250,000 to $1 million.

www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-va-22980-wall-letters-signs

Carl has a vested interest in Fishburne Military School. A 1955 graduate of Fishburne himself, Carl has proudly served the Fishburne-Hudgins Educational Foundation, Inc., the Board of Trustees for Fishburne Military School, since 1996. Only a few months ago my company made a sign at Fishburne’s Alumni House that was re-named in his honor!

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Many people don’t realize that Carl was one of my first customers when I opened Tree Street Signs way back in 1990. I had just left a career in engineering and architecture to venture into a full-time signage career and Carl contacted me to do a rendering of one of his new spec homes on Summit Drive in Waynesboro. He also had my company design brick monument signs for several of his residential and commercial developments including Stratford Commons, Pelham Knolls, and Village Green at the Lake, in which he was heavily involved. I also remember doing signs for Carl a little later over at the Eagle’s Nest community at Waynesboro Airport.

The days of working with Carl did not end with Tree Street Signs. When I re-opened my sign business as Augusta Sign Company in 2015, Carl was calling me again for signs. Since I re-opened for business I have helped him with multiple vehicle signage projects, branding a work trailer, yard advertising signs, and I even replaced the road sign in front of his office on Pelham Drive.

www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-va-22980-signage-installation-services-Virginia

Then, several months, ago Carl called me for pricing on signage to brand the entrance to Fishburne’s new field house in Waynesboro. It was a little tricky designing and pricing lettering for a wall that was not there yet, but after looking at the architectural drawings and coordinating things with Carl and the general contractor, I was able to offer several proposals for consideration.

Carl opted for 1″thick painted cast aluminum material for both the letters and the large insignia that now enhance the main entrance. As always I reached out to Gemini, a family-owned letter and plaque manufacturer based in Minnesota, for the quality lettering needed for this project. Once the letters were cast, painted, and shipped, I laid out a paper pattern on my shop tables that would be used to position the graphics on the wall.

Carl arranged to allow my company to use the lift equipment on site which made the installation process very smooth. My part-time helper, Marshall Carpenter, and I carefully positioned the pattern, drilled the holes, and installed the lettering with aluminum studs, each sunk into the brick wall with silicone adhesive and epoxy.

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The end-result was just as planned! Carl was a happy customer and we felt proud that we could contribute our talents to help one of the area’s most prestigeous and historic private schools. It will be interesting to see how it will look when all the construction work is complete later this fall; when the roads and walkways are paved, when the landscaping is added; when the students begin to use it as a functional place! It will be just another successful project chalked up to Carl Kerby! Thanks Carl for all the work over the years!

Mark Hackley is owner of Augusta Sign Co., Staunton, VA 540-943-9818

Etched Glass Lettering

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Etched letters can add a touch of class to your entrance. Since the lettering does not stand out as well as regular opaque vinyl or hand-painted graphics, the uses are usally limited to places that want a subdued, yet classy look. That’s why I’ve used the etched vinyl material for the President’s office at a local university; the entrances to a craft brewery with a neat logo; the entance to the law office of a regional law firm.

There are a number of different types of etched vinyl, and of course my customers could opt for the real deal, actual etching into glass. I have priced genuine etched glass in the past, but have never sold anything, probably because it’s extremely costly.

Two types of etched glass films I use are readily available from my suppliers: Avery brand “Etchmark” and “Frosted Sparkle”. Etchmark is your basic etched look. The other has much more pizazz and intermittent sparkles throughout. I’ve also tried several Arlon films. One of those types was almost too clear and hard to see, especially when appled to the back side of the glass pane. Whether the vinyl is installed to the outside of the glass (first surface) or the backside (second surface) is the decision of the customer. To make a second-surface decal, I can tell my software to cut a mirror-image of the artwork, so then the adhesive will be on the graphics facing the glass when cut backwards.

If you have an occasion to use etched vinyl for your store windows and doors, let me know!