News and Updates Archives - Page 2 of 7

Sign Upgrades at University Commons Building-Harrisonburg

December 23, 2022 By jalexspringer

Augusta Sign Company has been busy upgrading signs at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA. Over the last several years I have helped with interior sign upgrades at University Commons Building, and Suter Science Center, along with a complete exterior wayfinding sign replacement! It has been very interesting and rewarding to see the new signage come to life on campus over the last several years.

One of six adjoining track walls, spreading a positive teambuilding message along the entire second floor hallway.

The EMU marketing department has made it easy to keep the school’s branding consistent across campus, and the facilities management department has helped with coordinating all the projects and purchasing the signs if new construction-related. Since I am a small, one man shop with an occasional helper, working with EMU on breaking these larger projects into phases really helped things stay on target over the past two years. It all started with the Suter Science Center. Phase 1 was the first floor which began mid-summer 2021, leading to Phase 2, the second floor right before fall classes resumed. Then there was the high end donor wall for the final dedication later in October. (See previous blog about the donor wall project.)

Working on Custom Sign for Coffee Shop in my sign shop

As soon as that project was off the list, we began planning the next project: rebranding the signs at the 2-story University Commons building. This project was extremely interesting as it included a very large EMU mascot “selfie wall”, and track wall graphics that spanned the radius of the indoor track that covered six large walls. At the same time, we planned out changing out all the existing exterior directional signs and cleaning all existing post structures. The exteriors were the first two phases; then the main entrace area of the first floor of Commons. Then the rest of the first floor was Phase 4. The track wall graphics were Phase 5, and the rest of the second floor including a neat wood sign for the Common Grounds coffee shop was the final phase. I was busy on these projects from early February through October, 2022.

It was another challenging but successful project. What did it all cost, you might ask? All the design work for every project was done by the EMU marketing department so that part was covered by the college staff budget, otherwise the design portion for all the signage would cost well over $5,000. The cost of materials and labor to fabricate and install all the signs ranged from $5,000-$25,000 per phase, depending on the amount of work involved. The Track Wall Graphics Phase was the most expensive and some of the partial floor phases were the least expensive. Actually part of the exterior signage project is still in progress, awaiting permitting from the city. The infamous 2022 materials shortages affected the delivery of aluminum extrusion for part of the exterior signage. What usually took three weeks to procure took six months! Fortunately for my sign company, because projects were staggered over years, I was mostly able to get the materials for the pricing I quoted EMU.

Second Floor of University Commons, View of Newly Completed Signage

It looks like 2023 may be the year for the EMU Campus Center Sign Upgrades! I am much looking forward to more work on campus, and have developed a great working relationship with this group of customers! God is very good; yes, very good!

Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company in Augusta County, VA. Contact: 540-943-9818

Even the Animals Like Our Work!

January 11, 2022 By Mark Hackley

Animal Instincts

As I was putting the finishing touhes on signage for a new animal hospital in Waynesboro several years ago, a little Terrier-type dog stopped over to wag his tail for me. To me, that was an indication that even the animal kingdom appreciates my work! Or maybe I was over-reading the friendly wag and getting a false notion that she was wagging at the new signs going up; Maybe it was just a great new spot to sniff around!

The new building during the construction phase.

In summary, here is the way my company handled a neat sign project for the Waynesboro Animal Hospital in Waynesboro, VA: I initially got a call from the owners of the veterinary practice who were constructing a new animal hospital and they needed signage. Their archictect/GC partner had planned out where the signage would go and pulled the applicable sign permits required for the project. They just needed me to provide the lettering and installation for the signs. One would be located at the stucco wall over the entrance door; and another would be a 2-sided free-standing sign out on the main road at the edge of their nice, new parking lot.

The monument sign before receiving the EIFS finish and lettering.

After discussing several material options, they chose flat-cut-out acrylic (FCO). I designed the sign graphics to fit the applicable spaces, got customer-approval, and ordered the lettering. It took about 3-4 weeks to get all the lettering completed, and it was perfectly coordinated with the contractor’s crew who built the free-standing sign monument.

The front facade after the FCO letters were in place.

The stucco was barely dry when the lettering arrived, and it was time for the installation. I used scaffolding to install the wall letters in the morning, and then spent the afternoon installing the monument letters. The monument also displayed the hospital’s logo and logos of an affiliate organization that was important for customers to know about. For these, I used FCO and applied 3M digital prints to the outer surface. All the lettering was blind-stud-mounted. I made a pattern of where the holes would go and then inserted the studs on the backs of the letters into the holes and cemented them in with a special adhesive product.

Another Successful Sign Job

All in all it was a smooth project. I met with the customer prior to nailing down a final color for the letters to make sure he had the color plus the visibility he was desiring for the job. This involved bringing several samples of various colors. The final color choice was not just a random selection. I like to think of it as a pre-engineered choice! Maybe that was the reason for the wag…perhaps that Terrier was owned by a Virginia Tech engineering student! I think I do remember noticing a slide rule clipped to her collar.

Mark Hackley is President of Augusta Sign Company, Staunton, Virginia. Contact: 540-943-9818; mark@augustasigncompany.com

Trouble-Free Main Entry Signs Becoming Our Specialty

April 11, 2021 By Mark Hackley

“The sign looks great! I appreciate the trouble free install. We’ve heard several compliments both from staff and clients,” Bryan Beamer, DVM

*The new entrance sign in Culpeper completed in April 2021.*

“GO-TO” SIGN DESIGN

Trouble-free main entry signs are becoming our specialty go-to sign design option for many businesses. These signs are very simple, constructed of two upright aluminum posts with horizontal cross beams on which we mount the main sign panels. We have used them for a variety of business marketing applications for churches, apartment complexes, office parks, and medical facilities, but see endless applications in our market area of Virginia.

*New church entrance sign installed in Staunton in November, 2020.*

ECONOMICAL CHOICE

If a customer has a budget under about $5,000 and needs a long-lasting, low-maintenance exterior identification sign, then this is a great option to consider. We have provided many one-sided options for less than $3,500 which includes: design, manufacture, and installation. The customer can choose to illuminate the signs at a later date or leave them un-lit. Many of the times, the customer will construct nice landscaping beds or planters below the signs to dress them up and protect them from lawncare equipment.

*Apartment entrance sign placed into service in September, 2019.*

SIMPLE YET EASILY CUSTOMIZED

The beauty of these main entrance signs is their simplicity and opportunity for customization. We have attached aluminum compostite (ACM) panels to them, as well as sandblasted and carved cedar panels. All three materials make for long-lasting minimal-maintenance signage. We use 1/4″ thick ACM panels and dress them with printed 3M vinyl film which generally lasts 5-10 years before the weather begins to degrade the sign’s coloring and overall appearance. When the signs fade, they are easily replaced or recovered for another 5-10 years of service. The post and frame system is finished with a durable powder-coat finish and will last many years before required maintenance.

Constructing an office park directory sign out in the workshop in November, 2020.

TURN-KEY PRODUCT

Customers who choose cedar panels for the signs can expect a similar 5-10 maintenance period, but the actual cedar boards will last a lifetime as they are naturally insect and rot resistant. Augusta Sign Company can offer turnkey service for a company’s main entrance sign offering permitting services, manufacture, installation, and periodic maintenance and replacement services.

Contact Mark Hackley at 540-943-9818 for more information.

I’ve Been Working On The Railroad

October 29, 2020 By Mark Hackley

www.augustasigncompany.com-Crozet-Afton-Blueridge-Tunnel-Cedar-Signs — Mark Hackley, owner of Augusta Sign Company, poses next to the east trailhead kiosk in Nelson County, Virginia.

TUNNEL VISION

I wonder if Claudius Crozet, the engineer posed with a technically-challenging project in 1849 to bore a mile-long hole through a Virginia mountain to help open the railroad to the American West, doubted his abilities to complete the project successfully? Even though years earlier he had triumphantly completed other great nineteenth century civil engineering projects, like his once state-of-the-art 230-mile Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, I ponder whether he ever doubted his abilities for such great achievements?

I wonder if the complexity and risks of each new custom project weighed heavily on his brilliant mind? If it did, he worked through it all! Soon I would get the chance to work through a challenging project of my own: building the signage system for Crozet’s world-famous tunnel.

Both Crozet’s tunnel and the mountainous toll road built from 1831-1850 became crucial transportation lines in the American Civil War. Maybe my signs could help future generations remember Claudius and his amazing public works projects.

www.augustasigncompany.com-Staunton-VA-24401-signs-signmakers-wood-signs-carved cedar-park-signs — Doug Sheffer in the shop gluing up cedar boards for the tunnel signs.

OPPORTUNITY BLOWS HER HORN

Abandoned for many years, the tunnel laid eerily void of activity alongside the updated tunnel which took its place in 1944 until chatter about restoration began in 2001 when Nelson County planners saw potential as a public greenway and rail trail. In the summer of 2019 I was presented the opportunity to bid on fabricating signage for Crozet’s landmark tunnel for Fielder’s Choice Enterprises (FCE), Inc., one of the Caton Companies, via referrals from two former friends in the industry who were now retired and looking after me!

www.augustasigncompany.com-augusta-county-va-sign-companies-wood-signage-cedar-redwood-signs — Marshall Carpenter sanding freshly glued cedar panels for the Blue Ridge Tunnel.

Initially, I was positive that I could handle the scope of work which included providing two large wood entry signs, two large wood informational kiosks, four interpretive signs, and various traffic signs, safety signs, and bollards. But after over-thinking it all, I hesitated to respond and filed the opportunity in a stack of other potential projects until early 2020.

www.augustasigncompany.com-staunton-virginia-24401-va-recessed wood signs-routed-signs-CNC-letters — Carved cedar signs ready for primer and paint.

PANDEMIC RELIEF

My company’s work-in-progress list was shortening in December, 2019, so I contacted Mark Zimmerman, project manager with FCE to see if he was still interested in signage quotes for the tunnel job. After finding out he had yet to make a decision on the signs, I asked my wife if I should tackle such a large-scale job considering that I am usually a one-man operation, and this would require help.

www.augustasigncompany.com-signs for parks and recreation-exterior-wayfinding-signs-virginia-shenandoah-valley — Applying bulletin enamel to the incised lettering.

Understanding previous successes tackling similar projects since the 1990’s, she very encouragingly helped me decide to give it a shot. So just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, I bid the job and was soon awarded the contract to build all the signage for the third and final phase of the Blue Ridge Tunnel restoration on Afton Mountain! What a blessing this project soon became as my usual education and hospitality customers put upcoming orders on hold as the COVID crisis crept in!

www.augustasigncompany.com-24401-kiosks-trailmaps-trail-signs — Assembling the kiosk panels in the shop. We used Pannier Gel Coat Laminate (GCL) panels for the maps.

HUGE CHALLENGE AHEAD

I spent a full week designing the detailed shop drawings which showed FCE, Nelson County, and Woolpert, Inc., the A&E firm who designed the overall tunnel renovation project, exactly what I would be providing. Once these were approved, I ordered the materials for the project.

www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-va-22980-sign-installation-sign-erection — Scott Flavin lifts a boulder from one of the holes for an interpretive sign. The soil on the mountain was extremely rocky and the gas powered post hole digger was rendered useless!

Obtaining western red cedar boards from northwestern Canada during a pandemic where international borders were closed was a huge challenge. Everyone was out of stock, or only had a few boards left of the quality required. To get my hands on enough clear, all-heart vertical grain material, I had to piece together shipments from three different distributors across the US to get what I needed.

I had to construct four large three-inch thick cedar panels, even though I am mostly accustomed to working with inch-and-a-half thick material. The two kiosk panels were so large and heavy that I had to design and build them in two sections so they could be successfully delivered and installed. I purchased the treated yellow pine posts from Virginia Frame Builders and secured the paint from Burk’s Paint & Wallcovering, two of my sign customers and quality established Augusta County-based building material suppliers.

www.augustasigncompany.com-staunton-va-24401-sign-builders-contractors-signage-signs — Doug Sheffer inspects a hole for the east kiosk.

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

Augusta Sign Company has successfully operated as a one-man shop since reopening full-time operations in 2015, occasionally utilizing the services of a part-time sub-contractor if needed for installations. I was fortunate to have been able to assemble a great team of installers who assisted me for several weeks in the final stages of installation in June, 2020.

www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-staunton-augugusta-county-va — The install crew working on assembling the east kiosk in Nelson County.

Digging 21 holes, often through gravel beds of an ancient railroad track, was no easy task. I must admit I have never been in better shape since those 3 weeks of extreme manual labor over the summer when we installed all the signage! Eight of the holes had to be almost five feet deep to accomodate the tall 8X8 wood posts. That meant a whole lot of intense digging into a variety of Virginia soils across several miles of terrain, and in 90-100 degree humid Virginia weather.

Participating in this challenging experience provided personal insight into how healthy those nineteenth-century railroad workers must have been after years of manual labor! We just can’t quite get to that level of physical activity in these days of computers and television, but I got a small taste of it, even though I was sometimes able to utilize a mechanical post hole digger. I’m glad I took on the project and I’m very satisfied when seeing the finished signage up there on Afton Mountain.

www.augustasigncompany.com-22980-24401 — Scott and Doug securing the top half of the east kiosk.

The park is currently closed as the contractor finishes up the final touches, and the east and west entry signs are currently covered in tarps. Soon the park will begin to open and the tarps will come down. I hope many people will enjoy my labors of 2020 and visit the park for many years to come… even after I’m dead and gone!

I hope you visit this unique part of Virginia’s history. My wife and I can’t wait to ride our bikes through the tunnel…as long as we have a set of strong batteries in our headlamps to make it through!!

HERE IS A LINK TO A TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION REPORT BY NELSON COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION THAT FEATURES OUR SIGNAGE: https://www.vaco.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NelsonCountyBlueRidgeTunnelRehabTrailProject.pdf

www.augustasigncompany.com-traffic signs-warning signs-plant-safety-signs-hazard- signage — Mark smiling after the last sign for the project was installed in late October, 2020.

Mark Hackley is owner of Augusta Sign Company. 540-943-9818

20 YEARS AGO…

April 6, 2020 By Mark Hackley

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