Signs & Large Format Print
Illustrative visualisationAn installer has no shop window or premises anyone wanders into by chance. Customers come by recommendation, from a search engine, or because someone remembered the number on the van parked outside next door. So for tradespeople, advertising is mainly the van, the crew’s clothing and what stays with the customer after the visit – a business card in the drawer, a sticker on the boiler, a magnet on the fridge.
The second channel is building sites. Installation work in a new house takes weeks, and the whole street sees the site fence. A banner with your number on that fence, with the client’s permission, works right through the shell and fit-out stages. Below we set out what we think gives the most for the smallest budget, and what to order as the business grows and a second van, a shop or a trade counter comes along.
1. Van and service vehicles
An installer’s van stands outside a customer’s house for an hour, sometimes all day – in the very area where you are looking for the next job. On the sides you need three things: what you do, the phone number and the name. On the back we put a large number, because the driver behind you at the lights reads it. For company vehicles we recommend cast vinyl with laminate – it sits well in recesses and usually peels cleanly off the paint when the vehicle is sold.
- Van or light commercial vehicle livery→Sides, rear and bonnet, or just bands of lettering. Cast vinyl with UV print is approx. €19–29 net per m², polymeric laminate approx. €8 net per m².
- Magnetic signs for a private car→For when you visit customers in your own car or have a short lease. On in the morning, off at the weekend. Printed magnetic sheet is approx. €21–32 net per m².
- Lettering for vehicle windows and doors→The budget version: just the phone number and website cut from vinyl on the rear window. Cheap, readable and done on the spot.
2. At the customer’s: boiler room, fuse board, site
This is the area tradespeople forget most often. A year after you fit a boiler or replace a consumer unit, the customer looks for someone to service it, and calls whoever’s number is to hand. A small service sticker with your logo, phone number and space for the service date costs pennies and brings jobs back. On a building site, it is the banner on the fence that counts, if the client agrees.
- Service stickers for boilers, heat pumps, water heaters and fuse boards→Contour-cut, in a film that copes with the warmth and damp of a plant room. With a space to write the date of the last service.
- Sticker sheets for the engineer’s folder→Dozens of small stickers on one sheet – the engineer keeps them in the van and puts one on after every job.
- Banner on the customer’s site fence→“Electrical / plumbing installation by…” plus your number. A 3 × 1 m coated banner is 3 m² × approx. €13, so approx. €40 net.
- Small site board→For larger projects where you do the installation for a developer or in a public building. Dibond with UV print, screwed to the fence or on a frame.
3. In the hand and through the letterbox
In this trade the business card is still the basics, because customers pass it on. The second thing is a fridge magnet with your emergency number – a leaking tap or a tripped fuse happens on a Sunday evening, and nobody searches online for more than a minute then. Leaflets work on new housing estates, where people are still putting together their list of tradespeople.
- Business cards→500 double-sided cards on 350 gsm silk approx. €15 net, 1,000 approx. €25 net.
- Fridge magnet with your emergency number→Leave one after every visit. We print on magnetic sheet and cut it with rounded corners.
- Leaflets and folded brochures with your price list→Roll-folded DL leaflet, 1,000 pcs, approx. €90 net. Room for your services, a few photos of jobs and contact details.
- Job sheet and report pads→Your own branded forms instead of generic pads from the stationer’s. The customer is left with a sheet that has your number on it.
4. The crew
An engineer in a branded T-shirt inspires more confidence when walking into someone’s home. Transfer print lasts well, but workwear wears out, so you order it every season, not once and for all. Better to order fewer pieces more often than keep a box in the stores.
- Branded T-shirts and sweatshirts→A4 print on T-shirts is approx. €3.30 net each for 20–49 pcs and approx. €2.35 net for 50–99. Print on a sweatshirt from approx. €4 net.
- Logo stickers for toolboxes and kit→Tools are easier to find on a shared site, and a branded toolbox is advertising too when it sits in the customer’s hallway.
5. Workshop, shop and regular clients
If you run a small plumbing supplies shop or a store alongside the installation work, you need a sign so customers and couriers find the address. For regular trade partners (property managers, developers, merchants) a branded calendar that hangs all year works well.
- Sign for your base, workshop or shop→3 mm Dibond with UV print is approx. €35–55 net per m². If you are open in the evening, consider a light box.
- Three-panel wall calendars for trade partners→They hang in property managers’ offices and at merchants all year. Order in September or October, before the queues start.
- 01Brief
Description, sizes, site photos and deadline — a few sentences are enough.
- 02Design and quote
Our designers prepare artwork or a visualisation and you get a price.
- 03Approval
You approve the design; for brand colours we provide a proof.
- 04Production
35+ machines in our own plant in Poland: 3.2 m UV print, CNC, laser, 3D, sewing.
- 05Installation or delivery
Own crews and vehicles across Europe, partner network, couriers worldwide.
To start with — an indicative package
A starter set for a one-person business or small crew with one van. All amounts from our price list.
| Cast vinyl with UV print for the vehicle | approx. €19–29 net per m² |
| Polymeric laminate for the livery | approx. €8 net per m² |
| Double-sided business cards, 500 pcs | approx. €15 net |
| Banner 3 × 1 m for the site fence, coated 510 g (3 m² × approx. €13) | approx. €40 net |
| A4 print on T-shirts, 20–49 pcs | approx. €3.30 net each |
| Folded DL leaflet, 1,000 pcs | approx. €90 net |
Indicative net prices; exact quote after a short description and photos of the vehicle. Vehicle wraps are quoted by vehicle model and design.
From our experience — what to watch out for
- Don’t list every service on the van. “Electrician – installations, testing, solar PV” plus a big phone number reads from the road; a list of twelve items does not.
- Make the phone number on the back doors noticeably bigger than looks right on screen. A design viewed close up always seems overdone; from 20 metres it is just right.
- A service sticker only works if the engineer actually puts it on. Give everyone a sheet for the van and add it to the job sign-off checklist.
- Always hang a site banner with the client’s permission and take it down at handover. Next time they will suggest you put one up.
- Before wrapping a leased vehicle, check the agreement. It is usually allowed, but the vehicle has to go back without marks, so we use films that come off the paint cleanly.