By Tor Larson, owner of Signs East LLC
Two sets of rules decide the size: your town’s sign ordinance and, in most plazas and strip centers, the landlord’s sign criteria. The smaller limit wins. Most size problems we see come from a design drawn before anyone checked either one. By then the letters are too tall for the sign band or the sign is over the town’s area limit, and the design goes back for changes.
How do towns measure the area of a channel letter sign?
Most towns measure channel letters in one of two ways, and the method can change your allowed letter height a lot.
Many ordinances draw a single rectangle around the whole sign, including the letters, the logo and any raceway, and count everything inside it. Others add up the area of each letter or word separately, leaving out the empty space between them.
Here is how much that matters. A business name 20 feet long with 24-inch letters takes up a 40-square-foot rectangle. Measured letter by letter, the same sign might count for far less, because the gaps between letters aren’t included. The ordinance’s definition of “sign area” tells you which method your town uses, and we read it before we size the letters.
How much sign area does a business get?
In many towns, the wall sign allowance is tied to the length of your building frontage, often with a cap on the total. A wide storefront gets a bigger sign than a narrow one on the same street. Corner units sometimes get a second wall sign for the side street.
Freestanding signs can change the math. In some towns a pylon sign at the road has its own allowance. In others it counts against the same total as the wall sign. If your property has both, check how the town splits them before designing either one.
What else do the rules limit besides size?
Placement, projection and lighting come next. Many ordinances keep wall signs below the roofline or inside the building’s sign band. They also limit how far the letters can stick out from the wall. That affects raceway-mounted letters, since the raceway adds depth.
What are landlord sign criteria?
Sign criteria are the landlord’s own rules for every tenant sign in a plaza. They are usually attached to the lease. They keep the storefronts consistent, and they are often stricter than the town.
Criteria commonly set a range for letter height, the approved sign band, allowed colors, and whether letters go on a raceway painted to match the wall or mount directly. They also cover the lighting type and who pays for the electrical connection. Most landlords want to approve the drawings before the application goes to the town. Build that approval into your timeline, since some property managers take weeks to respond.
If you don’t have a copy of your plaza’s sign criteria, ask the property manager before any design work starts.
What happens if the sign you want is too big?
You have two options: resize the design or ask the town for a variance. Resizing is faster. That can mean shortening the name, stacking it on two lines, or dropping the logo into its own smaller element.
Do the rules apply if you are only replacing or updating old letters?
It depends on how much changes. Swapping out failed neon or fluorescent lighting for LEDs in the same letters is usually electrical work, and sign repair on existing letters generally keeps the sign as it was approved. A new name, bigger letters, or a new location on the wall usually means the new sign has to meet today’s rules. That applies even if the old sign was larger. Each town decides, so we confirm with the building department before the work starts.
How does Signs East LLC size a channel letter sign?
We start with the rules, then design. We measure the frontage, read the town’s sign ordinance and the landlord’s criteria, and work out the largest sign that fits both. Then we show you a scaled mockup of the letters on a photo of your building, so you see the real size before anything is built. Our own crew fabricates and installs the letters, and we handle the permit paperwork.
We work from our Kingston shop at 34 Route 125 and our Seabrook office at 563 Lafayette Rd, Unit 2. We serve businesses across Southern New Hampshire, the Seacoast and North Shore Massachusetts.
Common questions about channel letter sign size
Does the raceway count toward my sign area?
In many towns it does, when the ordinance measures a rectangle around the whole sign. Mounting the letters directly to the wall, or painting the raceway to match the wall, can help. The definition in your town’s ordinance decides it.
Can I put up the same sign at my second location?
Only if both towns and both landlords allow it. Frontage, area rules and criteria differ from place to place. The same name often needs different letter heights at each location.
Get Your Channel Letter Sign Sized Right the First Time
Send us a photo of your storefront, the property address, and your plaza’s sign criteria if you have them. We will check the town and landlord rules, size the letters to fit both, and show you a scaled mockup before anything goes into production. Request a quote to get started.
