Signboard ordering: from listing to installed sign, the complete AU guide

A signboard looks like a simple product. It is actually a chain of eight handovers, and each one is a place the job can stall. Here is the chain, what good looks like at each step, and the timings a well-run office should expect.

1. Listing signed, details captured

The authority is signed and the listing exists in your CRM. Every downstream asset should draw from this record: address, price or price guide, agent name and mobile, photography, and the campaign type (private treaty, auction, expressions of interest). If your marketing tool cannot read that record, someone is going to type it again.

2. Choose the product and size

Standard residential sizes in Australia usually run 1200x900 corflute for a photo sign, 2400x1200 for a large board, and smaller 600x450 for strata and unit listings. Auction campaigns often add a rider strip. Getting this right up front matters because the size determines the template, the bleed and the install method.

3. Build the artwork

This should be a fill-in-the-blanks job, not a design job. The brand block, colours, logo position and typography are locked by the agency. The agent edits the photo, the address, the price line and the agent panel. Target: under five minutes.

4. Internal check and vendor approval

Send a PDF proof to the vendor and, where required, an internal approver. Online sign-off beats email attachments because you get a timestamp and a single version of truth. Target: same day. In practice, most approvals come back within a couple of hours when the vendor gets a link rather than a 6MB attachment.

5. Dispatch to the printer

The printer needs print-ready PDF with correct bleed and colour profile, plus the job specs: substrate, size, quantity, finishing, and the delivery or install address. Sending that through an API drops it straight into the printer's MIS. Email still works, it just costs someone a data-entry job at the other end.

6. Production

Print, laminate if specified, cut and, for framed boards, mount. Most Australian trade printers turn residential corflute around in one to two business days.

7. Delivery or install

Either the board goes to the office for the agent to install, or it goes to an installer who does the post and frame on site. Install is the step most likely to be invisible to the office, which is why status updates matter here more than anywhere else.

8. Photo confirmation and close

The best installers photograph the installed board. That photo is both proof for the vendor and a genuine marketing asset for the agent's next listing pitch.

What the whole chain should cost you in time

In an office running a proper template and dispatch flow: five minutes to build, a few hours to approve, one to two days to print, one day to install. Listing to installed sign inside a week is a realistic benchmark. If your average is closer to two weeks, the delay is almost never at the printer. It is in steps 3 and 4.