Signwriting on Van

busiscoming2

Hi Would like some feedback/advice: My husband has been a self employed builder for a year now and at the moment drives a white van. He is thinking of getting it sign written with his name, phone nos and basically what sort of work he does etc, Does this sort of advertising work? - do you take the name and no from the side of a van? and if you work in a similar trade does this bring you in more work?
Thanks in anticipation!

Tom_Jones

All my vans are professionally signwritten, it does bring in a small amount of work, but IMHO it looks far more professional when they turn up on site or at a clients home

Charliecat

What about those magnetic signs? He could remove it then, if your phone number changed or he wasnt doing certain services, or it went pear shaped.

jellyang

It does look more professional & may bring in a small amount of work.

The downside is you may get the vehicle broke into because you are advertising what may be inside e.g. builders tools etc
The biggest problem I found was people ringing the phone number to say 'Your driver just cut me up at the roundabout'

The removable magnetic ones are a good idea.

crossleydd42

He'll just have to be an impeccable driver!

You can get vinyl signing as well. Don't forget the back, in many ways more valuable than the sides, with following traffic.

Look at:

http://www.signsandshirts.co.uk/diy.html

As an aside, don't forget parish magazines, which are a good and cheap source of advertising. And freebie newspapers are cheap, too.

Astaroth

It is a good thing in my opinion but does mean that how the vehicle is driven/ kept becomes part of the company image too.

Not sure about the magnetic ones? Guess it depends how difficult they are to remove/ how likely some local louts are to steal them -v- how much of a pain it is to remember to remove them each time/ make sure they are straight when putting them back

busiscoming2

Thanks for your comments - he had thought about magnetic ones to start with, but decided against them. Thanks crossleydd42 for the link, its worth thinking about the diy option.

misgrace

I am a female decorator and I have a plain white Van, I was toying with the idea of having my name and number on the Van, but I found through working for compainies in the past and driving the works van, a lot of idiots would ring up and moan like the OP said, and again like the OP said, just be care of advertising it as a builder, and you might get oiks trying to break into your van to steal the tools.

I dont want to tempt fate, but so far I have been lucky, and I also have wire mesh on my back windows.

A neighbour of mine, he's moved now, but he was so fed up with his van being broken into, he only went and wired his van up, so if it got broken into again, the toerags would get a nasty electric shock.:eek:

I did say to him that what he is doing is against the law etc, well I think it is, cause the poor criminal has rights you know,:rolleyes: he just shrugged his shoulders and basically said I dont give a****.

suzialwaysbroke

We have a sign written van for business, yes your driving has to improve!! We think it is definitely worth it money wise. It gives a professional appearance if done well &, for us, has brought in business. As to changing phone no. why not have a freephone no & web address - not expensive & doesn't matter if you move

Justin_Credit

I am a painter and decorator and I had my van signwritten last year. To be honest it is the best thing I have ever done, I have gained a lot of work from it and the advertising is targeting the customers I wish to attract. My name is in a very large font which i found embarrassing at first but it certainly works.

The van security issue is a different thing. I don't have any windows in the load carrying area and both the access doors are now protected by Armaplate lock covers. I had stuff taken from a previous van that was not signwritten, so I think it is just a matter of luck and the area you live in that determines whether your van is broken in to.

HTH
Regards JC

needaspirin

I tried this but found that my business actually went down