How much does an A-frame sign cost in Australia?

What they cost, by quantity

Every figure below is a complete sign — the steel frame and both printed inserts — including GST and delivery Australia-wide. Read from the same price list the checkout charges from.

An A-frame is a piece of hardware with two prints in it, and the hardware is most of the cost. The frame is 4.5kg of black steel, hinged at the top, and the weight is the point: it is what keeps the sign standing on a footpath in a breeze without being fixed to anything. The inserts are two 600 × 900mm panels of 5mm fluted board, printed full colour, that slide in one each side. They swap out, which is the thing to understand about the price.

A changed message costs an insert, not a sign. When the special changes or the season turns, you keep the frame and print new panels. Two printed inserts on their own, one frame’s worth, are $109 including GST and delivery, from the first choice on the A-frame page. They are sold as one pair there; for more than a pair, five 600 × 900mm boards on the corflute page are $160 delivered, which is less per board, and what corflute costs covers the rest of that ladder. The frame alone, with nothing printed, is $164, for a blank you write on or a panel printed elsewhere. Over a few years a café that changes its board every season spends far more on inserts than it did on the frame, which is why a frame that lasts matters more than a frame that is cheap.

The standard A-frame at $198 is the everyday footpath sign: black steel, two fluted inserts that slide out, built for a message that changes. The premium A-frame, from $289, is the showpiece: a powder-coated frame holding rigid aluminium composite panels, printed edge to edge and gloss laminated, for a sign that is part of the shopfront and says the same thing every day. Choose on how often the message changes. If it changes monthly, the standard frame and a stack of inserts is the cheaper sign by a long way; if it never changes, the premium is the one people photograph.

Nothing for delivery. Delivery is included in this price — Australia-wide, with no freight line at the cart and nothing added later. Allow 1 to 2 working days longer outside NSW, QLD and VIC. Your complete delivered price is confirmed before you pay. Artwork from your own file is set up free; a board designed from nothing is quoted per job, or pick one of the designs under the product and change the words, which is free. Start from the 600 × 900mm template: the insert has a 5mm bleed on every edge and a margin that sits behind the frame, and a headline set hard against the top edge is the most common way an A-frame comes back with its first line hidden.

Council permission is not a print cost but it is a real one. Most councils regulate what may stand on a public footpath, some charge an annual fee, and a few require public liability cover. Check before the sign goes out.

1. Are the prints in it? Many A-frame prices are the empty frame. A frame price plus two inserts is the real figure.
2. Both sides? Some quotes print one insert and leave the back blank. A sandwich board is read from both directions.
3. What frame? Steel at 4.5kg stands up; a light plastic or thin aluminium frame walks across the footpath in a wind and ends up in the gutter. Ask the weight.
4. Do the inserts swap? If the panels are fixed, a new message is a new sign.
5. What size? 600 × 900mm is the standard footpath insert. A smaller frame is a different, cheaper product.
6. Including GST and delivery? Every figure here includes both.