If you have called around for channel letter quotes, you have probably noticed that almost nobody will give you a number before a site visit. There are good reasons for that — but after fabricating thousands of channel letter sets at our Norcross shop, we can at least give you honest ranges and explain exactly what moves the price up or down.
Realistic Price Ranges
For a typical storefront in Metro Atlanta, a set of illuminated channel letters usually lands between $3,000 and $8,000 installed. A small set of front-lit letters on a raceway for a strip-mall suite sits at the lower end. A large set of individually mounted letters with a logo cabinet on a brick facade — think anchor tenant on a busy corridor — can run $10,000 to $20,000 or more. Non-illuminated dimensional letters for an office or interior wall are significantly less, often $1,500 to $4,000.
What Actually Drives the Price
Size matters most — letters are fabricated, wired, and installed individually, so a 36-inch set costs meaningfully more than an 18-inch set. Illumination style is next: front-lit letters are the workhorse, halo-lit (reverse) letters cost more because of the standoff mounting and lighting geometry, and combination front/back-lit letters are the premium option. Mounting method matters too: letters on a raceway (a painted metal box that carries the wiring) are faster and cheaper to install than letters mounted directly to the wall, where each letter is drilled and wired through the facade.
Then there are the costs people forget: electrical connection to your sign circuit, the sign permit (every Metro Atlanta jurisdiction requires one for an illuminated wall sign), engineering drawings if the landlord or city requires them, and lift or crane time for anything above the first story. A reputable quote includes all of it — if a bid looks dramatically cheaper, check what it leaves out.
Where Businesses Overspend (and Underspend)
The most common overspend we see is buying bigger than the sign code allows. Every jurisdiction caps sign area based on your storefront width, and paying for letters that get rejected at permitting helps no one. The most common underspend is cheap LED modules and power supplies — the letters look identical on day one, but bargain components fail in two or three Georgia summers, and service calls erase the savings. We build with UL-listed components because we are the ones who get the repair call either way.
Because GOM Signs designs, fabricates, permits, and installs under one roof, our quotes are all-in numbers — no surprise line items between approval and installation. Send us a photo of your storefront and your suite width, and we will give you a real number, usually within 48 hours.
