The worst thing that can happen to any billboard is to end up being torn down for property redevelopment. In this Billboard Mastery podcast we’re going to explore some of the real-life tricks you can use to minimize your exposure to this risk.
Episode 127: Tricks To Stay Out Of Harm's Way Transcript
Webster's Dictionary defines permanence as the state or quality of lasting or remaining unchanged indefinitely. And of course, for any billboard builder or buyer of an existing structure, that is what we all seek. We never want that sign to ever, ever come down. This is Frank Rolf of the Billboard Mastery Podcast. We're going to talk about methods you can use to try and make sure that your sign has permanence. Now, what causes a sign to come down? You might say, when you build that billboard, what makes someone down the road want to remove it? And the most common answer is redevelopment. They want to do something different with the land, and they don't believe that the sign fits in with their plans, particularly if the sign is located where that future building is going to be. So the first way we try and build permanence with a billboard is to place it in an area that can't be used in the future. Now, you might say, well, what part of a land parcel can't be used in the future? Well, one thing is setbacks, because if you look at the building code in many cities, they have very defined setbacks for buildings from front and side and rear property lines.
And if you become educated on this, if you know where the walls of the building can go, and let's say the answer is the building has to be at least 50ft from the side property line and 50ft from the front property line. If you can put your sign or the pole of your sign within that boundary where they can't build now, you've greatly increased your odds of permanence. Or maybe there's a creek or ravine that runs through the property. They're not going to build the building on top of the ravine. But if you can put the sign pole in the banks of that ravine, once again, you're out of the way. You're out of harm's way when the development happens down the road. So that's rule number one. If you want permanence with your sign is put the sign where no one ever is going to need to remove it to build the building. Now, the next thing you need to think about that is what causes people to remove signs is they're ugly. People don't like ugly signs. And if they're going to take that land down the road and make something new on the land, even if you're not where the building goes, then you want to make the sign look good.
Many sign companies lose track of this concept. So after they build the sign, they don't do any more routine maintenance at all. The pole Gets completely rusted. There was a storm, part of the sign ripped off, it landed on the ground. They never even cleaned it up. Those are the types of things, the kind of behavior that will make your sign lose its permanence. Now, another way you can lose your sign is just having a poorly written lease. You want a lease that is a little stricter and stronger than just that. The seller can cancel for any reason they want, anytime they want. If your lease instead provides that in the event of permanent construction or requiring removal, that puts a little more teeth in it because they have to demonstrate how what they're building on the property means that your sign has to go. Now in building the signs, some things that allow you to put the sign pole where there can't be a building is by going with structures other than your traditional center mount. A traditional center mount sign means if you had a 48 foot wide by 14 foot high advertisement on it, your pole sits about the middle of that 48ft.
So about 24ft and probably about 1 1/2ft to 2ft on either side of that line is where your pole would be. But based on where the sign needs to be for permanence instead, you may want to opt to go with a full flag design that would put the pole right at the frontage. Whatever your sign setback is. Sign setbacks can often be as small as only 5ft. So now the pole is not going to ever be in the way because it is so close to the street or so close to the property owner side property, it can never come up. Or if you really, really, really want to get it into that tight corner that no one can ever bother doing a full flag with an offset means you can literally put the sign pole in the farthest most corner, although you still have to meet the setback requirement. But you could have a pole three feet from the front, let's say, and three feet from the side. Once again, you've almost surely locked on that they're never going to utilize that spot. So often when you're trying to make the pole have permanence, because that's why they remove the sign, not the top of the sign.
It doesn't matter to anyone but the bottom where it meets the ground. If you want to get that in a spot that no one can use, then doing some of these alternative design methods may be the key. Also, if you're trying to make the sign attractive to give it permanence, be a little bit more creative if you want with the pole itself, particularly if you're in an area that's a little more upscale, a little more expensive. I've covered sign poles with bricks, for example, in the past. I've done stucco. I've never done it, but I've seen people who have covered the pole in mylar. Reflective Mylar gives a very interesting effect because it reflects what's around it. It kind of makes the sign pole nearly vanish. Also, make sure you always keep your sign in immaculate condition. The skirt is clean. If you have a shield on the sign that it's attractive. Never let any litter or pieces of the sign fall on the ground without being picked up immediately. These are all things that you can do if you want to make have permanence. And when you do that ground lease to begin with, make sure you've read it, that you understand it, and that you've given.
Because many people will not sign the lease without some form of option for redevelopment, but that you at least have nailed that down as well as you can to make sure it's not someone just trying to renegotiate by threatening to remove it just for the heck of it trying to get more money in the door. The bottom line to it all is that all sign owners love the concept of permanence. Because a permanent sign means you're going to get a financial yield from that structure not for years, but decades. I have seen with my own eyes signs that were a hundred years old, still in operation, and a plethora of signs that were half a century old. How is it possible, you might say, because they followed what I'm telling you as far as the basic building blocks of creating permanence. And when you look back on those signs and how much money those signs have yielded over all that time, it's fairly staggering. I bought a billboard once, an existing sign in Interstate 30 just outside of downtown Dallas. And when we got down the original plywood of that sign after I bought it, putting safety equipment on it, etcetera.
There was an ad for something called Earl White's Review. It was a big band that played in Dallas. I looked it up and it was a popular group back in the 1940s. So that sign had been up at least since the 1940s. Think about that. That sign had been producing a stream of income for at least 60 years or so. If that sign had made $5,000 a year, it created $300,000 from a bunch of wooden telephone poles in plywood along a highway in Dallas. That's what you want. You want that long term money. You want permanence with your sign. And those are some tips to help you achieve that. This is Frank Rolfe, the Billboard Mastery Podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.