A standard front-lit channel letter with stainless steel trim and an acrylic face runs $1.05 to $1.35 per centimeter of letter height from our factory floor. So a 30cm letter is 31 to 40 bucks, a 60cm letter is 63 to 81. That's your anchor.
Everything below changes that number. Sometimes by 10%. Sometimes by 300%.
Yes. And not the way most buyers think.
Bigger letters use more material, sure. But the real cost driver is stroke depth. A 30cm letter with a 30mm stroke is a skinny little thing that bends easy and takes half the LED modules. A 30cm letter with an 80mm stroke is a fat pig that needs double the acrylic, double the returns, double the labor. You're not paying for the face. You're paying for the volume of that letter's guts.
Look, I've quoted the same 60cm "A" in 50mm stroke at $75 and in 100mm stroke at $150. The customer thought I was gouging. I wasn't. The 100mm stroke letter weighs three times as much and takes three times as long to weld and grind.
Here's what nobody tells you: stroke depth also affects LED placement. A 30mm stroke needs one row of modules. A 100mm stroke needs three rows or you get hot spots and dark corners. That's triple the LED cost, triple the wiring, triple the failure points.
And overall dimensions mess with shipping. A 120cm letter can't go in a standard carton. You're paying for a plywood crate and losing half a container to air. Compared to four 30cm letters that pack tight, the big letter costs 20-30% more per centimeter just to freight.
Non-illuminated letters are the cheapest, obviously. No LED, no power supply, no wiring harness, no aging test. You save maybe 40% off the front-lit price. But then your sign is invisible at night, and your customer calls you six months later asking why they paid for a sign nobody sees after 6pm.
Traditional neon is dead unless you're doing a retro diner thing. It costs more to bend glass, it breaks, it hums, and it pulls more power. I won't even quote it for outdoor anymore. One bird hits a neon tube and you're replacing the whole letter. End of story.
LED is the standard. A good front-lit channel letter with SMD 2835 modules runs 100-150 lumens per watt and lasts L70 ≥50,000 hours. That's over 5 years of real lifespan if you use Bluesky or Rishang modules. Cheap LED modules? 12-18 months, then you're on a ladder swapping power supplies.
The ugly truth is that many shops quote the same price for cheap LED and good LED, then pocket the difference. Ask what brand of module they're using. If they can't name it, walk away.
Backlit halo letters cost more than front-lit. You're adding a clear polycarbonate backing, mounting studs, and a second set of LED modules aimed backward. Our backlit halo letters run $1.50 to $1.95 per centimeter for stainless trim with acrylic face. That's a 30-50% premium over front-lit. Worth it for a law office. Overkill for a nail salon.
Dual-lit (front and back) and RGB effects add even more. RGB with DMX control doubles the wiring and needs a controller. You're paying for the show, not the sign.
Because material is 35-45% of the total cost. Get it wrong and your sign is garbage in three years.
Acrylic is the face. Imported UV-resistant acrylic from Mitsubishi or Degussa lasts 5-8 years before yellowing. Domestic acrylic? 1-2 years, then it looks like a smoker's teeth. The light transmittance is almost identical — 90-92% for both — so your customer won't see a difference in brightness. But they'll see the yellow in two summers.
Standard thickness is 5mm for our default faces. A 3mm face lets through 92% of the light. A 2mm face lets through 90%. Your customer won't notice the 2% brightness difference, but they will notice the 40% cost bump for 5mm. Don't let a fabricator upsell you on thick acrylic for no reason.
Returns are usually aluminum or stainless. Aluminum weighs a third of steel and rusts only if you scrape it. Aluminum gives you 8-12 years outdoors, minimum. Powder-coated aluminum is fine for most strip malls. But if your client is near salt water, stop being cheap and use 316 stainless.
Stainless steel letters come in two grades. 304 is the workhorse: 18% chromium, 8% nickel, good for 10+ years outdoor. 316 adds 2-3% molybdenum and costs 20-30% more. For Miami Beach, pay for 316. For Ohio, 304 is fine. I've seen this go wrong: a restaurant on the Gulf coast ordered 304 letters, and in three years the screws rusted and the letters started pitting. They blamed the fabricator. It was the material choice.
Baked paint versus electroplated is another variable. Baked paint in any RAL color runs $0.90 to $1.05 per centimeter for stainless. Electroplated gold or chrome runs $1.05 to $1.20. Electroplating is a chemical bath, more labor, more reject rate. Same steel, different finish, different price.
And acrylic faces? Acrylic LED letters with just an acrylic body (no metal return) are cheaper to make but look flimsy. Good for indoor, maybe 3-5 years outdoor if you don't mind warping. I'd never put one on a building facade.
Mounting is the line item nobody budgets for. Then the installer calls and says the wall is brick, not drywall, and the job just got $500 more expensive.
Flush mount with silicone and screws is cheapest. But if you need a raceway — that aluminum channel hiding all the wiring and power supplies — you're adding $20-40 per foot, plus the labor to hang it. Some cities require raceways for all channel letters over a certain size. Others don't care.
Site conditions kill budgets. A third-floor install needs a lift, two guys, and a safety harness. That's $800 before you even touch the sign. A storefront with a flat wall at ladder height? That's a $200 install. Same letters.
Here's what nobody tells you: LCL sea freight means your crate gets handled 6-8 times between our dock and yours. Every touch is a chance for a forklift through the face. That's not in the brochure. Budget 5% for damage and file claims before the driver leaves.
If you're ordering front-lit channel letters for a storefront, measure the wall. Check for studs. Look up the city's sign code before you quote. Otherwise you'll eat the cost of the raceway and the permit and the lift, and your margin disappears.
Because they're boring, so nobody talks about them. Then the inspector shows up and tags your sign.
UL 48 certification for electric signs costs $4,000 to $15,000 per product family, takes 4-9 months, and includes quarterly factory audits. ETL is a cheaper alternative, 10-30% less, and most US inspectors accept it. CE marking costs 20,000-50,000 RMB for the paperwork, but it's self-declared for many components. Most factories will tell you they have CE, UL, whatever. Ask to see the certificate with today's date. Watch them sweat.
For outdoor letters, you need IP65 minimum. That means dust-tight and protected against water jets. IP66 handles powerful jets, which is what you want if the sign faces the ocean. IP68 is submersible — overkill for letters unless you're building an aquarium sign.
Permits are a local game. Some cities charge $50 and stamp the drawing. Others charge $500 and want engineering calculations for wind load, a site survey, and a licensed electrician's signature. Guess which one eats your profit.
I've heard a shop owner say, "I'll just skip the permit, nobody checks." Then the fire marshal did a surprise inspection and made him remove a $4,000 sign. Rookie mistake. Don't be that guy.
Because you're cutting out three layers of markup.
A domestic sign shop buys from a regional fabricator, who buys from a Chinese factory, who buys raw materials. Each layer adds 30-50%. I've watched sign shops pay $800 for a front-lit letter from a domestic fabricator. Same 304 stainless, same Samsung LEDs. We ship that letter for $120.
The manufacturing method matters too. Laser cutting hits ±0.1mm accuracy and takes 1-2 days. Bending and TIG welding take another 1-2 days. Grinding and polishing are the soul-sucking part — 1-2 days per batch. Then 8-12 hour aging test, 100% QC inspection, and export packaging with foam, carton, and plywood crate. You're paying for all of that labor, so don't think factory-direct means cheap labor without quality. It means the labor is costed at Chinese wages, not Chicago wages.
An MOQ of 1 piece means you can test us with a sample before committing to a 50-letter order. Sample lead time is about 5 days. Bulk production is about 15 days, we confirm case by case depending on quantity, size, and complexity. Shipping runs express 7-10 days, air about 10 days, fast sea 40-50 days, standard sea about 65 days. We quote freight per destination and volume — never a flat rate.
Look, if you're still buying channel letters from a local shop that just resells imported signs with a 100% markup, you're leaving money on the table. Ask for the material certificates. Ask for the LED module brand. Ask if they can do MOQ 1 and a 2-year LED warranty. Then compare.
"Can you make a 100cm letter for $50?"
No. A 100cm front-lit letter with stainless trim and acrylic face costs $105 to $135. That's the floor. If someone quotes you $50, they're using 201 stainless, domestic acrylic, and LED modules that'll die in 12 months. Enjoy your ladder.
"Does UL certification cost extra?"
Yes. UL certification is a whole program, not a sticker. If a factory says "UL certified" but can't show you the file number, they're lying. Verify it on UL's website. Takes two minutes.
"Can I skip the power supply and just run it off 120V?"
No. LED modules run on 12V or 24V DC. You need a power supply, and a good one — Mean Well or equivalent. The power supply warranty is 1 year, not 2 like the LEDs. That's normal. Budget for a spare.
"Why is your price per centimeter different from the last factory I talked to?"
Because the last factory quoted 201 stainless, 3mm acrylic, no UL file, and no aging test. I've seen their work. The letters rusted through the paint in 6 months. You get what you pay for, and now you know what you're paying for.
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