FAQ

Q. Why Cornerstone for your next sign ?
A. Since 1984, the founder, Bob Singleton, has been designing, fabricating and installing church, school and commercial signs. He has been personally involved in church sign projects from Seattle, Washington to New York City.   Cornerstone Companies LLC is committed to providing you with a quality sign that meets your current budget requirements. Cornerstone currently works with several large wholesale only sign manufacturers. One has fabricated over 14,000 church and school signs.  One specializes in custom sign projects and has built church and school signs since 1985. One is one of Americas largest aluminum extrusion providers purchasing aluminum a half million pounds at a time, passing that purchasing savings power on to our clients. Cornerstone is committed to helping clients be good stewards while investing in their new signs.  This is the Cornerstone that founded the company and will always be a primary goal of the company.

Q. Why do we sell "Standard" and "Premier" models and what is the difference ?
A. Cornerstone began offering only Premier Model signs to church and schools. At that time, the major institutional sign providers had exclusive contracts that made "Standard Model" signs unavailable.  Due to acquisitions  in the industry and re-assigning of exclusive contracts, "Standard Models" became available to every sign company in America.  Cornerstone reacted to these changes by offering "Standard Models" in addition to it's "Premier Models". A number of efforts have been made by the largest sign provider to block Cornerstone from offering "Standard Models". While those efforts have been successful in some regards, Cornerstone is still able today to offer the industry "Standard Models" along with it's own exclusive "Premier Model".

Cornerstone's "Standard Model" signs are identical is every feature to the models offered by America's largest church and school sign provider. The only difference is the paint finish. "Standard Models" are available with painted finishes but do have available, powder coated finishes when desired. Painted finishes are the industry standard and in fact were the sole finish offered by America's largest sign provider up until that company's most recent sell and acquisition. Because the company now provides signs from a wholesale fabricator that only offers powder coated finishes, this finish is now intensely promoted. Thousands of institutional signs have been fabricated with painted finishes and have been installed throughout America proving to be 100% reliable and maintenance free.

Cornerstone's "Premier Model" signs are more heavy duty than the industry "Standard Model". They have wider cabinets, more secure and maintenance free vandal covers, offer more changeable copy options than "Standard Models" and are easier to install. Call 800-456-9371 for additional information on the model differences.

Q. Which is better... Painted or powder coated finishes ?
A. This is an interesting and complicated question to address.  Marketing efforts by aggressive sales people that offer only one of these options make understanding the choice even more complicated. The short answer is that either finish if prepared properly and applied consistently and with the proper equipment and quality controls will provide your sign with a maintenance free lifetime finish. Some companies that purchase their signs from wholesale fabricators that offer only one finish will insist that their finish is the only finish that you should ask for. This simply is not true. Cornerstone only offers the very best finishes available on signs anywhere. Our recommendation is painted finishes because should your sign ever require on location touchups, powder coated finishes are very difficult to touch up outside of a plant and the necessary ovens required of powder coated finishing. This, added with the fact that thousands of institutional signs are in place in all 50 states and have proven that painted finished withstand the most extreme of weather conditions make painted finishes a safe and reliable sign finish.

Q. Do our signs come with vandal covers ?
A. Yes. All of our vandal covers are made of unbreakable solar grade polycarbonate just as are the sign faces.  Standard models have sliding locking props. Premier models have gas powered cylinders. Both doors lock. Premier models have keyed locks.  Standard models have a keyless system.

Q. Do our signs come with changeable letters ?
A. Yes.   We recommend a package of 454 letters, numbers and punctuation. From experience, we have found this is be satisfactory in almost every situation. We d not sell you more letters than you need and we make ordering additional letters very easy should you require them.

Q. Do our signs come with any warranty ?
A. Yes.  All of our signs carry a limited lifetime warranty. The electrical components have a standard one year warranty. Our lifetime warranty extends for the normal life of a sign. The normal life of a sign is twenty years. Nothing lasts forever.  We do not try and make you think that it will.

Q. How long does it take to get my new sign ?
A. Normal production time is 30 days. We recommend allowing an additional week for transit.  Some times of the year, normal production time is only 3 weeks.

Q. Will I need a sign company to install my new sign ?
A. No. Obviously, if you have a working relationship with a local sign installer, you might consider having them install your new sign. Most churches and schools simply call upon the experience and availability of it's members and associates to install their sign. A very good choice that we recommend it to have your local electrician or brick mason assist with your sign. Quite often they will be called upon to wire your sign or build your wall should you choose to have a wall built and they are more than capable of installing your sign. Our signs are shipped assembled and ready for easy installation by non-professionals.  We have never had a situation whereby a client was unable to perform their installation.

Your individual situation needs to be investigated prior to your ordering your new sign. Some local sign ordinances are more restrictive and make it necessary to subcontract your sign installation to a local sign professional.  Cornerstone has successfully subcontracted sign installations throughout the entire US. Your sales representative is qualified and willing to help you in every aspect of your sign installation.

Q. Why do our signs cost less ?
A. Overhead and commissioned sales costs. Cornerstone was founded with the goal of helping churches and schools save on their sign investments.  The company works hard to make sure that never changes.

Q. What if I have a question that you have not answered here ?
A. Call us. We would sincerely appreciate the opportunity to discuss any question that you might have.
1-800-456-9371.