Commercial outdoor signage

The permitted work, start to finish.

Building-mounted and storefront LED signage across Los Angeles. Sold one way — complete — because the parts that go wrong are the ones between the scopes.

Large LED display on the side wall of a two-storey Los Angeles building at dusk
Why LA is different

The screen is the easy part.

Anyone can hang cabinets. Getting a sign approved in Los Angeles means sign districts, CPIO overlays, specific plans, historic districts, structural review and a planning process that punishes anyone learning it for the first time. That is where projects die, and it is most of what we do.

Zoning
Sign districts and overlays
What your parcel allows is not what the block allows. Overlay plans routinely override the base zoning, and the difference decides whether a project is possible at all.
Structure
Engineering above 250 sq ft
A large wall is thousands of pounds of dead load plus a sail in the wind. Structural review is not optional and it is not fast.
Power
Usually a service upgrade
A 29-foot wall peaks near 30 kW. Sixteen dedicated circuits, often a new panel, sometimes a new service. Found late, this is the thing that blows a budget.
Off-site advertising is restricted. Renting your wall to third-party advertisers generally requires sign district eligibility, and most parcels do not have it. Promoting your own business from your own building is a different question with a much better answer. We establish which one applies to you before anything is designed.
The process

Six stages, one contract.

Quoted as one total project price — design, permitting, fabrication, installation, AV and data cabling together. We do not sell permit-only scopes, and we do not hand over drawings for someone else to bid.

01FeasibilityWhat your address actually allows, before a dollar goes into design. Zoning, overlays, size limits, illumination rules, and whether on-site or off-site content is permitted.
02Design & engineeringSign drawings, structural attachment, electrical load calculations and photometrics — the package a plan checker actually needs.
03PermittingPlanning, Building & Safety, and whichever overlay reviews apply to your parcel. Submittal, corrections, resubmittal.
04FabricationCabinets, mounting steel and enclosures built to the approved drawings — not to a generic detail.
05InstallationRigging, electrical coordination, data infrastructure and commissioning, through final inspection.
06Content & servicePlayback, scheduling, calibration, and a spares package held locally. Then onto a service plan.
Storefront LED sign lit at dusk on a Los Angeles street

A feasibility review is the cheapest thing we sell and the most useful. It answers whether the sign you want is permittable at your address, roughly what size and brightness the code allows, and what the structural and electrical realities are — before anyone commits to a design.

  • We write the permit guide that other people in this trade read. The detailed version lives on handsomegroup.net.
  • Licensed and accountable. CA Lic. #1018849, C-7 low voltage, with electrical and structural subcontracted to licensed trades under one contract.
  • Everything papered. Scope, exclusions and responsibilities in writing before work starts, including subcontractor roll-ins and applicant-of-record.
Start here

Find out what your address allows.

Send us the address. We will tell you whether a sign is possible there, roughly how big, and what the real obstacles are — before you spend anything on design.

Request a feasibility review See the standard sizes
Questions

What people ask us.

Do I need a permit for an LED sign in Los Angeles?

If the sign faces a public right of way and carries advertising, yes. A screen facing your own seating area or interior, showing your own content to your own customers, generally does not require a sign permit. The distinction matters before you order, because it changes the timeline from weeks to months.

How long does a sign permit take in Los Angeles?

It depends on the parcel. A straightforward wall sign outside an overlay can move in a couple of months. A property inside a sign district or a CPIO overlay, or one needing structural review, takes considerably longer. Feasibility first tells you which you are dealing with before you spend money on design.

What is a CPIO overlay?

A Community Plan Implementation Overlay - a set of local rules layered on top of the base zoning that can restrict sign size, illumination, placement and sometimes ban digital signage outright. Several Los Angeles neighbourhoods have one, and it is the most common reason a sign that seems obviously allowable turns out not to be.

Do you handle the whole project or just the screen?

The whole project, as one contract and one price - feasibility, design, engineering, permitting, fabrication, installation, AV and data cabling. We do not sell permit-only scopes and we do not hand over drawings for somebody else to build.