Custom signs in Melbourne for every trade and premises — shopfront signs, site signage, retail rollouts, vehicle graphics and everyday print — produced at our own workshop in Ravenhall and installed anywhere in Australia. No middleman, no minimum order, and a real person on the phone.
Melbourne Trade Signs is a large-format print and signage company based on Orbis Drive in Ravenhall, in Melbourne's west. We print everything in-house — no outsourcing, no middleman — and install it with our own crews right across Australia.
That structure is the whole proposition. Most sign companies do one half of the job and buy in the other: a printer who subcontracts installation, or an installer who brokers the printing. Every extra party in the chain is a markup you pay for, a schedule you do not control, and someone to point at when something goes wrong. We do both parts ourselves, which means better pricing, consistent colour across a run, and one number to call.
We started out doing site signs and safety boards for builders in the western suburbs — the jobs that have to be right and have to be on time. Agencies and brands started calling because they wanted a print partner who actually picked up the phone. Today we handle national rollouts and 3D builds for recognisable brands, and we still print a single pull-up banner for someone starting out. Same care either way.
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If it can be printed, we make it. Here is where most of our work lands — each of these has a page of its own with the detail.
Permanent signage for premises: illuminated lightboxes, 3D and fabricated lettering, ACM fascia panels, acrylic cut letters, window graphics, one-way vision and wayfinding. Designed, made and fitted by us, including removing whatever is up there now. See shopfront signage in Melbourne →
Builder's site boards carrying the statutory permit and practitioner details, AS 1319 safety and PPE signage, project hoarding, ACM panels, reflective and traffic signage. Tough, compliant, and turned around to suit your program. See site signage in Melbourne →
National signage refreshes, seasonal campaigns, floor activations, recyclable 3D custom builds and full exhibition stands. Printed together for colour consistency, kitted by store, installed by our own crews in every state. See national rollouts →
Full and partial wraps, ute and van lettering, and consistent branding across an entire fleet. Cast vinyl that conforms to curves and holds, applied properly so it does not lift or bubble. See vehicle signage →
Corflute signs, posters, pull-up banners, vinyl and mesh banners, stickers, labels and one-offs. For any business, event or individual, in any quantity, with no minimum order. See everyday print →
Most people arrive knowing the problem, not the product. Find the job on the left and the answer is on the right — and if it is not here, call and we will work it out with you.
| What you need to do | Usual answer | Typical material | Rough lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Put your business name on a shopfront | ACM fascia sign, or 3D lettering for a premium look | Aluminium composite, acrylic or metal | 5+ years |
| Be visible after dark | Illuminated lightbox or halo-lit lettering | Fabricated housing, LED, acrylic face | 5+ years |
| Meet building permit requirements on a site | Builder’s site board | Corflute for short builds, ACM for long ones | 6 months – 5 years |
| Sign the hazards on a site | AS 1319 safety and PPE signage | Corflute, ACM or metal | 6 months – 7 years |
| Brand and screen a construction site | Printed hoarding or fence wrap | Printed vinyl on panel, or mesh in wind | 1–3 years |
| Advertise an offer that changes often | Window graphics, posters or A-frame | Vinyl film, paper, Corflute | Weeks – 3 years |
| Get privacy without blocking light | Frosted film, or one-way vision to print over it | Etch-effect or perforated film | 3–7 years |
| Brand a vehicle or a fleet | Full or partial wrap, or cut lettering | Cast vinyl with laminate | 3–7 years |
| Launch a campaign across every store | Managed rollout — printed, kitted and installed | Mixed, per element | Campaign duration |
| Stand out at an expo | Media wall, backlit graphics, full stand build | Fabric, honeycomb board, foamboard | Reusable |
| Hand something out or hold an event | Pull-up banner, vinyl banner, posters, stickers | Banner vinyl, fabric, paper, vinyl | Months – years |
Still not sure? That is what the phone is for. Tell us the problem — “nobody can find our entrance”, “the surveyor wants a sign on the fence”, “we are opening a second shop” — and we will tell you what solves it, including when the cheaper option is the right one. Call 0415 743 691, Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm.
Quotes tend to be full of trade names. Here is what they actually mean and when each one is the right call.
Lightweight fluted plastic board, like corrugated cardboard made of polypropylene. Cheap, quick, easy to cable-tie to a fence, and good for roughly 6 to 18 months outdoors. The default for temporary site signage, real estate boards, election signs and anything you expect to replace. Recyclable.
Two thin aluminium skins bonded to a plastic core. Rigid, flat, weatherproof and typically good for five years or more outdoors. This is the workhorse of permanent signage: shopfront fascias, long-run site boards, anything that has to stay sharp. Costs more than Corflute and lasts several times longer.
Printed or cut film applied to a surface. Cast vinyl is the premium grade — it conforms to curves and is what a vehicle wrap needs. Calendered vinyl is cheaper and suits flat surfaces. One-way vision is perforated so you can print over a window and still see out. Frosted or etch-effect film gives privacy while passing light. Lifespan runs 3 to 7 years depending on grade, laminate and sun exposure.
Laser-cut acrylic for crisp lettering, or built-up letters in acrylic and metal. Flat-mounted or set on raisers to throw a shadow line, and optionally lit from behind. This is the finish that makes a business read as established. Manufactured rather than printed, so it takes longer and costs more — and it shows.
Printed fabric for media walls, hanging signs and exhibition graphics — light, packable and no glare under lights. Mesh banner for fencing and hoarding where wind is a factor: air passes through instead of turning the sign into a sail and taking the fence with it.
Lightweight structural boards used for 3D builds, display structures and freestanding retail pieces. Strong enough to stand up, light enough to freight and install cheaply, and recyclable — which increasingly matters when the build is only up for a few weeks.
The short answer is sometimes. Here is how to work out which.
Signage across Victoria is controlled by Clause 52.05 of the planning scheme, which exists to keep signage compatible with the character of an area, avoid visual clutter and protect road safety. It sorts land into four categories with progressively tighter controls, and the category that applies to you depends on the zoning and any overlays on your specific address.
| Category | Typically | Business identification signs | Promotion signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Commercial | Retail strips, commercial areas | No permit where total display area of all signs to the premises does not exceed 8 sqm | Commonly to 8 sqm; permit if internally illuminated |
| 2 — Office & industrial | Business and industrial zones | As above to 8 sqm total, excluding direction signs | More limited than Category 1 |
| 3 — High amenity | Areas with amenity controls | Permit generally required | To 3 sqm, with a permit |
| 4 — Sensitive | Sensitive and protected areas | To 3 sqm total, with a permit | Prohibited |
Heritage overlays change the answer. Internal illumination frequently triggers a permit on its own. Signs projecting over a footpath usually need separate council approval for occupying public land. Some councils require substantial additional documentation for signs of 18 square metres or more. And none of this covers landlord or body corporate consent, which is a separate approval you almost certainly need if you lease.
This is a plain-English summary to help you scope a job. It is not planning advice. Categories are set by the zoning and overlays on your specific address, a Schedule to Clause 52.05 can vary the limits locally, and the provisions are amended from time to time — Amendment VC294 rewrote the sign exemptions in October 2025. Confirm with the statutory planning team at your council before commissioning a sign — substantial penalties apply for displaying a sign without required approval.
Call 0415 743 691 or send a brief. You do not need to know what the sign is called or what it should be made of. Describe what you are trying to achieve and when you need it.
Options, materials, finishes and honest advice about what suits the job — including when the cheaper choice is the better one. Quotes back within 2 business hours, Monday to Friday.
Send print-ready files, or a logo and an idea. Either works. You approve a proof before anything is printed or built.
Printed and fabricated on our own equipment. Nothing goes to a third party, which is why the colour is consistent and the timeline is ours to control.
Pickup from Orbis Drive, delivery across Melbourne and regional Victoria, freight interstate, or installation by our own crews anywhere in Australia.
Your artwork and specifications stay on file. Bigger clients get custom portals and reorder systems so the next round is effortless.
“In-house” sounds like a detail on a capability list. It is actually the reason three specific things go right:
The same logic applies to installation. Our own crews fit what we made, so there is nobody to point at when something is not right — and, more usefully, far less that goes wrong in the first place.
Read more about how we work →
Plenty of people still search for a signwriter when what they need is a sign made. Fair enough — the word has outlived the brush. Traditional signwriting meant lettering painted by hand onto a shopfront or a truck door. Most of what a Melbourne business orders from a “signwriter” today is digitally printed, computer-cut or fabricated: printed panels, cut vinyl lettering, ACM fascia signs, window graphics and illuminated lettering.
That is exactly the work we do. We are sign makers in the practical sense of the word: we help you work out what the sign should say and be made from, manufacture it at our Ravenhall workshop, and install it with our own crews. Same trade the signwriter carried, different tools — and the digital version is faster to produce, exactly repeatable when you open the next store, and easy to update when the phone number changes.
So if you arrived here hunting for a signwriting service, a sign shop or a sign company near you: yes, this is the right place. Tell us what you are trying to put a sign on and we will take it from there.
Sign type drives the price far more than size does. A printed Corflute board and a fabricated illuminated lightbox of identical dimensions are not comparable jobs — one is printed, the other is built, wired and installed at height. The main cost factors are the material, whether it is illuminated, how long it needs to last, access and working height at the install, and whether council or landlord approval is needed.
Because we print in-house rather than marking up a third party, we are usually more competitive than a broker on the same specification. Send us the details and we will quote your actual job within 2 business hours rather than giving you a range you cannot budget against.
No. One sign or five hundred, we will do the job. A single pull-up banner for someone starting a business gets the same care as a national rollout. That is unusual in this industry — most large-format printers set minimums — and it is deliberate, because the one-banner customer is often next year's fitout.
Printed items — banners, Corflute, posters, stickers, vinyl and window graphics — are the fastest, because they run on our own machines and we control the queue. Fabricated signage takes longer: illuminated lightboxes and built-up lettering are manufactured rather than printed. Permanent shopfront signage is often gated by approvals rather than production.
Tell us your deadline when you call and we will tell you straight away whether we can hit it. We would rather say no than miss a date you have planned around.
We install. Our own crews fit signage across Melbourne and right around the country — not a subcontracted installation network. You can also collect from our Ravenhall workshop on Orbis Drive during business hours, or have it delivered metro, regional or interstate. For anything at height, illuminated, or across multiple sites, installation by the people who made it is the difference between a sign that looks right and one that nearly does.
Yes. We are based in Ravenhall in Melbourne's west and we install Australia-wide — every capital and most regional centres. For multi-site clients that means one supplier handling every state instead of coordinating a different local sign company in each.
Yes. Send print-ready artwork and we will run with it. If all you have is a logo, a photo of a sign you like, or a rough idea, that is enough — we will suggest options, walk you through materials and finishes, and set it up. Artwork help is part of the job, not a separate service you have to ask for.
It depends on where the sign is, the zoning of the land, the type of sign and its size. Victoria's Clause 52.05 sorts land into four categories with progressively tighter controls. In commercial and industrial areas (Categories 1 and 2), business identification signage is commonly permitted without a planning permit where the total display area of all signs to the premises does not exceed 8 square metres. In high-amenity areas (Category 3) a permit is generally required, and in sensitive areas (Category 4) the cap drops to 3 square metres with a permit. Internal illumination often triggers a permit requirement on its own.
Two things to watch. A Schedule to Clause 52.05 can vary those limits for a specific area, and overlays — heritage in particular — change the answer again. The exemptions were also rewritten by Amendment VC294 in October 2025. Always confirm with the council for your municipality before you commission anything: penalties apply for displaying a sign without approval, and it usually has to come down at your cost.
Usually, yes. Send us a photo and, if you have them, the original specifications or brand colours. We colour-match in-house, which is precisely the situation where doing the printing ourselves pays off — there is no third party guessing at a colour from a JPEG. If an exact match is not achievable in a different material, we will tell you before you commit rather than after it is installed.
Builder’s site boards, AS 1319 safety signage, hoarding and reflective signs — plus what a Victorian site legally needs.
For trades & builders →Illuminated signs, 3D lettering, fascia panels and window graphics. What it costs and whether you need a permit.
For shops & offices →Every store, every state. Printed together, kitted by location, installed by our own crews.
For brands & agencies →Or start from the capability itself: everything here comes off the same machines, explained on our large format printing page.
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Send a quick brief or just give us a call. We will help you spec it and get it sorted. Quotes back within 2 business hours.