Sign repair and maintenance

Dark letters, a flickering face, a section that comes on and goes off — those are the common ones, and most of them are fixable. Send a photo by WhatsApp and we can usually tell you what we are looking at before anyone drives anywhere.

For faults inside Guanacaste we get to you within one week. Outside Guanacaste the response time depends on the location and is agreed in advance. Most common faults are resolved in a single visit.

Our maintenance contracts run annually and cover inspection, cleaning, checks on the electrical connections, and replacement of components that have worn. The timing matters as much as the content: the check is best done before the rainy season rather than after it, because that is when a failing seal is still a seal and not yet a short circuit.

Three things do the damage, and they compound. UV breaks down faces, laminates and paint finishes. Humidity and driving rain get into anything that is not properly sealed, and then sit there. Salt air, near the coast, attacks fixings and finishes even when the material itself is the right one — we say that plainly on every coastal quote, because it is a condition of the location and not a defect in the sign.

How long a sign lasts here runs between one and seven years, depending on the requirements, the area, sun exposure, the materials the sign is built from, and whether it was built as a permanent or a temporary sign. Our guide to outdoor sign maintenance in a tropical climate goes through the care routine season by season.

If the structure and the housing are sound, upgrading is usually the right answer — new LED modules, a new face, new graphics — and it typically saves 30 to 50% against a new sign. Converting an older illuminated system to LED sits in the same category.

If the sign is old and in poor condition we will tell you that an upgrade is a patch that costs more over time, and we will recommend replacing it. We would rather lose the repair job than sell you the same sign twice.

We can often help, but we inspect first. We did not build it, so we do not know the construction, the materials or the wiring, and we will not quote a repair on a guess. The inspection tells us — and you — whether the sign is worth repairing at all.

A replacement sign is fitted by the same crew that services this one; that side of the work is described on our sign installation page.

Manufacturing and installation work we carry out is covered by our 6-month warranty, which excludes external damage. The Warranty Policy sets out the detail — misuse, extreme weather, natural wear, and installation or electrical work carried out by others are all outside it.