What access details to record before a sign install

Before you leave a site, record how every sign gets installed: the access method (ladder, tower, MEWP), the working height, what the ground below is like, and anything about the site that constrains the work, traffic, footpaths, opening hours, locked areas. Access is the part of a sign job most likely to be underquoted, and the reason is almost always that nobody recorded it properly on the survey.

Here's what to capture, and why each one changes the job.

The access method

Decide and record how the install team reaches the sign, don't leave it as "we'll figure it out." A ladder job, a tower job, and a MEWP job are three different costs, three different crew requirements, and sometimes three different days. If it needs a MEWP, that's hire, delivery, and somewhere to put it. If you're not sure which it needs, record the height and conditions honestly and let the decision be made from real information.

Working height

Record the actual working height, not a guess from the ground. Height drives everything: the equipment, the safety requirements, whether one installer can do it or two. "About two storeys" becomes an argument later. A measured or carefully estimated height, noted against the sign location, becomes a plan.

What's under the sign

Photograph and note the ground conditions where the access equipment has to stand. A MEWP needs firm, level ground and room to set up. A tower needs the same. A sloping footpath, a garden bed, a stairwell, or a canopy in the way can turn a straightforward elevation into a rethink. This is the detail that's invisible in the client's photos and obvious the moment you stand there, which is exactly why it has to be recorded while you're standing there.

The site around the job

Record the constraints the site itself imposes: busy footpath that needs managing or permits, road traffic behind you, parking for the van and gear, opening hours if the work has to happen around trade, security or induction requirements, locked roof access. None of these are sign problems. All of them are install problems, and each one is either planned for or discovered expensively on the day.

Who and what else

Note anything overhead or nearby that affects the work: power lines, awnings, signage from the neighbouring tenancy, trees. And note who controls access if it's not the client, a landlord, a centre manager, a body corp. Chasing a key or an induction on install morning burns hours the quote never allowed for.

Record it against the location, with photos

Tie every access detail to the specific sign location and back it with photos. A multi-sign job can have easy access at one elevation and a nightmare at another; a single "access: OK" note for the whole site is how the nightmare one gets missed. Photograph the approach and the working area so the install team sees exactly what they're walking into before they load the van.

The test of a good access record is simple: could someone who's never seen the site load the right equipment, bring the right crew, and allow the right time, using only what you captured? If yes, the survey did its job.

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SignPad prompts for access details at every sign location, method, height, and conditions, alongside the photos that prove them, all in the report your install team works from. See a sample report.