Tradesmen Site Board Printing

Site Boards That Work While You Do

A site board is the cheapest advertising a trade business will ever buy. It sits on the job for weeks, in front of exactly the audience you want — neighbours who can see the work being done, and passers-by who now know who did it.

Ours are 800 x 600mm, printed single sided in full colour, in your choice of two board materials. No minimum order, so a single board for one job is as straightforward as a batch for the van.

Correx or ACM?

This is the only real decision, and it comes down to how long the board needs to survive and how many times it gets moved.

6mm fluted Correx — lightweight, waterproof and the more economical option. Correx site boards are a corrugated plastic, rigid enough to stand up to weather but light enough to carry a stack in the van. The sensible choice for boards that stay on one job and get replaced when they look tired, or where you're putting out a lot of them at once.

3mm ACM board — aluminium composite, sometimes sold as Dibond or Alupanel. Two thin aluminium skins bonded either side of a plastic core, which makes it genuinely rigid and properly weatherproof. It won't flex, crack at the corners or fade the way a lighter board eventually does. Worth the difference if the board gets moved from site to site and needs to still look professional on the tenth job rather than the first.

If you're buying one board that lives in the van and goes out on every job, choose ACM. If you're buying ten to leave on ten jobs, Correx will usually make more sense.

Who Uses Site Boards

Any trade that works on visible sites, which is most of them:

• Builders and extensions — the classic use for builders site boards. A board on the front of a build that runs for months is months of advertising to everyone on the street.
• Roofers — scaffolding goes up, the board goes on, and every neighbour with an ageing roof sees it.
• Landscapers and driveway contractors — front garden work is the most visible trade there is, and neighbours notice a finished driveway.
• Electricians, plumbers and heating engineers — a board on the van or the fence during a rewire or boiler install.
• Joiners, plasterers and decorators — anywhere work is happening at the front of a property.
• Scaffolding firms — boards fixed to the scaffold itself, advertising while the structure is up.
• Estate agents and developers — plot boards, site notices and development signage.
• Skip hire and plant firms — boards travelling with equipment onto every job.

The common thread is a job that's visible from a road or a pavement for more than a day. If people can see the work, a board turns that into enquiries.

What You Get

• 800 x 600mm — big enough to read from the pavement, small enough to carry under one arm and store flat in a van.
• Full colour, single sided printing.
• Your choice of 6mm Correx or 3mm ACM.

Boards are supplied printed and trimmed to size. We don't fit eyelets, drill fixing holes or supply fixings — how the board is mounted is down to you, and most trades have their own preference depending on whether it's going on a fence, a hoarding, a stake or a wall.

Designing a Site Board

The rule for site boards is that they're read from further away and at greater speed than any other print you'll buy — usually by someone walking or driving past, giving it a second or two at most.

Fewer words, bigger type. Trade, business name, phone number. Everything else is optional. A board crammed with services, accreditations and a website URL reads as a wall of text from twenty feet and communicates nothing.

Make the phone number the second biggest thing on the board, after the trade. It's the only element that turns a passer-by into an enquiry.

Contrast matters more than brand colours. A board that looks smart on screen can disappear against a hedge, a brick wall or a grey sky. Strong contrast between text and background is what makes it legible at distance.

Artwork Requirements

• Finished size: 800 x 600mm
• Bleed: 5mm all round
• Safe zone: 10mm
• Resolution: 300 dpi minimum
• Format: PDF
• Colour: CMYK
• Fonts: outlined or embedded

No artwork? Use our free online design tool to create your board in the browser — add your logo, trade, contact details and services without needing any software. You can also upload a print-ready PDF, or send it later via a link after checkout.

Every file is checked by a real person before printing, so obvious problems get flagged. We don't make changes or fixes to artwork — files should be supplied print-ready.

Turnaround & Delivery

Production takes 2–3 working days from receipt of artwork. Turnaround covers production only — delivery is on top of that.

UK delivery is £6.50 per order, sent on a tracked DPD service however many boards you order. Collection from our Burnley production facility is also available.

Also worth a look: scaffold signs, Heras fencing banners and vehicle magnets.

FAQs

What size are the boards?
800 x 600mm.

What's the minimum order?
There isn't one. Order a single board or as many as you need.

Do they come with eyelets or fixing holes?
No. Boards are supplied printed and trimmed only, with no eyelets, holes or fixings.

Which board should I choose?
Correx is lighter and cheaper, and suits boards that stay on one job. ACM is rigid aluminium composite and holds up far better to being moved between sites repeatedly.

Are they waterproof?
Both are. Correx is a waterproof corrugated plastic; ACM is aluminium composite and fully weatherproof.

Can I print on both sides?
No. Site boards are printed single sided.

What if I don't have artwork?
Use our free online design tool to build your board in the browser, or upload a print-ready PDF if you have one.

How much is delivery?
£6.50 per order on a tracked DPD service. Collection from Burnley is also available.

How long does it take?
2–3 working days production from receipt of artwork, with delivery on top.