Built For Plains Weather.
Des Moines anchors a ring of hard-working Iowa towns, and every one of them is full of small businesses that deserve a professional lighted sign without the big-city price tag. Our DIY LED sign kits ship to the entire metro, prepared in our shop and ready to assemble.
Iowa weather doesn't play — wind, hail, and winters that test everything bolted to a building. That's why our cabinets are aluminum with welded corners: light enough to install yourself, tough enough for the plains.
The Kit, And The Price Difference
Shipping To Des Moines And Every Town Around It
Kits ship to West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Johnston, Waukee, Indianola and up to Ames — and everywhere in between. If FedEx delivers there, your sign kit can too.
An aluminum cabinet doesn't rust like steel and doesn't crack like plastic channel signs. Welded corners keep the frame rigid through freeze and thaw. It's the right sign construction for Iowa — and because you install it, it costs a fraction of full retail.
Every prepared kit includes: an aluminum frame cut to your size with welded corners, LEDs mounted inside, and a 12-volt power supply with wiring hardware as listed in your written quote. Sign faces and graphics are available separately through DIY Graphics.
How Your Kit Gets To Des Moines
Kits ship FedEx Ground about 95% of the time, so a Des Moines address is no harder to deliver to than a book order. The same goes for Ankeny, Waukee, Norwalk and every small town in the ring around the metro — if FedEx runs the route, your sign kit goes.
What shows up. It shows up as a set of long boxes. The frame is cut into four sections, or six with splice joints on a bigger cabinet, sized deliberately so the packages stay inside ground limits. The LEDs are already mounted in the sections, and the power supply and hardware are boxed in with them.
Delivery day. There is nothing to coordinate. No appointment, no liftgate, no curbside handoff — the driver leaves boxes and goes, and one person can bring them in.
Open the boxes the day they land. Look the sections over even if the cartons look perfect, and do it before install day rather than the morning of. Photograph anything crushed, torn or bent and keep the packaging exactly as it arrived — that is what a carrier claim is built on. Finding a problem the day a box shows up is a phone call; finding it with a crew standing on a ladder is a lost day.
Where to put it. Iowa winter is the one thing to actually think about. Do not let the boxes sit out through freezing rain or a thaw-refreeze, because the power supply and the LED sections are inside them. If you are assembling in an unheated garage, let everything come up to temperature first so you are not turning brittle-cold hardware.
Measure Twice. Order Once.
Your kit is cut to a size, welded, and pre-lit before it ships, so the size has to be right the first time. In Des Moines that means three phone calls before you order, not after.
1. Ask what you're allowed
Start with the City of Des Moines permit and development center if you are inside city limits, or Polk County for the unincorporated area. West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Johnston and Waukee all run their own sign codes, and in a metro this fragmented the suburb you are actually in matters more than the metro name. Ask for the maximum sign area and height for your zoning district, whether your sign counts as wall-mounted or freestanding, and what setback applies. Sign area is usually tied to your building frontage, so the answer is specific to your address — not to the block or to the business next door.
2. Ask your landlord
If you're in a plaza or center, the landlord's sign criteria sit on top of the city code and are often stricter. Cabinet depth, face color, letter height and mounting method are all commonly spelled out. Get the criteria sheet in writing before you pick a size — it is cheaper than rebuilding a cabinet that the center won't approve.
3. Ask about engineering and wiring
Iowa has a state building code that applies where a city has not adopted its own, and wind and snow loading are real considerations on the plains. A freestanding or pole sign commonly needs a footing design and drawings sealed by an Iowa-licensed engineer, and a lighted sign generally needs a separate electrical permit. Plan on a licensed electrician for the final hookup and inspection either way. We build the cabinet; the permit, the footing, the disconnect and the sign-off are local work done by local people.
Straight Answers For Des Moines Businesses
Is the kit hard to assemble in cold months?
No — assembly is bolt-together with pre-mounted LEDs, and it can be done in a garage or shop before mounting day.
Do you really ship to smaller Iowa towns?
Yes. Kits ship FedEx Ground, so anywhere FedEx delivers, your sign kit goes — the Des Moines metro and every small town around it, no freight terminal required.
Do I need a permit for a lighted sign in Des Moines?
Assume yes. Sign permits are issued by whichever city you are actually in — Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ankeny and Urbandale each write their own rules — or by Polk County in the unincorporated area. An illuminated sign commonly needs an electrical permit alongside the sign permit. Get your approved size before ordering, because the cabinet is welded to that size.
Who should do the electrical hookup?
That one goes to a licensed electrician. The assembly and the mounting are yours — that is the whole point of a kit — but bringing building power to a lighted sign is licensed work that gets inspected, and these kits are not UL listed. Price the electrician in from the start so it is not a surprise at the end.
Ready to get your written quote?
Every kit is prepared to order. Tell us about your project and we'll answer with a straight, written quote.
Contact DIY Sign Guy