Small City Hall, Real Advantage.
Mounds View does a lot of work for its size. It sits between I-35W and Highway 10 north of St. Paul, with corporate campus space, light industrial buildings and a run of local businesses along County Road 10 carrying the traffic between them. Our prepared DIY LED sign kits ship to all of it, cut and welded to your size with the LEDs already mounted inside the frame.
A full-service quote out here costs about what it costs downtown, because the crew still has to drive. Skip the crew instead. You bolt the sections together, hang the cabinet and set the faces, and depending on your project up to 60% stays where it started.
The Lighted Sign Cabinet, And The Price Difference
Shipping To Mounds View And Every Town Around It
Kits ship to New Brighton, Shoreview, Blaine, Spring Lake Park, Arden Hills, Fridley and Roseville — and everywhere in between. If FedEx delivers there, your sign kit can too.
In a city this size you can usually get an actual person on the phone at city hall and a straight answer about what is allowed at your specific address. That is worth more than it sounds, because the cabinet is welded to one size and one size only and cannot be trimmed after the fact. Every city in this stretch of Ramsey County writes its own sign code, so ask Mounds View what it will approve, get the dimensions in writing, then send us the numbers and we build to them.
Call it what you like — an illuminated cabinet sign, a light box sign, or an outdoor lighted sign box — it’s the same product: an aluminum LED sign cabinet, built in our shop and shipped to your door as a ready-to-assemble kit.
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.
Programmable LED Message Center Signs
A lot of Mounds View owners shopping for a lighted sign are really after the changeable kind — a programmable LED sign that shows something different tomorrow than it does today. That product goes by a pile of different names: an electronic message center (EMC), an LED message board, an outdoor LED display, a scrolling LED sign or a digital marquee sign. They all describe the same thing — a grid of LEDs you update yourself from a phone, tablet or computer.
The usual setup on a Mounds View storefront or roadside pole is both signs together: the lighted cabinet up top carrying your business name permanently, and the message center below it carrying today’s special, price, hours or announcement. One says who you are. The other says what is happening right now.
Check this before you order. Many towns around Mounds View regulate electronic message centers separately from static signs, and limits on brightness, hold time, dwell time and animation are common. Confirm the rules with your local township or zoning office first — the same as you would for any freestanding sign. Easy financing available; ask about it when you request your written quote.
How Your Kit Gets To Mounds View
North metro addresses sit on dense daily parcel routes, and that is all this needs to work. Roughly 95% of our kits move FedEx Ground rather than freight, so nothing gets scheduled, quoted or dispatched separately. Your boxes ride in with the rest of the day's deliveries whether you are in a County Road 10 storefront or a suite in one of the business parks off the interstate.
What shows up. Four long boxes hold a standard cabinet. Six handle a larger one, where splice joints keep each package inside ground shipping limits. The welded sections arrive cut to your size with the LEDs already fitted inside them, and the 12-volt power supply and mounting hardware are boxed in with the frame as quoted. It arrives as one shipment, so nothing is sitting on a truck somewhere while you wait to start.
Delivery day. A lot of tenants here share a building entrance and have no claim on the dock even when the building has one. It does not matter. No liftgate, no pallet, no delivery appointment to build your afternoon around. One person moves the boxes from the entry to wherever you are going to assemble, and the whole thing is done in a few minutes.
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. Aluminum does not rust and genuinely does not care what the thermometer says. You will care. There is no good reason to be squaring up a frame outdoors in a February cold snap, so assemble the sections indoors where you can work properly, and keep the LED and power supply boxes in heated space right up until the day the cabinet actually goes on the wall or the poles.
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 Mounds View that means three phone calls before you order, not after.
1. Ask what you're allowed
Start with the City of Mounds View. In this part of the metro nearly everything is inside an incorporated city, so Ramsey County is rarely the office that issues your sign permit — your city hall is the real first call. New Brighton, Shoreview and Spring Lake Park each run their own code, and Blaine sits in Anoka County entirely, which is another government again. 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
Minnesota enforces a statewide building code through local jurisdictions, and frost depth here is deep enough that a freestanding or pylon sign commonly needs an engineered footing rather than a rule of thumb. Structural drawings with a Minnesota-licensed engineer's seal are commonly asked for on anything tall. Expect an illuminated cabinet to need its own electrical permit on top of the sign 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.
DIY Kit vs. Hiring A Mounds View Sign Company
The short answer: a full-service sign company sells a finished project — survey, fabrication, installation — and prices it that way. We are not a Mounds View sign installation company. We build the lighted sign cabinet itself, ship it to your door, and coach you while you or your contractor handle the install. That one difference is where the savings come from.
| What happens | Full-Service Sign Company | DIY Sign Guy Kit |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds the cabinet | They do | We do — cut to your size, LEDs mounted inside |
| Who installs it | Their crew | You, or a local contractor you hire |
| 4′ × 8′ lighted sign example* | $3,112 | $984 kit + your installation |
| Permits & inspections | Usually handled for you | You check with your township — we help plan a cabinet that fits the rules |
| Best fit | Complex installs, no time to coordinate | Owners and contractors comfortable with bolts, a level, and an electrician for hookup |
* Example comparison based on the specifications shown on our pricing page. Savings are potential, not guaranteed; prices subject to change.
Lighted business sign kit pricing shipped to Mounds View
| Frame depth | Price per foot of frame length | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 4-inch — most popular | $41 per foot | Wall-mounted storefront signs |
| 7-inch | $47 per foot | Wall installs and double-pole signs |
| 10-inch | $67 per foot | Pylon and single-pole roadside signs |
Every kit is pre-lit with a 12-volt power supply included as quoted. Sign faces and graphics are separate. Prices subject to change without notice — get your written quote.
Straight Answers For Mounds View Businesses
Can I install a sign here in the winter?
People do, but be honest about the footing. If your sign is freestanding and needs a poured base, frost depth in Minnesota makes winter excavation expensive and slow, and it may be worth waiting. A wall-mounted cabinet is a different story and goes up any month. Either way, assemble the sections indoors and only take the finished cabinet outside.
What exactly is in the boxes?
Welded aluminum frame sections cut to your dimensions, with the LEDs already mounted inside them, plus the 12-volt power supply as quoted and the mounting hardware packed in the same shipment. Four boxes for a standard cabinet, six on larger kits with splice joints. Faces and printed graphics are not in there — those are a separate product on our DIY Graphics page.
Do I need a permit for a lighted sign in Mounds View?
Assume yes. Sign permits in this area are generally handled by your own city rather than by Ramsey County, so the City of Mounds View is where to start, and a lighted cabinet commonly needs a separate electrical permit as well. Ask about maximum size, height and setback for your zoning, and get the approved dimensions in writing before you order anything from us.
Who should do the electrical hookup?
That step belongs to a licensed electrician. These kits are not UL listed, so the connection is inspected work and Minnesota is particular about who performs it — your electrician will also know whether the electrical permit runs through the city or the state, which varies. You handle the frame, the mount and the faces, and hand off at the wire.
How much does a lighted business sign cost in Mounds View?
Less than most owners expect — because you skip the full-service labor. Our aluminum LED sign cabinet kits run $41 per foot of frame length in the 4-inch depth, $47 for 7-inch and $67 for 10-inch, pre-lit with the power supply included as quoted. As an example comparison, a 4' x 8' lighted sign quoted at $3,112 by a full-service company runs about $984 as a kit — savings are potential, not guaranteed. Sign faces and graphics are separate, prices are subject to change, and every kit is quoted in writing to your exact size.
Do you install signs in Mounds View?
No — we are not a Mounds View sign installation company, and that is exactly why the price works. We build and ship the lighted cabinet; you or a local contractor handle the mounting, with a qualified electrician for the electrical hookup. Real guidance from the builder comes with every kit, and your local township sets the permit and inspection rules.
Do you sell programmable LED message center signs in Mounds View?
Yes. An LED message center — also called an electronic message center, an EMC, a programmable LED sign, an LED message board or a digital marquee — is an outdoor display built into a sign that you change yourself from a phone, tablet or computer. It ships to Mounds View the same way our lighted cabinets do, and it is quoted in writing to your size. Many towns regulate message centers separately from static signs, so confirm brightness, hold time and animation rules with your local township before ordering. Easy financing available — ask when you request your quote.
What is the difference between a lighted cabinet sign and an LED message center?
A lighted cabinet sign shows one fixed printed face and lights it from behind — it carries your business name permanently. An LED message center shows changeable messages you update whenever you want. Most businesses run both on the same structure: the cabinet on top for the name and logo, the message center below it for today's special, price or hours.
What is an illuminated cabinet sign?
An illuminated cabinet sign — also called a light box sign — is an aluminum box with lighting inside and translucent faces: the classic lighted sign above a storefront. Ours ships as a prepared kit with the frame cut to your exact size, LEDs already mounted inside, and a 12-volt power supply included as quoted.
Answers by Dean, the DIY Sign Guy — building signs since 2004.
Get A Written Price For Mounds View, MN
Tell me what you need and I’ll send you a straight, written quote — from the guy who actually builds it. No showroom visit, no pressure.