Real Estate Sign Sizes: The Standard Is 24x36, at $85
The short answer is 24 inches wide by 36 inches tall. That is the face almost every residential listing in the GTA and Durham goes up on, it is $85 here with the H-frame included, and you can price it in about thirty seconds in the new sign tool.
The longer answer is that this shop prints 7 lawn faces, not one, and the differences between them are worth more than the thirty dollars that usually separates two of them. This page is about choosing. What a sign costs in total, with riders and delivery and the rest, is on the sign cost guide.
Every lawn sign size, drawn to scale
Sizes are hard to compare as numbers. A 24 x 36" and a 36 x 36" are twelve inches apart on paper and look like different products in a lawn. So here they are at one scale, all 7 of them, sharing a corner.
- 24 x 24"
One flat price at any quantity. Re-facing it later needs a phone call.
- 24 x 36", the standard
Drops to $75 each at two or more, which is $12.50 per square foot.
- 32 x 36"
Drops to $85 each at two or more, which is $10.63 per square foot.
- 34 x 36"
Same $105 as the 36 x 36" face, which is larger in both directions. Worth ordering only to match signs you already own.
- 36 x 36"
One flat price at any quantity. Re-facing it later has a published price.
- 32 x 48"
Same $140 as the 36 x 48" face, which is larger in both directions. Worth ordering only to match signs you already own.
- 36 x 48"
One flat price at any quantity. Re-facing it later needs a phone call.
Two things in that drawing are easy to miss in a price list.
The first is the orientation. Every size on this card is written width first and height second, and every one except the 24 x 24" is taller than it is wide. A 24 x 36" face is 24 across and 36 up. People picture a for sale sign as a wide rectangle, and brokerage artwork often arrives laid out that way, which is a reprint rather than a resize. Check the shape of the file against the shape of the panel before the order goes in. The layout rules for a face that has to read from a moving car are in the sign design guide.
The second is that the steps are not even. The jump from 24 x 24" to 24 x 36" is one notch on the price list and adds half as much sign again. The jump from 24 x 36" to 36 x 48" doubles the face.
The standard size is the worst value in the range
Divide each price by the face it buys and the list turns upside down.
| Size | Face | Price | Per square foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 x 24" | 4 sq ft | $55 | $13.75 |
| 24 x 36" | 6 sq ft | $85 | $14.17 |
| 32 x 36" | 8 sq ft | $95 | $11.88 |
| 34 x 36" | 8.50 sq ft | $105 | $12.35 |
| 36 x 36" | 9 sq ft | $105 | $11.67 |
| 32 x 48" | 10.67 sq ft | $140 | $13.13 |
| 36 x 48" | 12 sq ft | $140 | $11.67 |
The 24 x 36" standard is the dearest sign area True Sign Group sells, at $14.17 a square foot. The 36 x 36" and the 36 x 48" faces are the cheapest at $11.67, which is about 18 percent less for every inch a driver actually sees.
That is not an argument for abandoning the standard. It is an argument against the instinct that makes agents buy the small one. Sign area is not expensive here, small panels are. Printing is mostly setup and handling, and those costs barely move when the sheet gets bigger, so the extra square footage is close to free and the first square foot carries the bill.
Which turns the size question into something you can actually answer. Going up from the standard costs $20 for the 36 x 36", which is 50 percent more face, or $55 for the 36 x 48", which is 100 percent more. On a listing where the sign sits well back from the road, or on a corner lot where it is read side on, that is the cheapest thing you will buy all week.
Two sizes nothing on this card justifies
Run the price list against itself and 2 of the 7 faces are beaten outright. Something at least as large in both directions costs the same or less.
- 34 x 36", $105. The 36 x 36" face is also $105 and is larger in both directions, 9 square feet against 8.50.
- 32 x 48", $140. The 36 x 48" face is also $140 and is larger in both directions, 12 square feet against 10.67.
There is one good reason to order either of them anyway, and it is not price. If you already run a set of signs at that dimension, a matching panel keeps the set looking like a set, and an existing frame or an existing brokerage template may specify the number. Outside of that, take the larger face for the same money.
Nothing else in the range is dominated. Each of the other 5 faces is the largest thing available at its price.
Size decides what the sign costs to own, not just to buy
A listing sign is rarely a one time purchase. It gets re-faced when the agent moves brokerage, and it gets ordered in pairs when a listing needs a second one at the rear of a corner lot. Both of those depend on the size you picked at the start, and neither is obvious from the price list.
The quantity break exists on 2 of the 7 sizes. 24 x 36", 32 x 36" drop at two or more. The standard goes to $75 each, worth $10 a sign. Every other size is one flat price however many you order, so there is nothing to gain by batching them beyond saving a second delivery.
The published re-face price exists on 3 of the 7. 24 x 36", 32 x 36", 36 x 36" have quoted re-sticker prices and the update tool returns a number for them on the spot. A full re-face on the standard is $55 against $85 for a new sign. The remaining 4 sizes are priced for new signs only, so a change of brokerage on one of those starts with a phone call rather than a quote. Whether re-facing beats replacing at all is worked out in the update versus replace guide.
Put those two together and 2 sizes, 24 x 36", 32 x 36", are the ones that stay cheap for their whole life. If you expect to own the sign for more than one listing, that matters more than the twenty dollars between two faces.
The whole range at one scale
Lawn faces are one product of four, and the four are further apart than any price list makes them look. Here is everything this shop prints on one rule, with a person standing in it, because inches stop meaning anything the moment they leave the tape measure.
- A person, 5 foot 8
Standing on the same ground as the panels. A 24 x 36" face set straight on the lawn tops out around the hip of someone beside it, and the H-frame then lifts it from there.
- Step stake directional, 3 sizes
The smallest thing on the card, and the only range that stands on a step stake rather than in a frame. It points at the listing from a corner instead of standing in front of it.
- A-frame sandwich board, 2 sizes
Stands on a sidewalk on its own hinged legs, so nothing goes in the ground. Those legs are why it costs more than a lawn face larger than it, and why it is the one you keep and reuse.
- For sale lawn face, 7 sizes
The listing sign, and the only range with the H-frame in the price. The filled face is the standard one that almost every residential listing in the GTA and Durham goes up on.
- Large format panel, 4 sizes
Panel only, with no frame of any kind in the price, and the one range written height first. Artwork laid out portrait for one of these does not fit it.
The drawing settles two questions a table cannot. The first is whether the sign you are picturing is the sign you are buying: a step stake directional is roughly knee high and a 4x8 is wider than a person is tall, and those two are on the same price card. The second is the axis order, which is the one trap on this card. Lawn faces, directionals and A-frames are written width first. The large panels are written height first, which is why the 4x8 is a 48 by 96 and not a 96 by 48. Send portrait artwork for one of those and it comes back as a reprint.
Sizes outside the lawn range
Lawn signs are one product of several, and the other ranges use their own dimensions.
| Product | Sizes | From |
|---|---|---|
| Step stake directional | 12x24, 18x24, 24x24 | $20 |
| A-frame sandwich board | 18x24, 24x32 | $115 |
| Large format panel | 36x48 single sided, 4x4, 4x6, 4x8 | $90 |
Directionals are the small ones that point at an open house, and how many of them a Sunday needs is in the open house signs guide. An A-frame stands on a sidewalk instead of going in the ground and is priced city by city in the A-frame guide. The large panels run from the $90 entry face to the 4x8 at $280, they arrive with no frame at all, and picking between them is a different exercise because the distance is longer and the speed is higher: that is the land and development signs guide.
Riders are the strips that hang above or below a lawn panel, and their width has to match the face they hang on rather than being chosen freely. Which rider fits which size, and which ones are worth printing, is in the riders guide.
What the bylaw lets you put up
Size is also a legal question, and the answer is reassuring for anything in the lawn range: a standard residential listing sign needs no permit anywhere in the GTA or Durham Region. Municipal area caps start to matter at the large format end, on commercial property, and on signs that stand for months. The per municipality detail is in the Ontario sign regulations guide, and it is worth reading before a 4x8 is printed rather than after.
Ordering a size
Pick the face in the new sign tool and the price appears with it. There is no quote form and nothing to wait for.
Two add-ons change with size in practice even though their prices do not. Lamination is $10 a sign flat, and it earns more on a big face than a small one, because a larger panel catches more wind and gets handled more on the way into a car. Delivery is $15 flat on the order wherever the van runs, which is Toronto and the rest of the GTA, Durham Region, and Port Perry, Uxbridge, and Beaverton, and a 36 x 48" panel is still a flat $15 rather than a size surcharge. Pickup in Oshawa is free at any size. The full list is on the service areas page.
Call (905) 259-4361 if the size you need is not on the card. Non standard dimensions are quoted rather than published, which is the one place on this site where you will not get a number in thirty seconds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the standard real estate sign size?
24 inches wide by 36 inches tall, printed on coroplast and supplied with an H-frame, $85 for one and $75 each for two or more. It is the size the rest of the range is measured against and the one most listings use.
Is a for sale sign wider than it is tall?
Not in this range. Every size here is written width first and height second, and all of them except the 24 x 24" square are taller than they are wide. A 24x36 face is 24 inches across and 36 inches up, so artwork laid out landscape will not fit it.
Does a bigger sign cost more per square foot?
No, it costs less. The 24 x 36" standard is $14.17 a square foot, the dearest on the card, and the 36 x 36" and the 36 x 48" faces come in at $11.67. Sign area gets cheaper as the panel gets bigger, so the small face is the expensive one per inch of what a driver sees.
What size are open house and directional signs?
Smaller, and they are a different product with a step stake rather than an H-frame. The step stake sizes are 12x24 at $20, 18x24 at $25 and 24x24 at $30. An A-frame sandwich board is 18x24 at $115 or 24x32 at $145.
Which lawn sign sizes can be re-faced later?
3 of the 7: 24 x 36", 32 x 36", 36 x 36". Those have a published re-sticker price and the update tool quotes them on the spot. The rest are priced for a new sign only, so re-facing one needs a call to (905) 259-4361.