Sign Companies on Their Debt-to-Income Ratios

ABOVE PHOTO: GABE GRIFFIN, CLEAR SIGN & DESIGN

QUESTION:

Do you have improving your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio as a high priority this year?

Yes: 54%

• Our 2025 P&L revealed just how much our operating costs had increased, mostly just from material: substrates, films and lumber. — Joe Allen, So Easy Signs, Middletown, OH
• Last year was a little rough. — Sara Geiger, Fox Cities Sign, Appleton, WI
• We are looking at DTI as a way to boost company value, i.e. choosing the debt we carry on things that make money as opposed to structural debt. — Todd Sallas, Coastal Signs & Graphics, Slocomb, AL
• We are looking at how to reduce debt simply because interest is killing our cash flow. — Earl Walker, Image360 Tucker, Tucker, GA
• Always wanting to improve the DTI. We will pay down on it in lump sums with larger-than-expected profits on a project. — Earl Charles, Branded Sign Solutions, Helena, MT

No: 46%

• We are debt free. — Alan Hubbard, Pro Image Design, Traverse City, MI; Peter Brunner, Full Sail Graphics & Marketing, Huntington Beach, CA; Ted DeWitt, Signarama Covina, Covina, CA; Perry Yaremchuk, City of Kelowna, Kelowna, BC, Canada; Kelly Bookheimer, The Mad Signtist, Myrtle Beach, SC; Jeff Thomas, Crossroad Sign, Lynnwood, WA; Rocco Gaskins, Abco Signs, Pennsauken, NJ
• We don’t have much debt. — Ben Phillips, Phillips Signs Inc., Seaford, DE; Kelley Campbell, Specialty Graphic Solutions, Vancouver, WA; Mike McClure, Ad Art, San Francisco; Gary Wildner, Wildner Sign Co., Cape Coral, FL; Lauren Cassel, Fastsigns of Harrisburg, PA
• Continuous-growth mindset uses almost all resources (debt-wise) to execute. Keeping it stable while you grow and not allowing it to “eat you up” are the true challenges. We work very hard to maintain our DTI, but reality sometimes hits you in the face. — Adam Brown, Sign Effectz, Milwaukee

One Quick Question:

What is your current debt-to-income (DTI) ratio?

AI in the Sign Industry

Which paid AI source is the best value for money at your sign company?

Out of 53 responses: ChatGPT (28%), Google Gemini (8%), Microsoft Copilot (3%) and xAI Grok (6%) had multiple mentions. Adobe, Claude, Factors.ai, Midjourney, Notion AI and Vectorizer.ai each were mentioned once. 38% responded they are either not paying for AI or don’t use it at all in their shops. However, recent surveys suggest about half of the 38% are using AI but not paying for it.