ADA signage is the one category where a sign either complies or it doesn't. There's no partial credit. A sign that misses on character height, contrast or mounting position comes down and gets redone — usually at the worst possible moment, when an inspector or a tenant's attorney has already flagged it.

What the standard requires

Permanent rooms and spaces — restrooms, offices, stairwells, exits — need tactile signage under Section 703 of the 2010 ADA Standards:

• Raised characters at least 1/32 inch above their background, sans serif, and not italic, oblique, script or highly decorative Justbraillesigns

• Grade 2 braille duplicating the raised characters ADA Compliance

• Character height from 5/8 inch minimum to 2 inches maximum, with light-on-dark or dark-on-light contrast American Specialties

• Mounted alongside the door on the latch side — or on the nearest adjacent wall where there's no latch-side wall space ADA

• Tactile characters set 48 inches minimum above the floor measured from the baseline of the lowest character, and 60 inches maximum measured from the baseline of the highest U.S. Access Board

• 18 by 18 inches of clear floor space centered on the characters, beyond the arc of the door swing ADA

Directional and informational signs follow a different rule — they aren't required to be tactile, but they do have to meet the visual character requirements. U.S. Access Board

How we quote it

ADA work is almost never a one-sign order. A suite build-out typically needs restroom signage, room identification for every permanent space, stairwell and exit signs, and suite numbering. Send us the floor plan or a room list and we'll come back with a per-sign breakdown and a total, not a guess.

Room signs start at $65. Restroom sets start at $165. Suite and office door signs start at $85.

Installation is half of it

A compliant sign mounted at the wrong height is a non-compliant installation. We install to the mounting and clear-floor-space requirements, and we'll tell you when a particular door won't allow a compliant location — which happens more than people expect, usually where a door opens into a corner.

Nothing here is a legal opinion, and local building code or your landlord's standards can add requirements on top of the federal ones. If you're already in a permitting or inspection process, send us what the inspector wrote and we'll quote against that.