THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609170121
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EARNING A LIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 74 lines
When Jim Atwell decided to sell his 28-year-old business, it seemed only natural that daughter Debbie Woolard would be the buyer.
After all, she had worked in the family business, Accent Signing Company, since she was 16.
Given a choice of careers, Woolard at age 37 says she'd still pick the sign-making business.
``I really do enjoy it,'' said the Beach native and 1977 graduate of Kempsville High School. ``No two days are the same. We're making different things everyday.''
Woolard's business, which she has officially owned and operated for nine years, specializes in commercial projects such as signs for businesses, schools, churches and other organizations.
All of the company's signs are considered architectural, that is, they are not lighted and are often made to resemble a building's design.
The company is currently in the process of making between 400 and 500 signs for Chesapeake's new Hickory High School.
Woolard sells signs as simple as name tags or as complicated as huge signs that have to be welded onto buildings. There are door signs, directory strips, exterior building signs and numbers, door signs, area identification signs, room numbers, nameplates and signs that must adhere to certain laws, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, which states that signs must be a certain size, color, height and type of lettering, including Braille.
There are companies that need control panel signs showing what button is for what and then there are the simple marquee letters.
Some signs are complex with sliding doors and fancy finishes.
Her prices begin at $12.50 and go up from there.
``It's really limitless,'' said Woolard, who lives in Bellamy Manor with her husband and two children.
The materials are limitless, too. There's metal, formed acrylic, die-raised aluminum, vinyl, wood and plastic. All are available in custom colors.
Woolard's company also does sign installation as long as it's no higher than an extension ladder.
A portion of the signs are made right in her office off South Lynnhaven Road and others are sent to a manufacturer to be made.
Most of the work done by the company is done by contract. For instance, a bank would contract with her to make all the name plates for employees. As new people join, she is called on again.
She also bids for renovations and new construction jobs.
Woolard has seen the sign-making business go from hand-lettering to computers where everything is done by exact specifications including size of and style of lettering.
She admits to never having had any formal training but she's had nearly 20 years of on-the-job experience.
Woolard is the one who goes out and bids on jobs, meaning she has to know how to read blueprints and architectural drawings indicating how many signs and where they should be located.
One of the biggest signs her company has made was for her husband, Hal Woolard. He owns a small hardware store in Arrowhead.
``That sign is 3 feet high and 30 feet long with a green background and gold letters and a gold frame,'' laughed Woolard. ``We had to bring it in in different sections and had to weld the brackets to hang it.'' MEMO: Accent Signing Co. can be reached by calling 463-6500. The address
is 2984 S. Lynnhaven Road. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Debbie Woolard, 37, has had nearly 20 years of on-the-job experience
in sign-making, under her father's tutelage. Woolard's business,
which she bought from her father nine years ago, specializes in
commercial projects such as signs for businesses, schools, churches
and other organizations. ``I really do enjoy it,'' said the Beach
native and 1977 graduate of Kempsville High School. ``No two days
are the same . . .'' by CNB