Overview
For the City of Burnsville's new Fire Station #1, CNH Architects' signage spec listed our shop as an approved manufacturer in every one of its eight product categories — beside the national brands — and general contractor Welsh Construction awarded us the entire bid pack: a near-ten-foot flat-cut aluminum city logo stud-mounted to the brick, dimensional letters and address numbers, 88 three-layer thermoformed ADA signs in department colors, a cast bronze dedication plaque, MUTCD traffic signage on galvanized posts, and the frosted window films. One subcontract, every discipline — and the fire department has been ordering from us directly ever since.
01 / The challenge
One bid package, every discipline — under public-safety code scrutiny and a five-month submittal gauntlet that ran four numbered rounds plus physical samples across 24 sign types. The centerpiece was a structural problem as much as a graphic one: the city's leaf-flame logo at 9'-11¾" by 7'-4¾" in half-inch-thick aluminum, too large to cut, finish, or ship as one piece, and specified to read seamless on the apparatus-bay brick. Mid-project the city added a masonry monument by proposal request, with its own permit and submittal cycle.
02 / Our approach
We drew formal sectioning studies for the big logo, waterjet-cut it in sections from half-inch 5052, painted it Natural White, and reassembled it seamlessly on a full-size drilled pattern with stainless studs set in silicone — with matching lettersets for 'BURNSVILLE FIRE,' the station name, and 12-inch address numbers. Inside, a three-layer thermoformed system covered the station: frosted backer with a printed logo, scarlet accent layer, black face with raised white-tipped text and Grade 2 braille — the city's logo on public rooms, the fire department's eagle on crew rooms, insert windows where names change. When the city waived its own permit fees, we credited every dollar back. When bronze jumped 57% between bid and order, the dedication plaque still made the January ribbon cutting. And in 2024 the fire department came back — directly — for more signs to match.
The architect wrote us into the spec.
CNH Architects' Section 10 14 00 lists approved manufacturers for every product in the building — dimensional characters, panel signs, room identification, interior signage, parking signage, vinyl letters, frosted films, the cast plaque. Our shop is named in all eight categories, alongside the national basis-of-design brands. That credential has compounded: since Fire Station #1, fire departments and cities across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota have had us build or bid their stations — including one fire chief who ordered his new signs specifically to match this system.
- Named beside ASI, APCO, Gemini, and A.R.K. Ramos in every category
- Four submittal rounds and physical samples across 24 sign types
- City of Burnsville returned in 2024 to order directly
- Fire-station work since: Shakopee, Edina, Otsego, Oak Grove, and beyond
Around the station
Scope & features
- Complete bid-pack signage scope for a new public-safety building
- Named an approved manufacturer in all eight categories of the signage spec
- 9'-11¾" × 7'-4¾" half-inch flat-cut aluminum city logo, sectioned, stud-mounted to brick
- 'BURNSVILLE FIRE' vertical letters, station name, and 12" address numbers
- 88 three-layer thermoformed ADA signs — raised text, Grade 2 braille, scarlet accent
- Two-logo ADA family: city logo on public rooms, fire-department eagle on crew rooms
- 28"×18" cast bronze dedication plaque, delivered for the January 2022 ribbon cutting
- City monument lettering added mid-project by proposal request
- MUTCD site and traffic signage on galvanized posts, plus frosted window films
- Waived permit fees credited back to the project — every dollar
- Fire department returned in 2024 to order additions directly
Materials
- ½" 5052 aluminum, stud-mounted
- Three-layer thermoformed ADA system
- MAP Natural White · Scarlet Red · Anodic Black
- Cast bronze, satin clear coat
- Galvanized posts & reflective traffic blanks
- Frosted window films
