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Before your first job is even finished, the two cheapest, most passive marketing assets you can own are already sitting there: a sign at the job site, and the vehicle you drove to get there. Every neighbor who walks by, every car that passes, sees your name for free, on repeat, for as long as the sign stands or the truck is parked on the street. No click, no ad spend, no algorithm deciding whether anyone sees it.
Here is what to put on each one, and the one Washington-specific rule that trips up almost everyone who skips it.
What actually belongs on a yard sign
Your business name. Large, legible from the street, not the sidewalk.
Your trade. "Roofing," "Plumbing," "Electrical" — whatever you do, stated plainly, the same rule as your website: a homeowner walking their dog needs to know in one glance whether you do the thing they need done.
Your phone number. Large enough to read from a passing car, not just standing on the porch.
Your L&I registration number. This is the part almost nobody puts on their sign, and it is not optional once you are registered. More on why below.
That is genuinely the whole sign. Resist the urge to add a slogan, a list of services, or a logo that takes up more space than your phone number.
The registration-number rule that catches new contractors
RCW 18.27.100 requires your L&I contractor registration number to appear in your advertising once you are registered — and a yard sign, a vehicle magnet, and your website all count as advertising under this rule. Leaving the number off any of them is its own infraction, separate from whether you are properly registered in the first place. It is a small line of text, but it is the line new contractors forget most often, usually because nobody tells them a physical sign counts as "advertising" the same way a website does.
Vehicle magnets: the sign that drives itself
A magnet on your truck doors covers the same four items — name, trade, phone number, registration number — and puts them in front of new eyes every time you drive to a supply house, a job, or just home. It is removable, so it works whether the vehicle is titled to you personally or the business, and it is far cheaper than a full wrap if you are not ready for that expense yet.
Getting the order right on setup matters more than the marketing polish. Build your free Contractor Lane roadmap first, then come back for the finishing touches like this one.
Where to get them made
You do not need a print shop relationship or a design background for either of these. Signs, Banners, and Magnets On The Cheap makes both yard signs and vehicle magnets to order — upload your four lines of text (name, trade, phone, registration number), pick a size, and it ships. There is no reason to overthink the design here; legible beats clever every time, the same rule as the one-page website.
Job-site banners for bigger remodel and roofing jobs
If the job is big enough to have a dumpster or scaffolding sitting on the property for more than a day or two, a banner across the fence or scaffold does the same job as a yard sign at a larger scale — visible to the whole street for the full length of a remodel, roof tear-off, or larger install. Same four lines apply: name, trade, phone, registration number. The same vendor above also runs a dedicated banner storefront with its own current sitewide pricing and promotions — check what is live when you order rather than assuming a fixed rate, since printing promotions change often.
Where this fits in your setup order
A sign and a magnet are a "week after your first job" step, not a "before you're registered" step — you need the L&I registration number before either one is legal to display, which means structure, registration, bond, and insurance still come first. Contractor Lane is the front door for starting a contracting business in Washington: we get you registered, bonded, and insured in the right order, and the paid roadmap includes the full after-the-sale playbook — review ask, thank-you card, the signage above, the ten-nearest-neighbors play, and the referral offer that turns job one into jobs two through ten.
General educational information for people starting a business in Washington. Requirements and fees change. Contractor Lane is not a law firm or tax advisor.