To reach a milestone like the 25th anniversary in business gives us not only a lot to celebrate, but a lot to be thankful for. We’re very grateful for the local businesses that gave us our start, the large corporations who enabled us to advance our sign-making technology and our longtime customers who continue to come to us for signage and branding needs. As owner, Devin Fahie, grew up in the family business alongside his parents, his own children grew up in the Sebago Signworks shop from the time they were babies. These memories make SSW far more than just a business, it makes it an extension of home for the Fahie family.
As a family-owned and operated business, we have evolved into our second generation of ownership. Owner, Devin Fahie, took the sign business over from his parents who started the business under the name, Signs in Seconds, in Raymond, Maine. The Fahie family actually had a long history of working before the sign business, working in the carnival circuit through much of Devin’s childhood. It’s very cool that we are opening our 2nd location now in Windham, which feels like we are going back to our roots to have a shop in that community again.
Over the past 25 years, we have gone from a small local sign shop focused on quick sign production for small businesses, to serving customers representing both large corporations as well as small businesses. Our location has moved to Limington to accommodate the need for a larger shop and more advanced equipment, and now we are opening our second location so we can serve the local businesses in a greater geographic area, and have more bays for our vehicle advertising fabricators.
Today, we help new businesses develop their branding, established businesses get their messages out through signage, and get business vehicles, as well as corporate fleet vehicles, lettered. We have never wavered from considering ourselves a part of our community, and we do everything we can to support our local schools, sports teams, and other nonprofits.
“I never imagined we would work for some of the companies we do now, become the sole sign and branding company for so many businesses from local small businesses to large corporations.”
~ Devin Fahie
We believe what’s always separated us is that we are sign craftspeople. Many sign shops rely on large-format printers to produce vinyl adhesive signs. If it can’t be printed out, and they can’t stick onto something, then they can’t do it. While, yes, we have large-format printers, we also have the skills to offer hand-carved custom signs and hand-painted options. We love what we do and are clever problem solvers. We often design and build our own sign substrates, developing a sign that will work for the application, fit an environment, and withstand weather conditions.
While many sign companies hear what the customer wants and then run around figuring out how to price it, we approach projects differently. We take the price out of the sale, so to speak, quoting a different way. We take the time to listen to what the customer wants, go over it carefully, then come up with the right game plan to achieve what they want, but with a sign that will work. THEN we quote the price.
Doing a sign “economically” doesn’t make it better, and often it doesn’t make it less expensive in the long run. Sometimes less expensive isn’t economical because it won’t last. We’re always thinking long-term because we know a sign is an investment. That, to us, is the most economical approach.
We wouldn’t be around this long without building relationships with customers. Anyone who knows Devin knows he has a “unique attitude”, and most appreciates his candor. After listening to what the customer wants, Devin can be counted on for no-nonsense, honest feedback. He is comfortable saying, “You don’t want that.”
Getting the right sign for a company isn’t just doing what they say they want, it’s making something that will work and last. We’re the sign experts, so sometimes we have to say something is a bad idea. But we’ll explain why, and we always want to figure out what will work. Our goal is to give you what you are looking for, but in a design that makes the most sense. We think of ourselves as solution-oriented, not sales-oriented.
We believe this philosophy is why we have so many customers that have been with us throughout our 25 years.
As we look to the next 25 years, Devin’s son, Jax, is interested in the sign business and loves to help out in the shop. But he’s only 11 so that’s not going to happen for a while!
In the meantime, we’re excited to expand to Windham in our 2nd location, and we want to return our focus to small businesses. They are what built the business, what got us through COVID, and how we want to continue to grow as a business. One small, local business to another.