What to ask for in an LED display quote

Comparing LED display quotes is difficult because the panel is often the smaller part of the job. Structure, power, control, commissioning and support can together exceed the cost of the display itself, and suppliers vary in how much of that they put in the price.

So two quotes for the same wall can differ enormously and both be honest. This guide sets out what a complete quote should state, the questions that separate one supplier from another, and how to read a price that looks too good.

Why do two honest quotes differ so much?

Usually because they are not quoting the same job. The difference tends to sit in one of three places, and each is easy to check once you know where to look.

They include different scope

One supplier includes the structure, the power run to the screen, the control system, commissioning and a warranty with spares. Another prices the panel by the sq ft and leaves the rest for later, or for you. On an outdoor job the structure is a major line of its own, and leaving it out makes any quote look cheap.

They quote different panels

A P4 and a P6 quote for the same wall are not the same product, and only one of them may suit your viewing distance. Price scales with pitch, brightness and installation complexity, so a coarser pitch or a dimmer panel comes in lower. Indoor panels (600–1,200 nits) also wash out behind glass in direct sun, so a window display quoted with indoor panels will be cheaper and the wrong product.

They quote different sizes

LED displays are built in whole modules, so “10 ft wide” can be quoted as two different widths. The section on module sizes below shows how much that alone can move the price.

What should a complete LED display quote include?

Make the scope explicit. Send every supplier the same list, ask for an answer to each line in writing, and put the answers side by side.

Control: how content reaches the screen

Every LED display is driven by a control system. A sending card turns your video or images into data for the display, and a receiving card in each cabinet drives that cabinet’s modules. Ask how your content will reach the sending card (from a computer on site, over your network, or through a cloud-managed system updated remotely) and who sets that up.

Commissioning: how long it runs before handover

Commissioning is the period a display runs under load before you accept it. A long run at full brightness brings out weak modules, loose connections and overheating power supplies while the installer is still on site. Before handover, Petlad Nagar Palika’s 15 × 10 ft display was tested for 48 hours continuously at full brightness; the Petlad case study has the details.

Why are LED display sizes like 9.45 ft instead of 10 ft?

LED displays are built from modules, commonly 320 × 160 mm, so a display grows in whole-module steps. That is why most sizes on our projects page read as 3.15 ft (960 mm), 5.24 ft (1,600 mm), 6.3 ft (1,920 mm), 8.4 ft (2,560 mm), 9.45 ft (2,880 mm) or 14.7 ft (4,480 mm) rather than round feet. Each of those is a whole number of standard modules.

A display can be any size you like, as long as it is built from whole modules. A 14.7 × 9.45 ft display, for example, is 4,480 × 2,880 mm: 14 modules across and 18 high, if the modules are 320 × 160 mm.

This matters when you compare quotes. Ask two suppliers for a screen about 10 ft wide and 6.3 ft high, and one may quote 9.45 ft (nine modules across) while the other quotes 10.5 ft (ten across):

• 9.45 × 6.3 ft ≈ 59.5 sq ft
• 10.5 × 6.3 ft ≈ 66.2 sq ft

That is about 11% more display area, and so a higher price, with no change in specification. The lesson holds for any screen: ask every quote for the exact size in millimetres and the module count, and compare on the same area.

What happens when a module fails in year three?

Ask every supplier this directly. Over a display’s life you should expect to replace the odd module, and the answer tells you more than the warranty headline.

Then ask whether spares from the same production batch are held. LEDs are sorted into bins by colour and brightness when they are made, and the bins drift between batches. A replacement module from a different batch can be visibly different in colour on the wall, a patch slightly warmer or cooler than everything around it.

This is easy to arrange at the start and hard to fix later. Ask for a stated number of spare modules from the same batch as your display, either handed over with it or held by the supplier for your installation.

Also ask exactly what the warranty covers: modules, power supplies and receiving cards, labour, site visits, and the response time for a critical fault. A warranty that covers parts but not visits is a different promise from one that covers both.

Ask to see an installation that has run for more than a year

Ask to see a display the supplier installed that has been running for more than a year, rather than a new one. Anything looks good on day one.

When you visit, check for:

• Even colour across the face, with no patches where replacement modules do not match.
• Dark modules, dead lines or flickering sections.
• Readability in daylight, and dimming after dark.
• The structure: rust, loose fixings, exposed cable runs.
• What the owner says about faults: how quickly they were reached and fixed.

Why is the cheapest quote usually a different job?

A quote materially cheaper than the others is usually not the same job. Before assuming it is a better deal, check it against the scope table above. Most of the time the gap is structure, commissioning, or support that has simply not been included.

The usual gaps look like this:

• Structure marked “by client” or left out, with no wind-load design.
• Electrical work up to the display left to you.
• No commissioning period, or a brief power-on test.
• A coarser pitch or a dimmer panel than the other quotes.
• Indoor-rated panels proposed for a window or an outdoor position.
• Rear service quoted for a display that will sit flat against a wall.
• A warranty that covers parts but not visits, and no spare modules.

Ask each supplier to fill the gaps in writing, then compare again. A rate per sq ft only means something once the scope behind it matches.

How NexGlow quotes

NexGlow’s quotes are fixed and all-inclusive, covering the display, structure and fabrication, installation and warranty. For outdoor jobs, structural fabrication is part of the quote; NexGlow engineers and installs its structures in-house. Every installation carries a 1 to 3 year warranty (AMC packages available), with on-site technician visits within 48 hours for critical issues, stocked spare modules for the most-deployed panel types, and remote diagnostics on cloud-managed panels.

There is no rate card: the price depends on your requirement, and our LED screen guide explains what moves it.

Before you sign: a quote checklist

1. Send every supplier the same brief: site photos, the size you want, and where viewers will stand.
2. Ask each one to answer every line of the scope table in writing.
3. Check the exact size in millimetres and the module count, and compare rates on the same area.
4. Confirm the pitch with its viewing distance, and sustained brightness with automatic dimming.
5. Confirm service access, who designs and certifies the structure for wind load, and who runs the power.
6. Confirm the commissioning period before handover.
7. Get the warranty cover, response time and batch-matched spares in writing.
8. Visit an installation the supplier finished more than a year ago.