Directional signs are cheap, they work, and they get lost constantly. A sign that stays behind on a corner costs you $25, a second trip, and sometimes a call from the HOA. Most of that is preventable with a short routine. Here is the one I'd actually follow.
Before you leave
- Count the signs in the trunk. Count the riders too.
- Check arrows and A-frames for damage. A sign that won't stand up is dead weight.
- Look at the weather. Wind changes where an A-frame will survive the afternoon.
- If the neighborhood has an HOA, know its sign rules before you place anything.
While you place
Work outward from the property toward the busiest approach road. Each sign should be readable from a moving car and should point at the next turn, not vaguely at the house.
And write down where each one went. On a map, in an app, on the back of a flyer if you have to. By the seventh sign you will not remember the second one. Nobody does.
Before you drive home
This is where signs get lost. It's 6pm, the last visitors are gone, and the two signs on the far side of the neighborhood have completely left your mind. Don't collect from memory. Pull out the list you made while placing, drive the route in reverse, and cross each sign off as it goes back in the trunk. Leave when the list is empty, not when you feel done.
That list is the whole trick, and it's the part SignFinder handles if you'd rather not manage it by hand: each sign gets pinned when you place it, and the map shows what's still out.