A property manager called me a few months back with a familiar complaint. Visitors kept getting lost in her office building, tenants kept asking the front desk for directions, and she had already spent money on a nice directory sign in the lobby that was not fixing the problem. The directory looked great. It just was not a wayfinding system. It was one sign doing a job that needed four or five different signs working together.
I am JC Aviles, owner and CEO of Competitive Signs, a full-service sign company based in Montclair, New Jersey, serving businesses across Essex, Passaic, and Bergen Counties since 1999. Over more than two decades in this industry I have overseen thousands of custom signage projects, and ADA-compliant wayfinding for multi-tenant buildings is one of the categories where I see the most money wasted on the wrong first purchase. Here is what actually needs to be in place.
A single lobby directory tells a visitor which floor a business is on. It does not tell them which way to turn once they leave the elevator, which door is the restroom, or which entrance is accessible. A working wayfinding system in a multi-tenant building has to cover the entire path a visitor walks, not just the starting point.
That means, at minimum, a building directory, floor-level directional signage, and permanent room identification signage that meets ADA standards. Skip any one of those layers and visitors end up back at the front desk asking for help, which is exactly the outcome the system was supposed to prevent.
Every wayfinding project I take on gets run through the same three checks before I sign off on a design. I use this on every multi-tenant building, whether it is an office park, a medical building, or a retail center.
Sightline. Can a visitor actually read this sign from where they are standing when they need it? This sounds obvious, but it is the check most directory signs fail. A directory sign mounted too far from the entrance, in poor lighting, or with text too small to read from a normal walking distance is not doing its job even if the design itself looks good.
Compliance. Does the sign meet ADA Standards and New Jersey's Barrier Free Subcode, N.J.A.C. 5:23-7? Every permanent room identification sign, exit sign, and directional sign to an accessible feature has a specific technical spec it has to hit: mounting height between 48 and 60 inches, raised characters between 5/8 and 2 inches with a minimum 1/32 inch depth, Grade 2 contracted Braille positioned directly below the tactile text, a sans serif font with no italic or condensed styles, and at least a 70 percent light reflectance value contrast between the character and background. Miss any one of those and the sign fails inspection, regardless of how it looks.
Continuity. Does the system look and read the same way from the lobby directory all the way to the tenant's front door? This is the check most property managers skip, and it is the one that causes the most confusion. If the lobby directory uses one font and color scheme, the hallway directional signs use another, and each tenant has installed their own door sign in whatever style they liked, visitors are essentially navigating three different systems stitched together. A wayfinding system only works when it reads as one continuous language.
This is a hypothetical scenario built from a common situation, not a specific named project. Picture a three-story professional office building on a set-back property along a busier road in Essex County, home to eight different tenants: a dental practice, two law firms, an insurance agency, and a handful of smaller offices. The property has a monument sign at the road with internally lit tenant panels, which is common for multi-business properties like this one. Inside, though, the wayfinding stops at the lobby directory.
Running this building through the Three-Point Check would likely surface three gaps. Sightline: the lobby directory is mounted behind a support column, invisible from the main entrance. Compliance: several existing suite signs use glossy plastic plaques with printed vinyl lettering, which does not meet the raised character or Braille requirement and would fail an ADA sign inspection. Continuity: three of the eight tenants installed their own signs at some point, in three different fonts, so the hallway reads like three separate buildings instead of one.
The fix in a case like this typically involves relocating or duplicating the lobby directory for a clear sightline from the entrance, replacing non-compliant suite signage with ADA-standard tactile signs using Grade 2 Braille and correct contrast, and establishing one consistent sign standard that new and existing tenants are required to follow. None of that requires tearing out the monument sign at the road, since that part was already working. It requires fixing the parts of the system that were never built as a system in the first place.
Myth 1: a nice lobby directory is a wayfinding system. It is one component. Without consistent directional and room identification signage carrying the visitor the rest of the way, a directory only solves the first ten feet of a much longer path.
Myth 2: any tactile sign with Braille on it is ADA compliant. Not automatically. It has to be Grade 2 contracted Braille, positioned directly below the raised text with the correct gap, on a sign with the right mounting height, contrast, and font. Grade 1 Braille and decorative fonts are both common reasons signs fail inspection even though they look compliant to an untrained eye.
Myth 3: a digital directory or kiosk can replace physical ADA signs. It cannot, at least not on its own. Digital signs used for permanent room identification still require a separate tactile sign mounted on the wall at the correct height, because a screen cannot satisfy the tactile requirement under current ADA guidance.
Myth 4: letting each tenant choose their own door sign style saves money. It usually costs more later, once the inconsistency becomes visible enough that the property has to redo several tenants' signage at once to fix the continuity problem, instead of setting one standard from the start.
| Component | Purpose | ADA Compliance Required |
|---|---|---|
| Monument or pylon sign | Identifies the property and tenants from the road | No, exterior signs are exempt |
| Lobby directory | Directs visitors to the correct floor or suite | Generally no, but should follow the same design standard |
| Floor-level directional signs | Guides visitors from the elevator or stairwell to the correct hallway | Yes, if identifying accessible routes or features |
| Room identification signs | Confirms a visitor has reached the correct door | Yes, for permanent rooms and spaces |
| Restroom and exit signs | Marks facilities and emergency egress | Yes |
If a property manager asks me where to start, I always say the same thing: audit before you buy anything. Walk the actual path a visitor takes from the parking lot to a tenant's door, and note every point where someone might hesitate or ask for directions. That walk tells you more than any catalog of sign types. Most of the multi-tenant buildings I have worked on did not need more signs. They needed the signs they already had to agree with each other, and they needed the compliance gaps closed before an inspection or a complaint forced the issue. A wayfinding system that actually works is boring in the best way. Nobody notices it, because nobody gets lost.
1. What is the difference between a directory sign and a wayfinding system?
A directory sign is one component that lists tenants and their locations. A wayfinding system is the full set of directory, directional, and room identification signage that guides a visitor from the property entrance to their destination, all following one consistent design.
2. Do all signs in a multi-tenant building need to be ADA compliant?
No. Exterior monument and pylon signs, and temporary signs, are generally exempt. Permanent room identification signs, restroom signs, exit signs, and directional signs to accessible features are required to meet ADA Standards and New Jersey's Barrier Free Subcode.
3. What happens if only some tenants have compliant signage?
The building can still fail an inspection or face a complaint over the non-compliant signs, since New Jersey's Barrier Free Subcode applies at the space level. There is no grandfather clause for a complaint based on a building's age.
4. Can a digital kiosk replace physical ADA signage in a lobby?
No, not for permanent room identification. A tactile sign with the correct raised characters and Grade 2 Braille still needs to be mounted at the correct height, even if a digital directory is also present.
5. How long does a multi-tenant wayfinding project typically take?
For a standard single-floor ADA sign package, fabrication and installation typically takes 10 to 14 business days once the design is approved. Larger buildings or custom materials can take three to four weeks.
6. What areas does Competitive Signs serve for wayfinding projects?
We serve Montclair, Clifton, Nutley, Bloomfield, Newark, Cedar Grove, and more than a dozen surrounding municipalities across Essex, Passaic, and Bergen Counties.
If you manage a multi-tenant building and want an honest read on where your wayfinding system has gaps, we offer a free site assessment. We will walk the property, check sightlines, flag compliance issues, and tell you exactly what needs fixing before you spend on new signage. Call 973.783.1001 or request a free quote online.