Opporutnity for large sign..help!

[tnwalkinghorse 0]

Hey all!  I have an oppurtunity to redo a 7' tall by 30 foot' wide sign that sits about 40' high on top of a mountain.  There is currently a banner in place, but has, for the most part, been destroyed by the weather.  The customer wants 36" tall block lettering in vinyl to be applied directly to the surface instead of another banner job.  However, under the banner, you can see through the paint to what the sign use to say.  I have a two part question.  1st part is what do I need to do to prep the surface to allow the vinyl to stick.  Do I need to paint it first, or screw in a laminate of some type?  What would you do?  The second question, is how much to charge for something like this?  I will probably be using a higher quality Oracal product such as 751 or 851 premium cast.  Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

-Matt

[Tank 0]

paint a base color then paint the letters. cost becomes very low so you will get more profit unless you take forever to paint

[tnwalkinghorse 0]

So would you still go ahead and cut vinyl and use them for stencils?  Thanks!

[JoeBlow 5]

Sand back to remove any loose or flaking paint. Repaint the whole surface, and cut your stencils using "Spray Mask", not vinyl.  The brand I use is Aslan Spray Mask (Gray), quite a good mask and is flexible (suitable for curved surfaces) motorcycle tanks etc.