It’s 7:15 a.m. on a Tuesday, and I’m already scrolling through emails while sipping my third black coffee of the day. The subject line catches my eye immediately: “Dispute over construction hoarding graphics causes local retailer to pull out of pop-up.” I know the sender—they’re a small business owner in downtown Chicago who rented space on a hoarding our team installed six months ago. The issue? The local council flagged the ad graphics on the hoarding as misleading, and now both the landlord, the construction company, and the hoarding supplier are pointing fingers. As someone who’s run a construction hoarding supply business for 12 years, this email isn’t a surprise. For years, I’ve watched this exact scenario play out in city after city: a project stalls over unclear responsibility for hoarding advertising content, leaving everyone—from small business tenants to city regulators—stuck in the middle. Today, I want to talk about that gray area: who’s actually on the hook when something goes wrong with content on construction hoardings. Construction Hoarding
Let me start with what construction hoardings are, because if you’ve ever walked past a downtown development site, you’ve seen them: those tall, temporary walls wrapped around every construction project, designed to block eyesores, keep pedestrians safe, and sometimes double as prime advertising space. Back when I started in this business in 2011, hoardings were mostly plain white or had generic developer logos. But over the last decade, cities have loosened restrictions to let local businesses use them as extra shelf space, and that’s opened a whole can of worms. Now a single hoarding might have three different ads: a local coffee shop on the lower section, a real estate developer’s project render in the middle, and a city public safety campaign at the top. Each of these comes with its own content, deadlines, and stakeholders, and that’s where the confusion begins.
I once worked on a project in Brooklyn that perfectly illustrates this. The developer hired our company to supply and install the hoardings, which was standard at the time. We also had a separate agreement with a third-party ad agency that the developer brought in to sell ad space to local retailers. The coffee shop that signed on to put up their ad sent us their graphics two weeks before installation, and we uploaded them to the hoarding. But when the city’s Department of Transportation did their pre-install check, they flagged the ad: the coffee shop had listed “24/7 service” in small print at the bottom, but they only opened until 8 p.m. That should have been caught by someone, right? The agency said it was our job because we installed the ad graphics, the developer blamed the agency for not vetting the content, and the coffee shop pointed to everyone else because they’d hired the agency. We ended up having to reprint the graphics at our cost, and I learned a painful lesson: hoarding responsibility isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.
So let’s break down the key players here, because each has a different stake in the content and a different level of control. First, the construction company or developer—they own the project and the hoarding space, at least from a real estate standpoint. They’re the ones who sign off on the overall look of the site, and when they bring in ad partners, they set ground rules for what’s allowed. But what most developers don’t realize is that their control usually stops at approving the placement and the ad’s general theme, not the fine print of the content. In New York City, for example, the DOT requires all hoarding ads to be truthful and not misleading, but the developer isn’t legally liable for every line of copy unless they signed a document explicitly taking responsibility. That’s why in the Brooklyn case, the developer wasn’t on the hook for the coffee shop’s 24/7 lie—they just signed off that the ad fit the space, not that it was factually correct.
Next, the ad agencies that sell the hoarding space. These are the people who connect local businesses like the coffee shop with the hoarding opportunities. For many agencies, their job is to secure the ad slot, collect the fee, and pass along the content to the install team. But do they vet that content? Some agencies have full-time content compliance teams, but many small to mid-sized agencies just pass along whatever the business sends over, figuring that’s not their problem. I worked with an agency in Philadelphia a few years back that got into trouble because they let a health supplement company put up an ad claiming their product cured allergies—something the FDA would have flagged. The agency argued they weren’t responsible for checking the ad’s claims, and the supplement company said the agency should have known better. The city ended up fining the agency, but not before the construction company and our install team spent three days taking down and reprinting the ad at no extra cost. For me, that’s a sign: agencies can’t hide behind “we just sell the space” when they’re the ones facilitating the ad.
Then there’s the business that pays for the ad—like the coffee shop or supplement company. They’re the ones creating the content, right? So why wasn’t the supplement company held responsible? In that Philly case, the supplement company’s ad was signed off by their marketing team, and they knew the claim was unsubstantiated. But because the hoarding is a public space, the city went after the easiest target: the agency that was handling the install. The business got off with a warning, but that’s rare. Most of the time, when an ad is misleading, the business that created it is the one in the wrong—until they can prove they passed off content that the install team or agency altered without their knowledge. That’s a tough line to draw, though, especially when everyone is working to tight deadlines.
Which brings me to my own role: as a construction hoarding supplier and install provider. For years, I thought our job was just to get the hoarding up, attach the graphics, and make sure it didn’t fall over in a storm. But that all changed five years ago, when a client in Chicago had our team install a holiday ad for a department store. The ad was supposed to feature a specific Santa Claus image, but we accidentally used a stock photo from 2019. The department store threatened to pull their $50,000 contract, and the city almost fined us for using outdated promotional material. Suddenly, I realized that we can’t just be “installers”—we’re the last line of defense before content goes up in public. But does that mean we’re responsible for every ad we put up? The answer isn’t clear. When I checked the International Institute of Construction Law’s guidelines for temporary site structures in 2022, they noted that hoarding installers “may be held liable for content if they make material alterations to the original content provided by the advertiser, or if they fail to comply with clearly communicated content rules from the governing authority.” But they also said that if the content is provided by the advertiser and no alterations are made, the installer’s responsibility is limited to making sure the ad is installed correctly, not factually accurate. That’s a fine line, and it’s one I’ve had to navigate more times than I can count.
The problem is that every city has different rules, and most of them are updated faster than the construction hoarding industry can keep up. A 2021 report from the Urban Land Institute found that 72% of U.S. cities with construction hoarding regulations don’t specify who is responsible for ad content, leaving developers, agencies, suppliers, and advertisers to sort it out on their own. That leads to delays, increased costs, and sometimes, content that makes local businesses look bad. I’ve had more than one small coffee shop call me upset because their ad was taken down, only to find out no one had clear records of who approved it. Last year, a bakery in Austin reached out to me because their hoarding ad for free pastries during a downtown festival was removed—turns out, the agency had accidentally submitted a draft ad that said “free entire order” instead of “free pastry,” and no one caught it before it went up. The city flagged it as misleading, and no one wanted to take the blame. I ended up offering to help reprint the graphics at a discounted rate, just to keep the business happy, but that’s not a sustainable way to run a company.
So what’s the solution? Over the last three years, my team has built a system to clarify responsibility for every hoarding ad we work on, and it’s cut down our dispute rate by 80%. First, we require a formal content approval form for every ad we install. That form spells out exactly who is responsible for what: the advertiser (like the coffee shop) guarantees their content is truthful and compliant with local rules, the ad agency confirms they have verified the content against the advertiser’s claims, the developer signs off that the ad fits the project’s overall aesthetic, and our install team confirms that we will install the ad as provided and not alter it in any way. We also attach a copy of the local hoarding regulations for that project, so everyone is on the same page about what’s allowed.
We also started offering a free content compliance check for all advertisers who work with us. It’s a 15-minute review of their ad copy and graphics to make sure there are no misleading claims, copyright issues, or size violations. For small businesses that don’t have a marketing team, this is invaluable. Last month, a local fitness studio reached out to me because they wanted to put up an ad for “unlimited gym memberships for $19.” We did a quick check and noticed the fine print said “limited to off-peak hours” was in font half the size of the $19 price. We told them, and they fixed it before the city caught it. That small step has prevented so many headaches for everyone involved.
But here’s the thing: even with a solid system in place, disputes still happen. Last quarter, we had a project in Seattle where a developer hired a new agency that we hadn’t worked with before. The advertiser sent us their ad graphics, we installed them, and a week later, the city’s transportation department flagged it for not having the required public notice for a local job fair that the ad was promoting. The agency claimed the advertiser didn’t include the notice, the advertiser blamed the agency, and the developer said they relied on us to catch it. We ended up working with the city to add the notice at no extra cost, but it taught us that we need to build stronger relationships with every stakeholder, not just the developer. We now have weekly check-ins with all parties for every project over 100 linear feet of hoarding, so no one is working in the dark.
I know some people will read this and say, “Just make the advertiser responsible—they’re the ones creating the content.” But it’s not that simple. Construction hoardings are temporary, public structures, and cities have a stake in making sure their content doesn’t mislead pedestrians or violate public rules. If only the advertiser was on the hook, small businesses that can’t afford legal teams would get fined for mistakes they didn’t make. And if only the suppliers or installers were responsible, we’d have to turn into full-time content police, which isn’t what our business is about. Our job is to provide safe, effective hoardings that meet the needs of construction projects and local communities.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is clarity. No one should ever have to guess who is responsible for content on a construction hoarding. That’s why, when you work with our team, we make sure every step is documented, every party knows their role, and there’s no finger-pointing when something goes wrong. We’ve built our business on trust over the last 12 years, and trust starts with being upfront about who does what, and taking responsibility when it’s our turn.
If you’re a developer, ad agency, or local business looking for a construction hoarding partner that prioritizes clarity and compliance, let’s connect. We’ve worked on projects of all sizes, from small downtown retail spaces to large mixed-use developments, and we’re ready to help you navigate the messy, often confusing world of hoarding advertising content. Let’s build something that works for everyone—no disputes, no delays, just safe, effective hoardings that benefit the community.
Construction Hoarding References:
American Bar Association. (2022). Legal Responsibilities for Temporary Construction Structures and Content. Urban Land Institute.
Urban Land Institute. (2021). Construction Hoarding in Urban Environments: Compliance and Best Practices.
City of New York Department of Transportation. (2020). Temporary Hoarding Advertising Guidelines.
International Institute of Construction Law. (2022). Guide to Temporary Construction Site Liability.
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