No. unless there are exceptional difficulties associated with the install like long distance, union requirements, stairs or a downtown address normal residential install should be roughly 10-$12 per sq. ft.

I would ask the first company what that price includes. It may not include fabrication, or finished edges, or who knows what. Or they may have just got a better deal when they bought the slabs so their price to you is better.

I had quotes that were both "installed" and separated into stone cost and assorted fabrication costs.

I went ahead and sent the first guy an email asking to set up a time for him to come out and measure since I haven't had anyone out to do that yet. I'll see how his final price compares to the other guy's.

sometimes they add in: sealant fee, template fee, special handling delivery fee, percent fees if you pay with credit card, etc....each place is different. I found that some places advertise low prices over the web, email or phone but once you are there and tell them which slab you like they start adding "fees".

Maybe the best thing to do is have both of them come out and give me a total price.

Some fabricators are realizing how much more difficult it is to cut quartzite and are charging more as a result. My fabricator went through 3 diamond blades cutting my quartzite. He was not too happy.

Well, guy #1 ($79.50) is coming Tuesday. What questions do I need to ask? I've never had a granite countertop installed before. I do want to know where the seams will be, but what else?

Guy #1 came yesterday and his price ended up being $91.50 s.f. installed, which is much cheaper than guy #2. Makes me wonder if guy #2 wasn't interested in the job for some reason. I don't know why else there would be such a difference in price, $91.50 vs $124.

Is this for 3 cm or 2 cm slabs? I'm pricing as well and wondering how much more expensive it would be for the 2cm w/ bonded edge (if possibe)
or single 3 cm slab. If it is that much harder to cut quartzite, the fabrication for the 2 cm would be very expensive. Any thoughts?

My first post here. I wish I would have found this forum before we started our kitchen update...
One of my husband's clients is a granite wholesaler and graciously told me we could have contractor pricing on a slab.
Out GC has a granite guy he likes so I asked his guy for a bid on appx 49 sq feet with Leather finish, and chisel edge. I expressly told him that we were buying our own slab.
I understand that he normally makes a little profit on the granite sale itself, but I'm feeling like I lost all the savings I received by getting the contractor price on the slab and may be overcharged on the install.
Can anyone advise?
Here is my list:
Slab ($12.85/sq ft) $635
Fabricator pickup $175
edge $180
Leather finish $225
Subdeck $70
Countertops $887.50

thecarrotfund,

I'm not sure I understand your price breakdown.

You have slab price which implies 49.4 square feet, and also say that your counters are about 49 square feet. I thought I had pretty good utilization of my slabs, but the finished counters/island are under 65% of my total slab area.

My understanding is that fabricators charge more for the slab in case they mess it up. Plus if they have the slab in stock, you do not buy the whole slab. One of my slabs is 77" x 127" and will cost me $3036.00 plus tax and shipping. PLUS $50.00 per sf fabrication because it is quartzite. The other is quoted by a different fabricator. He wants $3000.00 for the exact same slab. I have it on hold. They originally said $40 per sf for quartzite. Now they want $45.00 per sf. I think the slab store told them how hard it was to cut.