I am confused. Are you going to a stone yard? If so, that is usually the supplier, not the fabricator. They provide the stone to the fabricator and the fabricator dictates the price. They always purchase the whole slab from the supplier, so that cost is passed on to you. For 40 sq ft you are talking 2 slabs most likely, unless you are looking a colors that come in much larger or smaller sizes than average. Remenants are just that, with no guarentees that people will want what they have and have the size someone needs. The charge is always in the fabrication. Sure, some stones are more pricy than others, but the majority of the costs will be in the cuts, the seams, the edging, cutouts, and installation.

If you haven't already met with a fabricator, I would do that first. Ask them to tell you which granites they offer at different levels and then go see them at the yard. That way you have a better idea of the costs.

I think it's different in some parts of the country. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I bought my slabs myself from the stone yard. Priced per square foot and you have to buy the whole slab. The stone yard then delivered them to my fabricator, but the fabrication was totally separate. However, there were a few stone yards that also did their own fabrication and I'm not sure how that was priced. Where are you located?

From our experience at least, the stone yards sell only to fabricators. So, when you go to a stone yard, they give the price to the fabricator that they are charging him (a number you will never know) and the fabricator decides how much to charge you (adds mark-up). For us, the price we were given after selecting a slab we liked was the price of the item with fabrication, so we never found out how much the raw slab was.

We were required to buy full slabs of the granite b/c we got an exotic one (blue bahia). We were a few inches too short of being able to use one slab so we had to buy 2. Because it was exotic, we had to pay for the total cost of both of those slabs! We are using the extra for a fireplace front. I think some fabricators, w/ some granite, will try to sell remnants when possible to allow you to avoid the extra cost of buying what you don't need, but it probably depends on the fabricator, demand for granite, size left, etc. For their "in-stock granite" (aka, the slabs that our fabricator had in house) for example, they were willing to sell us just the amount of granite we needed and not the whole slab. That isn't an exotic one though, it is one of the ones they had in stock.

Our cabinet maker also would have sold us a stock granite at a price of $49/sq. foot for level 1 (cheapest) w/ prices going up as your levels and options went up.There were 4 level 1 granites. There was an additional cost for sink cut-outs, etc. w/ this (w/ the fabrication quote we got from the other fabricator, there was a flat- cost, I don't know how much the sink cut-outs, etc. cost). We might do this for some laundry room vanities so not sure yet.

We did visit one of the New Jersey showrooms for marble.com, which was willing to sell us even exotic granites by the square foot (allegedly). They said they are sometimes willing to sell slabs w/o fabrication but only if you are buying a relatively smallish amount (at least that is what they told us). So, for example, they were willing to sell us a set amount of square feet of blue bahia, but when we considered buying both blue bahia and marble for the whole kitchen, they said that they would do that only if we did our whole kitchen with them. They gave us a price quote immediately (unlike the stone yard who would not even give us a HINT on cost) and oddly, it was going to cost more for the blue bahia slab if we just bought the pieces we need as opposed to if we had them install it ($14,000 to buy the blue bahia w/o fabrication, while the price went down to $9000 for the blue bahia if we purchased it as part of the projet as a whole... I thought that was really strange but the guy said it was done that way b/c it was part of a whole project?). Those prices were significantly more than we ultimately paid from our fabricator, even though we had to buy the whole slab with him and supposedly didn't w/ marble.com.

Now I'e written a book and you are probably more confused then before. Maybe that info helps though?

I picked a fabricator who gave me a list of all the stone yards around with the cheapest stones at each. I picked what I wanted regardless of the list, Carrara, and they calculated a price for me based on my layout. Before I found my Carrara, I had them price about a dozen stones I liked over several months as I saw stones I liked. I still plan to check with other fabricators to see what they would charge me to fabricate my marble. Total price of the slab, fabrication, and install will vary from fabricator to fabricator.

The slab yard non-pricing drives me nuts too. You just have to deal. Now, I have someone at the stone yard walk with me and ask them to compare the general pricing of something I like to something I know the price of already. I'll say something like, "how does that Taupe White compare in price to the Bianco Antico we looked at on the other aisle." It helps judge general slab cost. Two level A stones can vary from each other, for example.

The fabricator I mentioned earlier boasts that they charge based on how many square feet I use, regardless if I use the whole slab or not. (fabricators buy the whole slab btw.) They make it seem like they are doing customers a favor, but my guess is that they are charging enough to cover the whole slab anyway. Then they keep the remnant instead of me. Like I said, I'm going to shop my kitchen around to other places just for peace of mind.

And, different stone yards charge differently for the same stone. I like Bianco Antico for a granite when I was thinking I'd do granite. I asked which yard sold it cheaper and then went there.

The stone yards I visited don't sell directly to the customer, so they can not price (other than "levels"). Folks first find a fabricator, and the fabricator sends them to the granite yards. If the granite yard got a chunk of "x" slabs for a good deal, they can pass that on to the fabricator, who can pass that on to you. However, if they only have one slab of a stone that they paid a premium for, you will too. Just get all your pricing directly from the fabricator. p.s. Where I live, the big box stores actually had the highest prices I've seen, didn't really even consider using them.

It really depends what part of the country you live. I picked my slabs from a stone yard and had 5 fabricators give me a price for the 2 slabs I had reserved. Their prices differed over $3000 ( $6K to $9K). My SIL in St. Louis did the same thing and her price differed by $50. Also, only the fabricator could buy the slab - not me here in the Boston area. For our 2 bathroom vanities we used remnants from our fabricator - one was free and the other was very reasonable.

I agree that not seeing a bottom line or a pricing method when looking is off putting.

It happens to me also with plumbing fixtures, whenever I ask about parts or any product that is not on exhibit / displayed in the showroom with a price tag. They never talk about the price. But, it's worse with stone and countertops, because the stone is not sold as is; it gets cut and processed. It is true that work has to be paid for, including every cut and polish, and it is easy to see why they won't talk about price because there are still many variables you have not determined clearly.

Once you have a clearer idea of how you want to cut up a slab (any slab not the chosen one) , glue seams, have edges and cutouts made, etc, you could post it here and get more specific feedback and tips on how on what to avoid.

To buy my counter, when I dealt with stone and quartz people, I tried all sorts of tactics to get them to talk about pricing and total cost. It was harder than pulling teeth. I had to go sit on someone's desk to get them to put a few numbers on paper. Several times, as I built the order sheet with him. Seams. Edges. Cutouts. Cost for every little action taken. Often he added in expenses that I wasn't expecting; I said no cut that out, we are doing it my way. In the end they made money (because otherwise they would not have concluded the sale), and I believe I also "left money on the table" (i.e. spent more than a highly experienced buyer would have spent).

We've talked to 3 fabricators and visited 2 of them, one has been strictly over the phone. One fabricator has their own smaller slab selection. We went to 2 slab warehouses this week in Columbus, OH. We also went to one warehouse, (while traveling that we can't use), a few weeks ago just to browse and they had the slabs lined up by price level with the most expensive by the front door, although it took a lot of questions to find that out. We're in WV and there aren't any large slab warehouses near here. Everything is 3 hours or 4 hours each way.

40 sq ft is 2 slabs? The few black slabs did seem like smaller slabs than the others. If the slab warehouse has smaller slabs we should keep looking for a larger slab and it would be better priced?

Should we get an entire general list from the fabricators up front? Right now we have been saying - how about these two, waiting for an answer, then - how about these two and waiting. The only guide has been - consistent is less, swirly movement is more, blue is even more. They all told us that.

One fabricator told us slab yard prices didn't vary much. One only deals with one yard. And the one only sells their own fewer slabs. Maybe that is just the area we are in?

@beagles - the fabricators probably get a contractors discount, but that is still strange! And ALL this info helps alot! Not just me but helps lurkers too.

When we first started looking at tiny samples it seemed like it wasn't going to be so difficult. But after seeing the full slab everything has changed.

Cannot figure it out either.

Went to local place -- they had a small leftover piece which turned out to be Eureka Danby and I decided that's what I wanted. They said they would look for slabs for me. Gave me a price quote of $4600 for the whole thing. (I took my detailed drawing). I never heard back about slabs. Called a couple times. Nothing.

Contacted the quarry in Vermont. They referred me to a fabricator in Vermont. He said he would be able to get me a slab from the quarry, come to my house (8 hour drive), template, and then come back and install. He quoted me $80SF plus $2200 for the labor including honing, fabrication, installation, travel. The total would have been $5200 for the whole thing. But there were no slabs yet.

Then I went online and started looking. Looked for weeks and finally found two 3 cm slabs at a distributor in Boston (actually one in Boston and one in CT) Slabs looked really nice. Distributor said they could sell to the local place I had talked to. Quickly called local fabricator and they said they could get the slabs. I thought I would need one but fabricator decided to get them both -- turns out other people have been wanting this too and there has not been a lot out there recently. Put a deposit down. But--- these slabs are polished, and would need to be honed by fabricator. Now the $4600 quote is $5200.

Turns out slabs can't be sent til truck is full. Fabricator decides to go get the slabs himself -- on his nickel. Slabs arrive. The one I preferred is too small, would require a corner seam, but the other slab is fine and will do the whole job. Did fabricator know that the first slab would be too small? In any case, I have my choice-- go with preferred slab, but have a corner seam, or go with larger slab and no seam (just one small seam behind the sink). The slabs are both Eureka Danby but different lots and I would not use one plus a piece from the other. They are both gorgeous -- one has a more rustic feeling with more linear marks; the other has more swirly marks. There is no price discussion about either alternative. The price is the price in my contract, no matter which slab or how it is fabricated. I decided to go with the larger slab.

Meanwhile Vermont guy has sent pics of slab from quarry and they look like they might have been nice but it is impossible to tell from his pics. Not sorry I went with the local place where I could be there for the templating, every decision, even exactly where the holes go.

I saw the cut pieces Saturday when I went to mark the faucet locations. I think they're going to look really nice. The counters will be installed tomorrow.

The price would have been the same either way.

In our case, SF Bay Area, there are lots of stone yards with a square foot pricing on each type of granite, or stone. We must have visited 5 or 6 yards to pick out our slabs. Our GC helped choose the fabricator, which was a separate price. The fabricator came over, measured and templated the counter area, then I went over to help transfer the template to the actual slabs.

In our case, SF Bay Area, there are lots of stone yards with a square foot pricing on each type of granite, or stone. We must have visited 5 or 6 yards to pick out our slabs. Our GC helped choose the fabricator, which was a separate price. The fabricator came over, measured and templated the counter area, then I went over to help transfer the template to the actual slabs.

What helped me is looking a a variety of different samples of stone and narrowing it down to two that we liked. We then priced out the names of those 2 stones to 4 different fabricators. The prices were within a range of $1000. The fabricator that we chose matched quotes from others and had excellent customer service and reputation. The fabricator let me know when she was getting a new shipment of slabs. With the price she quoted me, I saw the slab for the name quoted and then two others where they would have honored the same prices. They were New Venetian Gold, Santa Cecelia, and one of the Giallo (I can't remember now). After hemming and hawing MH and I stuck with the New Venetian Gold. We tagged that slab and were done.

I priced out several granites for the area that I was looking to cover (about 42 sq. feet), and they all told me it would be two slabs. With seams and the movement in the granite, I don't think it is possible to do it with just one slab. Even if the slab is 50 square feet, there is always a loss. I want to say one fabricator told me about 20%, but I could be wrong on that. I guess if you picked a stone that was very consistent with no movement, it would be easier to match seams, so you might get that whole amount from one slab. I think the slab sizes are determined more by the type of granite, rather than the supplier. That may not be correct, but it seemed that certain granites were always smaller or larger no matter where I looked.

I would research some slabs you like first, and then enter them online in Google. That will give you a pretty good idea of where slabs generally fall. A great place to start that research is in the finished kitchen blogs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Kitchen Blog

Our fabricator charged us for the entire slab, then added labor to that material cost; we chose an exotic. There were no per foot prices given by our fabricator. Other fabricators did give us per foot prices on common patterns, but not exotics. We found out also that the same color of exotic can vary in price a lot depending on each specific slab and which yard had it. Example: we got three proposals from our fabricator on one color, but for different slabs from different stone yards. This was important for us because depending on the exotic you choose, it can look VERY different if from a different stack of slabs. Our proposals were for specific slabs from different yards.

The competition on los angeles is intense so we can get very good pricing on both the material and the processing.

I like the model where the material buying is separate from the fabrication.

My formula is simple (at least i only entertained bids that would accommodate this)

Figure out how many slabs you need (fairly simple based on your sq ft, layout and grain continuity needed).

Pay for FULL slabs first.

Then get fabricator to pick up slabs. They template, fabricate and install for $30 per sqft of finished countertops. Slight variation depending on the edging but this is for a built up edge like bullnose, flat, etc.

Fabricator returns all large left overs to you since you paid for the full slab.

In the end a basic stone like black granite would end up costing about $45 per sf ft installed. Exotics can run $100 and more...

Laurensmom2010, here are some suggestions to keep the cost down.

To preview the granite slabs, you may want to find out if certain granite yards close to you have a website. It will help you to narrow down your choices. If you do go to see granite slabs, bring a camera along and take as many photos as you can. Remember to take pics of their names too. It will help you to review them later. If you have a choice, try to chose 3cm vs. 2cm thick granites. Yes, it is true that 3cm costs more than 2cm thick but the price difference is very low.

At the granite yard, you may want to ask for a list of fabricators that they deal with. Unless, your fabricator is willing to deal with any granite yards.

Once you and your DH had narrowed down to a few choices of granite, here's what you may like to do.

If you have several granite yards in your area, you can still negotiate price levels. Even if the price levels varies between the yards, negotiating still work. Try to go down as closer to level 1 (most inexpensive) as you can. I negotiated 2 slabs from level 3 (premium) down to level 1 on an exotic granite slabs. As I walked away, I excused myself for leaving abruptly but I needed to see the other slabs before the other place closes for the day. He quickly stopped me and called my fabricator and started to negotiate the price. Again, he probably still made a good profit on the 2 slabs.

Most of the cost is in the fabrication and installation of the granite. If you want to keep this cost down:
1) chose a 3cm thickness if you have a choice. It will save you the cost of purchase more slabs in order to do the edging.
2) Chose a simple edging such as half or full bullnose edges. Due to the 3cm thickness, there are no extra labor cost for cutting another piece and glueing to match for edging. Labor involves in just cutting to fit your countertop & buff up the edging. In other words, the bullnose is all in one piece. That is if you don't ask to make it thicker. Trust me, 3cm full bullnose is thick enough and it still looks nice.
3) Keep the surface finish as is. There is no labor involves if you don't chose another surface finishing.
Understand these and you can certainly negotiate labor cost!

So you can see what I've said, here's my countertop: 3cm thick with a full bullnose edging, and original glossy surface.

Another advise. When you get a quote, ask the fab to break down the cost, ie: tear down the old countertop if any, leveling if needed, fabrication, installation, etc. Then, it'd be easier to see what to negotiate.

Hope I have helped you some.

Natalie

Since there wasn't much labor involved, the granite slabs were picked up, cut, buffed, and installed the next day. All completed in 1 day.

It really is different in different areas. In western new york the granite "yard" and the fabricator are one and the same. Sounds crazy having to deal with two separate places. Here you get one price includes granite, fabrication, installation. You pay for what you get, no having to buy a whole slab when you don't need it.

laurensmom1020, sorry I have no advice but hope the other posts have helped you out.

What about templating all this? Advice? Does the sink need to be on site? One told us yes, one told us no. The one that told us yes, is a purchase your sink seperate place. The one that told us no includes the sink and faucet for free on a large job or a charge if the job is our size.

Who is responsible for the granite - between the warehouse and the fabricators shop?
- between the fabricators shop and being installed?

If they drop it what happens? If you buy it and they drop it?

ntt - they did a great job and fast and it came together beautifully! We don't have enough competition here and they've seen me coming already.

They must be rather small slabs if you need two for 40 square feet.

That is roughly 8 ft x 5 ft, and well within the size of a typical single slab.

As others have mentioned, it depends on what part of the country you're in. Some companies are "all in one shop" where they buy their own slabs and have a slab yard, do the fabrication at their yard, and do the installation. This is common in the tri-state area of the United States, but i'm not saying every company does this. In my opinion, this is the best way of doing business as savings are directly passed down to the client from having your own stock of slabs to work with, there is no middleman warehouse from whom the fabricator has to purchase each individual slab on a per project basis. Hope this helps!

laurensmom, I don't have any experience with this since we are years away from new countertops and a new kitchen. But I can hear the frustration in your post, and I hope this works out soon for you.

The only thing I can think of to suggest is to ask if you have any friends or acquaintances who have granite, and see what they've done. The only other thing I did was Google WV and granite, and came up with this place,

www.bailesgranite.com

They say "Simple Process from Selection to Installation", but I don't know if that's their perception or the reality! Good luck!

Becky

debrak, I like the way they do it here with the fabricator and slab yard being separate. (I'm in Northern California.) It meant that we could select material from any of the yards in our area and we could select a fabricator with a good recommendation. We went to all of the yards. One yard wouldn't give prices, all the rest would and we decided not to deal with the one that wouldn't. Our fabricator said we could use any yard but also gave us a list of the ones they usually worked with.

Laurensmom, when we would go to a yard, we would give them our fabricator's name and the yard would tell us the price for slabs we were interested in. I'm under the impression that the price to a given fabricator may depend on how much business that fabricator does with them.

Our fabricator doesn't mark-up the slabs (though I don't know whether he gets any kick-back from the slab yard). He just charges enough for fabrication to cover what he wants from the job. After had the slabs held, we could either pay the slab yard directly or pay him and he would buy them. In either case, he would check the slabs to see that they didn't have any flaw that would make them unsuitable.

I'm not sure who was responsible for the slabs between the slab yard and the fabricator. It would have been either the yard or fabricator depending on who did the transport - they worked that out between them. The fabricator was responsible for them from then until they were installed. If they dropped it or made a mistake in fabrication, it would be their responsibility to replace them.

I remember our fabricator saying that they were going need to be extra careful with ours because the slabs were so expensive (and it would have been very difficult to find a match if the slabs from our lot were gone).

We saw slabs of an unusual blue stone at one yard that we really liked but they were very small so our 4 by 8 foot island would have needed a seam. We checked all the other yards and found one other had the same stone. They had lovely slabs big enough for our island though the L would have needed two seams. We would have bought them but they checked inventory at their other stores and found a lot with bigger slabs. So they held the first slabs we chose while the bigger ones were transported to the local yard. We came and looked at the big slabs and liked them so bought those instead.

Blue is a less common color and which makes most blue stones expensive, but I thought blue pearl (or was it blue eyes) was an exception - not the cheapest but not exotic pricing.

Our fabricator required that all the cabinets were in place to come out and template and all sinks and accessories on site. They took the sinks with them (undermount). For the install, our plumber was there as well as us and the fabricator's folks so that we could all agree on positioning of the holes for sink accessories.