Solie,

Just to clarify...

Is your granite already installed?

Will someone have to come to your house and cut the existing granite?

I would phone a couple of granite shops to get estimates. I would guess that it would be much less than that- then you can try and negotiate with Home Expo (if you want them to cut it), or have one of the granite places do it.

solie,
Kompy has it right, do you want the edges polished?
If you just want them cut on site, it does get messy, very messy.

Call some fabricators and get some estimates, but be sure what you are looking for first.

Blessings

I don't think I would need the edges polished. The edges will butt up against the new range.

The granite is already installed - I am just switching out a range. $490 is NOT in the neighborhood of what they had initially said in the store. I think they were talking $60 or $120 per cut. The salesman clearly didn't know what he was talking about, but I guess it's my bad for not being more careful. I didn't want to pay for the cuts up front because I thought if I could just tap out the seamed piece in the rear Home Expo would never refund the difference. Guess I showed them. Du-oh!

Looks like I'm going to call around and do this on my own. Thanks for all the advice, if anyone has anything else to add I'd love to hear it.

With a free standing range, you will want the edges polished. It will look nicer plus, keep in mind that unpolished granite can be very sharp. Sharp enough to cut you.

Your salesman was probably quoting you correctly for a single cut....at the fabrication center (pre-installation). Once a top is installed, all bets are off on the costs of reworking a countertop.

Also a warning, it might be difficult to find granite fabricators that will work on your top...too much liability. Do you know who the fabricator was for your top?

I think your best bet is to persuade Expo to let you deal with their fabbers directly on this. If you tell them you were mislead, they might do this for you. It would save you some....not a lot. There isn't a lot of markup on granite.

The cuts are going to be a lot cheaper if they're all done at once in the shop than if they have to come out, remove, cut, and reinstall.

The salesman knew my granite was already installed. This is not a new kitchen, just replacing the range. Well, it will cost what it costs. I just wish I didn't have to go through the PITA of shopping the job around. I *knew* Home Depot/Expo was likely to be a problem. My fault for over-thinking it. If I had contracted for everything at the time of the sale I would have a legitimate complaint.

Ummm....I'm not a fan of HD/EXPO, but in this case I don't think you can blame them. Did they originally install the granite? Or, are you asking them to come out and cut & polish granite that someone else installed?

Either way, it sounds like your granite was installed correctly for the appliances that were originally in the kitchen/on site at time of install.

You are now asking for a completely new job...and that means coming out to your house and performing the labor...even assuming they can do it on site. I think their price is reasonable...

As Kompy said, I suspect the original quote was for the cut alone...and if you asked "how much is a cut?" that's probably the answer you got... A better question would have been "how much will it cost to come out to my house, measure, cut, and finish the granite to fit my new range?" Yes, the salesman probably should have assumed all the ramifications of such a question, but they're not the granite (& granite job) experts, so it's possible he just gave you what you asked for...

BTW...is it one cut or two? I.e., do they have to cut the granite on both sides of the range space?

You should be able to get it done for a couple hundred. The cuts sound straight forward and not much polishing needed. You DO need to have it polished a bit as it can be very sharp. I have personally cut several pre-finished slabs to put in bathrooms as counters and they were easy to do. Also cut out tile to fit in a viking rangetop. The right tools is the key. It will be messy to cut in the house (dust from grinding and polishing) the job will require two people, one to hold the shop vac when the cutting.

IF you are prepared to live with the dust in your house. AND are truly prepared to live with the ugly unpolished edges exposed, then contact a fabricator and ask if they will do it, This is such a small task they might not be interested. Ask if one of their men will do it as side work.

Even with the shop vac THIS WILL be messy.

What area of the country are you in?

Blessings

Salmon, Couple hundred? Are you serious? Or Do you mean as a Do-it-yourself project?

What fabricator would risk...for $200....to damage someones tops that cost thousands, probably. Not to mention the possibility of gouging a wall, appliance or floor in the process. What if there's a tile backsplash and the tops must be removed first?

Also, a trip charge alone, could be $50 to $100.

If she can get the original fabricator, they might do it. I've been able to get one or two reworks done for clients...but I let them work directly with the original fabricator (no middle man).

And to the OP...if I have your story straight...I think the appliance guy just wanted the sale and was going to tell you anything to get you to buy the $2500 range. Maybe that should be your grip with Expo.

I was serious. If you can find the right guy, that's all they will charge you. The key with this job is finding the right person. Your talking about freehand cuts in the house. A stedy hand and experience will be the payoff. Get some referrals. More dollars is NOT going to get a better job in this situation.

Slayer,
I am afraid Kompy is right on this one. This is such a small job with so much liability attached it is going to be very tough to get any legitimate company to handle it.

Perhaps the original installer might, but after that it gets iffy.

LOL I think we are in 100% agreement. I do not know of any real "company" who would assume responsibility/liability as the risk/reward ratio is way off. I do believe there are many good skilled installers that could address this easily and quickly - the risk of an accident/slip being to the Buyer though.

"And to the OP...if I have your story straight...I think the appliance guy just wanted the sale and was going to tell you anything to get you to buy the $2500 range. Maybe that should be your grip with Expo."

Yes, you are exactly right. I would have thought twice about buying the range in the first place if I had known that that all in cost would be so high. Ultimately it's my fault, but they have been incredibly difficult to deal with.

Solie,

Have you resolved this yet?

Please let us know.

Blessings

It got done. Home Expo was a nightmare. i got over the shock of paying $490, but then they tried to add on more charges. I had about four calls with them this week and each time they gave me a different total due that they were unable to justify (then they would say, "I'll call you back..." and the whole process would start over again).

The final conversation was an exercise in frustration with a woman who couldn't understand basic math. Finally the installer saved the day by giving her a face-saving out when he suggested that she move a number around in her system. If it wasn't for the installer I don't know what I would have done.

It ended up costing $490 for cutting the granite (plus $170 I had already paid for installation), which I'm fine with because it was two guys and it did take them a long time. The guy who cut the granite said he's only had a problem once. They cut it free hand and it's not perfect, but I don't see how they could have done better without removing it. I am relieved to have it done and grateful to the installer, but I will never buy from Home Expo again. Nobody knew what was going on, nobody could answer a question, more than one person said one thing and then denied it later.....

Thanks for the update. Good to hear you got your problem resolved....although, an expensive rework for you.

Yeah, lesson learned. I will be more careful not to underestimate the extent of the next update/repair and I will get as much as possible in writing before buying anything big. I was rushing things.

Thanks to everyone who responded. The info I got here was extremely helpful.

I just paid 700

Our minimum charge is $750.00.