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desertdance

Questions to Ask the Granite Fabricator

We have a semi-small project which should not take a full slab. We will go with something like black galaxy, or a dark unsexy granite. It's for a 15" bar top in our newly created pub, with no backsplash and 26 foot curved linear edge.

Can you add to my list of questions to ask the fabricator?

GRANITE WORKSHEET
18 sq ft for curved bar top. No backsplash. 15â wide with 26â linear edge.
Edges I like are Ogee Over BullNose, Ogee BullNose Out, Ogee Bull Nose flush. How much more per linear foot for those edges?
Do we get charged for a full slab or just the part we use?
If you charge me for the full slab, can I keep the extra?

Now, you say, "silly, what will you do with the extra?" Who knows? If I have to pay for it, I'll sell it on Craigs list, or put it on a tree stump for a table!!

Obviously I don't want to have to pay for scrap, but if you buy a yard of material, and only use a portion, you do get the scraps.

Did I miss something?

Comments (4)

  • User
    10 years ago

    A curved edge will require a whole slab. Probably even two if you don't want a bunch of seams. 26' is a lot of curve. Especially since a slab is only 9' long typically. That also means that you are calculating your square footage incorrectly as you have to square that curve up and it creates a lot of wastage in a square slab that won't be able to be used on any other project. An ogee edge takes extra stone to produce as well as being more labor intensive. It's around $30 a linear foot here in a very cheap location, and you would have 30'x2 + 16x2 or 92 feet of edge, or $2760. The fabrication itself would be around $40 a square foot, plus the price of the slabs. Black Galaxy here is a premium granite, around $30 a foot, making two slabs worth around $2700. I'd suspect that it would be quadruple the amount of square footage of fabrication labor that you've calculated having seen the picture of the curve you're talking about. That's a lot of curve and a lot of wastage. So, maybe $2560 for the fabrication labor. You're up to 8K. Lose the ogee edge in favor of an eased one and you'd still be in the 5K range. Go down to a Group A, like an Uba Tuba and you'd be in the $3500 range. Yes, if you buy the slabs you get to keep the extra. The extra from this project will be awkwardly shaped and not easy to do anything with. It will mostly be a foot breaker in your way needing several people to move it. You might have enough continuous square footage from it to get a vanity top, but you'd still need to pay the fabrication for that, which would typically run $500-$800 depending on the size of the top.

  • MikeJrNY
    10 years ago

    When buying granite you do not pay for the slab - you pay based on square footage so you don't get to keep what you don't use. However when doing an undermount sink cut-out, you can request the granite fabricator to give you that piece.

  • dekeoboe
    10 years ago

    When buying granite you do not pay for the slab - you pay based on square footage so you don't get to keep what you don't use.

    Not always true, it depends where you are located. In some areas you pay for the whole slab and the remnants are yours and it other places you only pay for the square footage you need.

  • User
    10 years ago

    Even if you pay by the square foot, a curve or angled counter still needs to be calculated as a square, greatly increasing the actual square footage sold. I've done plenty of those currently popular kitchen with the 45 degree angled counters and that's added over 20 square feet to some orders because of the angles in the counter and the bar. A large arc will add just as much waste, if not more.

    Granite tile would be much more economically affordable here, except the edging would be a PIA to do without making the arc into several smaller straight runs to be able to use the wood countertop edge. Or, you might could do a small granite mosaic tile as the edge with regular granite tile on top. Cutting tile on the curve would be challenging though. Maybe a Fein Multimaster could do it, but you'd need a lot of blades.