Granite, Marble, Soapstone Countertops - Buyers Guide - Quotes

Now you have your quotes, how do you make sense of them?

Don't just rely on the old headline “per square foot” price.  This often leaves out basic and essential costs to actually fabricate and install your countertop.  Make sure you understand how many square feet you are going to get billed for – will it be the actual square feet of your finished countertop or will it be the area of the slabs of granite used, including waste and defects? Or maybe something in between. 

Sometimes small jobs will be charged at a higher per-square-foot price because a fabricator will be stuck with over half a slab of stone with no certainty they can re-use it on another job, so ask about minimum quantities that go along with pricing structures.  Believe it or not, different granite fabricators can come up with quite different estimates of square feet of countertop, particularly when angle and curve cuts are involved.  Sometimes special colors are charged at a higher rate because fabricators can't re-use the left-over material for another customer.  How much are they charging for polishing the edges?  Some will provide a simple edge design for free and others will charge extra for any edge.  At Heritage Stonecraft we offer 6 edges for free.  Don't forget that 2 cm granite may contain separate charges for the laminated edge and plywood sub-decking. 

Then there are cut-outs, sinks, cook-tops, faucet holes, electric outlets, and backsplashes.  Some charge for every cut-out, some provide them for free. Under-mount sinks are very beautiful but they are more expensive to produce.  I encourage all my customers to use them because it provides the focal point for anyone looking at your kitchen.  Not doing an under-mount sink with a granite countertop is a bit like buying a new car painted with just primer.  Ok, a bit of an exaggeration but you get my point.  Back to prices – are there extra charges for delivery, installation, demolition and removal of your old countertops or initial sealing and polishing of your countertop?  Will they smooth the underneath edge of the stone or will it feel rough?  Unless you are armed with all this detail it's very difficult to understand and compare your estimates and ensure that there are no hidden costs that will appear after the job is done. 

Also be prepared to hire plumbers and electricians to do your disconnects and re-connects, before and after the granite installation, unless, of course you have absorbed all the Bob Vila tips and tricks from the DIY shows and feel comfortable doing this yourself.  Most granite installers are not trained or licensed to do this and if they do offer to reconnect your appliances, plumbing and drain lines beware - will they stand behind their work if your house floods or has an electrical malfunction, or worse?

And - finally - why is one granite more expensive than another?  Are higher priced granites stronger? - No!  Are they higher "quality"? - No!  It's good ol' Economics 101 and supply versus demand.  More attractive stones are in higher demand and if they come from a distant land in small quantities the price will be higher.  Some of the toughest stones are also quite cheap and some of the most expensive can be very fragile.  Also note that all natural stone contains small "pits" to varying degrees.   These are simply small voids between grain boundaries and some of the most expensive stones can be full of them.