Have you checked Craigslist? Houston has a lot of competition in granite and I found basics for as little as $17.95 s.f. The place I used doesn't have honed AB, but do some checking around. There's no way you should pay that in Houston.

That pricing is INSANE! You can definitely do better. Here are a couple of granite yards that I've worked with in the past. They're all great!

Stone Quarry
Walker Zanger (they'll definitely have abs. blk honed)
Colours of the Rainbow

Ask them for a fabricator list. They can usually recommend a good one. Good luck!

We are looking for a fabricator too. There are many many yards and fabricators in the Hempsted Highway, 290 area. You can barely spit on the ground and not hit a granite place. Here is where I'd suggest looking...

- Olympus Marble. Fabricator. They have been around for years and just updated thier facility. Go visit. They will not be going away anytime soon and don't work out the back of a pick up truck. They will give you a list of stones with prices and price thier labor and installation separate from the stone. Very upfront pricing.
- Arizona Tile. They have very nice backsplash tiles and a nice indoor slab yard. We have found several very nice slabs here. Our current #1 slab in our list is here.
- Vivaldi Stone. There are on Hempsted Hwy, a smaller yard but they seem to have low prices. They actually told me prices of thier stones and suggested a few fabricators. Never heard of any of them. They are starting to carry more 3cm stone if you are interested in that. They have a nice 3cm stone here was are interested in, but Houston is largely a 2cm market.
- Midwest Granite. Closes at 2pm on Saturday but they have a lot of nice stone.
- American Countertop Fabricators. A small shop, friendly, and they have a great website.
- BCS Brazilian Granite. www.bcs-usa.net. If you are looking for a Mascarello type stone you need to go here. They have tons (no pun intended) of brazilian stones and seem to be owners of thier own quarrey in Brazil.
- DalTile Stone yard
- IGM Stone yard
- Walker Zanger... we have tried to go here twice now and are about to give up. They are a long drive for us and thier hours do not cater to consumers. They are not open on weekends or holidays and close at 4pm weekdays. But I do want to get here because of thier tile selection.

Retail is not the right term really for the price on the granite in the context of your post. Buying the slab directly does you no good if you do not have the means to cut and polish it. You still have to pay for fabrication so the true retail price would be the combination of those two things. I have a kitchen and bath store in Orlando Florida and on my street is a fabricator who charges $35/ square foot to cut a slab if I purchase and deliver the material to them! So I would have to buy 60 aqft at the retail price you mention at a wholesaler of slabs and then pay for fabrication for 40 sqft on a 10x10 kitchen. I would be stuck with the left over peices. I do not mind they get a better price of 12-15 on the color you mentioned because they buy more than I do. Instead, I found a fabricator on craigslist that I use who provides me 10 granite colors all at $30 per square foot measured, cut, polished, and installed. He does not even charge for sinks and cut outs like most do. I sell it at $35 to make my store a one stop shop with his product. The retail price is really $35 through my service. You were quoted a wholesale price that is not as low as their repeat buyers. That is really not your issue. Your problem is you found a fabricator with his head in the sand.

A reasonalble fabricator should hone your stone if it is not avaialable in that format for $10 a square foot of the installed surface. Only problem is most fabricators have not bought the equipment to do it. You should be able to find shops for $45 to $55 at the most measuered, cut, polished, and installed plus sinks and cut outs including honing the stone. You should not pay more than $10-$15 per foot for the edging if the profile you want is not free.

When I started my store here in orlando a few months ago after leaving partenerships in stores in Washington DC area I had the same problem you did. People you met think you are not that smart and will not search out a good price. The beauty of captalism is you do not have buy at their insulting price. Use supply and demand to your favor and shop around get a written quote and take it to the next store and offer them a chance to do it for a lower price. Do this multiple times to get the price down to the truth and take the lowest price back to the highest price and offer them a reality check just for fun before you buy. Also do not be afraid to use craigslist either put a post of what you want and see what the majority of the prices come back at. You will find that reality is not the price you were quoted in your post.

We are going to use McVey Marble and Tile. They are in Spring. They were on the list of fabricators recommended by Arizona Tile. They are a family business with lots of experience. We were impressed with their knowledge. You can read about their experience on the web site. Talk to Teri McVey, and tell her Bette in Montgomery recommended them!

Here is a link that might be useful: McVey Marble and Tile

We used Dream Stoneworks. They had the best price in the area and we checked with at least 6 fabricators. If you would like to give them a call I have their number. They installed Black Galaxy & Juparana Persa for us.

I used Max Marble and Granite. They are in town -- not far from all the yards. My slabs came from Midwest.

Babers, Green,

Can you tell us what quality of job they did? How did they cut thier sink openings for undermount sinks? CNC or on the job site?

I could not find anything on Dream Stoneworks, do you have info I where I can find them?

I am granite fabricator in Houston/TX

i charge U$ 18.00 sq.ft (fabrication + installation)
us 100.00 undermount sink cut-out/polish/attachment
us 75.00 vanity sink cut-out/polish/attachment
i can help you to get contractor prices on granite slabs

no money till 100% customer satisfaction!
tons of references upon request

thanks,
Phillipe Ramos
251-239 7676

I can personally vouch for Phillpe Ramos 251-239 7676. He is extremely professional, courteous and reliable. He installed over 70 Sq ft of granite in my house and I was very satisfied. If you need pics, send me a message.