Consideration: Cost to transport home and then to fabricator when you ready to remodel. Storage.

I wouldnt do it. Granite slabs are very heavy and can break during transportation. Storage space.

Also the price of granite has dropped considerable and may continue. absolute black used to cost $50/sqft. Now you can get it for $10/sqft.

Styles of cabinetry will change and you may not like the slabs you have to go with your future cabinets.

I wouldn't in addition to the issues already suggested...We bought the granite for our master bathroom remodel in February right after it was gutted and then much to my dismay I discovered it's sooo much harder to match the other elements (cabinets/tile/floors) to the granite, then it is to find a granite slab to match the other elements. Best I can tell, it going to work out, but it wasn't easy!!

I think he's pretty set on getting it...the possibility of a good deal is too much to pass up. He's not worried about transport or storage, apparently. And I don't think he's worried about it matching either, for that matter... I'm not even sure if he could tell if it DOES match or not. Sigh.

Is it difficult to polish/finish granite properly? Nevermind beveled edges, just the polish and plain edging? Would a granite company have to do it or could a contractor with a wet-saw do the job?

Any considerations for bathroom vanities that might be different than granite for a kitchen?

What about 2 cm versus 3 cm slabs? I have no idea which thickness will be available. Is 3 cm better in a kitchen? Does it matter? Is 2 cm better in a bathroom vanity?

You need a fabricator with the proper tools to handle granite. Hope he realizes how heavy a slab is -- much less several of them. You can't put that in the back of a van or standard pickup. I had a few remnants (a lot less than a slab) fall on my leg and put me out of commission for a month and slow me down pretty good for a few moths -- and I was lucky. No broken bones and I didn't lose my leg, but I gained a new respect for what a crush injury is like. If one gets dropped, the broken granite will be the least of the worries. Please don't let ametuers without the proper equipment and experience try to handle, much less fabricate several granite slabs.

BTW, the materials are the cheap part. Many granites are $5-10 sq ft for materials. The fabrication and installation can run you $30-40 sq ft or more, especially with the fancy egdes. My marble cost something like $12 sq ft and my premium granite about $20 or a bit more. It's the fabrication you pay the most for, and there is a reason why it is worth it.

There are saws available that will cut the granite and diamond pads for polishing the cut edges, but like others have said you have to be able to lift it and have a fabrication table big and strong enough for the slab.

We have some remnants in our garage from our kitchen job because I hope to use one for our powder room vanity someday on a remodel and would like to have some of the kitchen granite worked into the hearth when we remodel the family room fireplace. But whole slabs can be very dangerous if one doesn't have the equipment to store them and move them.

One injury could wipe out any savings even a more minor one. From time to time one hears of a fatal injury in the granite business from a slab falling on someone.

Commercial granites vary from very hard to really really hard depending on the type of stone. Ours is composed primarily of quartz and when they cut holes on site it took them about 10 minutes per hole. Polishing the edges takes a lot longer than cutting. It isn't a DIY friendly job.

How is he planning on transporting a 5'x10' slab that weights in at 1800 lbs? Professional fabricators have a special A frame sling that supports the granite on an edge, not flat, and it takes a heavy duty truck and trailer in order to be able to transport, as well as a crane or 5 or 6 really hefty in shape guys. And that's just transporting it from one place to another. Fabricating also requires moving the slab to a horizontal position. Then it has to be cut. Professional fabricators have literally thou$and$ of dollars in their tools, and that is if they're ones who do it by hand. Those that have CNC waterjets have millions of dollars in their tools. You may can polish the edge of a pre fab slab with a couple of hundred dollars worth of tools, but you're not going to be able to fabricate an entire slab's worth of granite with them.

Slabs are best handled by the professionals who have the knowledge and equipment to do so. Amateurs have NO place attempting dealing with whole slabs unless you have the opportunity to really up that whole life insurance with a double payout for accidental death. Or maybe he's trying to get a Darwin Award or get on 1000 Ways to Die?

Live wire -- you are confirming what I was thinking. At the time of my injury, I was trying to guesstimate the weight of the stone that was on top of my leg (it shifted and leaned in the opposite direction -- only a few inches, but enough to catch my leg). I figured I had a few smaller pieces that might have totalled half a ton or close to it -- which would make a slab a ton, give or take. Those A frames never have too many pieces on them either.

Like I said, I got lucky. There were even 2 EMT's who just happened to be there looking for their remodels (this was after Katrina hit NOLA and a lot of folks were looking in this area). Accidents happen even when you are being careful -- you don't have to go out and look for them.

I'm no whimp, but I had a hard time walking into a stone yard again when we went looking again -- about a year or more later. I don't wish that on anyone, not even a fool. I really hope that anyone looking at buying slabs like this lines up a fabricator to transport and handle the slabs.

My Mom and I were at a Habitat for Humanity store and they had granite remnants. We fell in love with 2 of them. The guys loaded it in the truck. Both were about 2 1/2 feet square. My husband and I could get it out of the truck, with a lot of effort. He told me I was never to buy and bring home granite again, no matter how great the deal was! LOL

You can tell those slabs are heavy if you go to a granite yard to look at them. They use this special crane to lift up the slab and they are very careful about placing and positioning them.

Definitely agree with the others here, not worth the effort of moving and storage. As others said, the cost is in the fabrication. I got a piece cut from the remnant with a sink hole and and single hole faucet cut to a finished size of 20" x 16", it cost me $142. I got some estimates as high as $340 for that small piece.