That does sound high to me. I'd imagine they'd be very nice with such mark up possible....

Does that include installation? I'm in the SF area and it's pretty much all 2 cm thick here which might account for some of the price difference, but I rarely saw ANY stone for more than $90 sq/ft, and certainly not marble.

(If you bite the bullet and go for it, though, I think that's a nice looking piece!)

Coastal locations are near the ports where marble is imported, so they often have a much cheaper price than do land locked folks. Think of the transportation route needed to get something from Miami or Long Beach to Milwaukee. That's a lot of fuel and manhandling. And stone is HEAVY and yet delicate at the same time. Not a happy making experience for a freight company. It's riskier and more of a PIA than a load of banannas or electrical capacitors. Therefore a freight company will charge accordingly. And then your stoneyard has to special order from the wholesaler where the stone slabs ended up after their cross country journey. That's yet another risky journey that you have to build some "insurance" into the pricing to be able to cover possible freight damage.

In other words, for your location, I don't think your quote is extraordinarily high, especially for a special order. There are two ways to approach transportation of a special order. For a "rush" job, a slab or two is loaded onto a truck and sent to the fabricator. For that, yes, the customer pays for the expedited shipping. The second method is to have the wholesaler tag the slabs and then wait for a regular slab order going to the fabricator and then they just ride along on the same truck with no additional charges. The disadvantage to that approach is that obviously adds an undetermined amount of time waiting on shipping. But it will be cheaper. Ask your fabricator about when he receives his normal supply truck in, because you might get lucky and be close to a regular shipment.

How tick is that slab and is that just the cost of the slab or does that include transportation, finishing and installation? If that is just the stone, keep looking, even if that is an extra thick slab.

I'm in SoCal and Calacatta gold ranged from about $40/sf to $90/sf. Most run of the mill CG was $45/sf, I recall.
Your piece is beautiful and at that price, I would make sure that you are getting the exact piece in a picture versus being shown a sample of what to expect.
FWIW, Carrara ran $10-$14/sf.
Gosh, I can't stop looking at your picture. It's dreamy.

Thx everyone. It is fully installed, and it's 3 cm.

So I sent the following msg to the fabricator. I'm thinking he's being rather non-responsive. Or am I being too demanding?

Q: I have another question. Since I'm having to special order this slab,
do you think they're building in additional shipping costs? If so, I'm
wondering if it might be worth my while to check out other yards that
are further away (i.e., out of state) since I'll have to pay shipping anyway.
Or, do you know the shipping schedules of any of the yards in the area,
such that I could pick out a slab and then wait for it to be placed on a
truck already on an established schedule. Is that information you would
have, or do I need to check with each yard? Do you have customers that
get marble (or any other stone) from out of state?

A: Shipping is a non-factor. If you have more flexibility on your stone
selection, the price would come way down.

I think he's telling you that you picked a beautiful slab and you're just going to have to pay for it if you really want it. It is BEAUTIFUL! I can't stop scrolling back up. I guess you just need to figure out how badly you want it.

Why don't you just get a few different prices on different stones and then you can tell if they are really expensive all around, or just on this pick.

He's not being non responsive. It's the middle of a work day and he most likely is in the middle of a job or his lunch. A short and succinct reply is probably all he has time for. What he is telling you is that you are asking for a premium or super premium stone and that prices will be very similar wherever you go. The shipping not being a factor in the pricing says that he's busy enough that he receives very regular shipments of stone in so it won't be a problem getting your stone to him in a timely manner.

If it includes installation, and it really looks like that...go for it!

Before committing, it may be worth you while to check what's available in the Chicago area. $142/sf installed is high.

GreenDesigns has some very valid and well explained points. Still, that price shocks me. Perhaps get a 2nd or 3rd estimate to make sure the case? And like abundant mentioned, maybe even into Chicago?

The slab is a milky stunning beauty! But not if it precludes other priorities.

I looked at a gorgeous slab of Calcutta which would have been roughly in that price range. I went with Vermont Danby, instead. Your slab option is truly stunning.

That's about twice what I paid for my 3 cm marble, net and installed. However, there is a greater demand for marble now than when I did mine, that veining pattern will command a higher price than the one that was special to me, there is a TON of competition here and the transportation costs are lower since we have ships that come right into the Port of Houston where you would then have to have the slab hitch a train or truck way north. I suspect the price is reasonable will all those considerations, but you should try to track down a couple of other options so that you can be assured that it is. Or simply decide that is the marble you want, you can assure you get that slab and nothing else matters.