And another question:

I've read here that the best way to template is with a laser. Yet none of the fabricators I talked to use a laser. They all use a vinyl template. I know my walls aren't square and I want the granite to fit because I'm probably going to put up a tile BS.

You have to pick a fabricator first to get actual prices. An actual physical template is a perfectly acceptable method, especially if the place has been doing that for many years. Look at their seams, their sink reveals, and their edges to judge. Then pick one. Then you can get your pricing.

The fabricator we chose doesn't have a showroom and no way to look at their seams. We chose him based on meeting him one time and then checking his reviews online. We're not locked into using him I guess.

I got estimates from several places that had large stone yards and did fabrication themselves. They all had levels of granite at different prices, but they were all up front on what the prices were for each level. I can see how frustrating it is for you to try to get pricing if they won't tell you what a certain level costs.

Oh, and this guy is fairly new in our area, only a couple of years, but seems to have a lot of work going on. When we met with him, he said we need to find the granite first.

I'm getting warning flags from your fabricator. He should have at least a mini showroom attached to his fabrication shop at a minimum. Way too many people don't know enough about stone to be able to give an accurate review on any consumer website. Granite is granite to them, and they don't really "see" an uneven sink reveal, or a rough seam, etc. You have to physically see examples from any fabricator that you are considering, and a showroom is the first step on that. References from past clients are the second step, and if they haven't been in business long, an actual trip to one of the kitchens that they have done is the third step.

Before we went granite shopping we asked our local granite place where to see actual granite slabs since we were not liking what they had on hand. They happily gave us a list of suppliers to look at slabs in KC. After picking out a granite the supplier sent the information to the fabricator and we got a quote.

We picked a fairly common granite called black pearl. The slabs I liked where from a supplier on their list, we where not told that we should only shop certain suppliers that are on the "Preferred List"

We had previously gotten a quote from the local fabricator on their black pearl. They quoted us a difference of $1,400 for the total job because the slabs we picked where from "non-preferred suppliers".

We called the "non-preferred" granite supplier that we asked to hold 2 slabs and told them we appreciated them holding our granite slabs but because the quote was so dramatically different we would be unable to use his granite.

2 hours after that phone call - the local granite fabricator called us and told us they could do the job with our picked black pearl slabs at the same cost.

I am telling you this story because I do think it is very all over the board on pricing and if you love a slab it might be worth talking to different fabricators to make it affordable. We asked the granite suppliers who they liked to work with in our area so If we had wanted we could have went to another place.

As in everything for our remodel we shopped around and compared to try to get the best deal.

Sorry I meant to say: "We picked a fairly common granite called black pearl. The slabs I liked where from a supplier NOT on their list, we where not told that we should only shop certain suppliers that are on the "Preferred List"

Story again :
Before we went granite shopping we asked our local granite place where to see actual granite slabs since we were not liking what they had on hand. They happily gave us a list of suppliers to look at slabs in KC. After picking out a granite the supplier sent the information to the fabricator and we got a quote.

We picked a fairly common granite called black pearl. The slabs I liked where from a supplier NOT on their list, we where not told that we should only shop certain suppliers that are on the "Preferred List"

We had previously gotten a quote from the local fabricator on their black pearl. They quoted us a difference of $1,400 for the total job because the slabs we picked where from "non-preferred suppliers".

We called the "non-preferred" granite supplier that we asked to hold 2 slabs and told them we appreciated them holding our granite slabs but because the quote was so dramatically different we would be unable to use his granite.

2 hours after that phone call - the local granite fabricator called us and told us they could do the job with our picked black pearl slabs at the same cost.

I am telling you this story because I do think it is very all over the board on pricing and if you love a slab it might be worth talking to different fabricators to make it affordable. We asked the granite suppliers who they liked to work with in our area so If we had wanted we could have went to another place.

As in everything for our remodel we shopped around and compared to try to get the best deal.

Slab pricing at slab yards seems to work differently in different areas. We visited about every slab yard in our area of California looking for slabs. Only one of them wouldn't give us a price on slabs. Other ones would ask us our fabricator's name and then give us a price. (Perhaps different fabricators get different discounts based on the amount of business they do with them?)

Our fabricator priced the fabrication based on the design drawings. We paid that plus the slab cost. Our fabrication cost didn't go up based on the stone we chose. It seems reasonable for a fabrication price to go up because a stone is very expensive (increases their cost if they make a mistake and need to buy a replacement slab) or more difficult to fabricate (harder meaning more fabrication time and tool wear or delicate meaning more risk of problems and needing to buy another slab). But my fabricator didn't change his price when we chose an expensive quartzite - perhaps because he already is relatively high cost so his quote had enough to cover that.

He did make a remark shortly before fabrication started about making sure to not make any mistakes fabricating our slabs because they cost so much. During fabrication he remarked on how long the fabrication was taking.

The fabricator who did our fireplace said that the stone for our hearth (probably a basalt) was even harder than our quartzite.

I wouldn't assume that the fancy show room place is more expensive than the one-man operation. They may do more volume with their show room costs spread over those greater sales and even may get better prices from their suppliers based on volume. I didn't notice a significant difference in prices between fancier show rooms and plainer ones in our area (though of course I didn't do a scientific comparison of them). I noticed that the displays in showrooms generally had a label indicating who fabricated them and sometimes a stack of the fabricator's business cards so perhaps the fabricators doing them consider it a form of advertising and the slab yard doesn't pay much for them.

I'm not a pro like GD, but you should be able to see an example of work from any fabricator you're considering. If not, walk away. Too many people here have horrible, expensive results that they must live with because their fabricator turned out to be inexperienced, unskilled, or just plain psycho. With more investigating up front, these situations could have been avoided. I remember poor Aliris asking for help here to find out how to get rid of her fabricator after a bad install and followup. (Think well-lit public place, lots of witnesses, with DH and a camera in tow. Not good.)

Get quotes from a few fabricators based on your layout, check out their work, and don't assume the cheapest quote is the best. My fabricator had a list of various slab warehouses in the area with the lowest level granites from each. The same stone may vary in price from one warehouse to the next. After you narrow down a few stones you like, ask your fabricator which warehouse carries it cheaper. Or, call the warehouses yourself and ask which level they place that stone if you haven't already noted it yourself in your own visits as many warehouses have the price level displayed on the stone.

Around here, the fabricators usually have some slabs of their own on site, plus many of them used this one big stoneyard. By providing a pretty good layout of my counters and BS, I was able to get quotes from the different places so I knew which levels I could afford. For instance, I asked for prices on levels 1-4, and I could compare the different fabricators' pricing. And I agree with GreenDesigns, every place I went had at least a small showroom with a couple of sample counters, a lot of small granite samples, and samples showing the various edges that they did.

Try asking this fabricator to give you a quote for granite at the first four price points. If you're not sure of what edge you want, ask about how much upcharge there is for the various edges. It's just arithmetic - he should be able to do it easily. And it's not reasonable for anyone to expect you to make a decision without the price in mind.

I'm pretty sure my guy used a physical template, and it turned out great.

My guy used bits of wood and a staple gun to do a template. You know when it's right because you see where the template is laying when they create it. Don't worry about THAT.

I got my stone from a yard that had prices. Then my fabricator got an additional discount from them which he passed on.

The stores that wouldn't give us a price, just a comparison, well, we didn't go back. Also, saying you don't have a GC or fabricator sometimes gets you better information.

Overall I thought the system was irritating and it just annoyed me. C'mon--level b? What!? But we did find a few stoneyards that were transparent with pricing and shared all the information they could. The others can kiss m

I got 8 different quotes from companies in St. Louis. The granite yards can't really give prices because they are just supplying the slabs to the fabricators. Each Fabricator has his or her own price. The stone yards usually only know what category the slabs are (cheap, med, exotic)... Your Fab should be able to give you a price per square foot on the different grades/categories of granite.

I had just under 70 square feet and paid about 43-44 per square feet. That price included everything- remove and haul away old countertops, new sink, and hook up my new faucet.

Good things to find out when getting quotes-

Is an under mount sink included (free)?
Does it cost to remove the old countertops?
Does it cost to hook up the new faucet?

***Try to look at your slabs both inside and out (different lighting). You wouldn't believe how much lighting makes a difference. I was set on India Copper brown until I seen it under the light.

Good Luck!!
{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Choosing the right granite! (3 month journey)

I wouldn't say that the laser template is necessarily better, just easier and the old school guys aren't taking to it quickly. Our fabricator happens to be our neighbor and he said that his new guys love it, a new toy! But the guys he's had for years still like to stick template. I have had them done both ways in our house and I am tempted to say I like the old way better. It just gives them more to work with when back at the shop and to adjust for weird things along the way such as out of square framing and that sort of thing. I honestly couldn't say from speaking with him at length about it that one is better than the other. One is definitely easier than the other that's for sure. I don't think we had to remove our old countertop when they measured it with the laser whereas they did with the stick built template. One other thing to ask is if they charge to template. We were charged $75 for templating from one company.

I wrote down your questions Mrs. Shayne. They are good to know. I visited a place today that used to be just tile and carpet, but they have branched out into granite too. They have a very limited amount of granite slabs and that is all they do, you can't go pick from a bigger yard and have them make it. They seemed to be all lower level pricing to me, maybe a couple of mid level. All their slabs were in a fenced area that was about 30 x 50 feet. And they didn't have anything to pick up the slabs so you couldn't look at any but the front slab.

When I mentioned that I want a positive sink reveal, he didn't know what I meant, and neither did his supervisor/manager. When I explained, the manager knew what it was, but not by that name. He said it was really uncommon because it was more work to keep clean. I said I didn't care because I wanted to be able to have a cutting board that fit on top of the sink.

I gave the salesman my measurements and he gave me a price on New Venetian Gold, theirs was very plain. I figure everyone has a few slabs of that, so I can do some comparison shopping.

I also found some information at Heritage Stonecraft and compiled a list of questions from it and from here.

After talking to that guy, I have a couple of questions. He asked what edge I wanted, and showed me some profiles. I have seen a lot of people here use eased edge, and thought I'd go that way too. But they also have a demi edge which is more round. Any pros and cons to that edge?

Another thing mentioned on that website was the rods used to support the granite over cutouts. The website says they use fiberglass rods and a slow cure epoxy instead of steel which can rust and later cause cracking. If rods were used on yours, where were they placed, and what kind of rods?

Also, concerning seams, where is the best location if it's on a long, straight run? I remember reading here where someone had the seams in the center of the sink and cooktop, but the guy today said that's a bad spot because it weakens the granite, and that makes sense to me.

I also called a neighbor and got the name of her fabricator and I'm supposed to email him our lower cabinet plan for an estimate. I called my local guy so I could talk to him in depth, but he hasn't called back.

One more question. Is the free sink included with most granite worth having?

The one at the place today is a 30" SS 50/50, 9" deep, insulated, and 18 gauge. I couldn't remember the gauge that is usually recommended here.

Seems a little strange that he wouldn't at least give you a ballpark that an A level or 1 level is around this much and B or 2 is around whatever if that is how granite is priced in your area.

If no places in your area price by square foot, I would visit marbleandgranite.com to see their price per foot, keeping in mind as has been stated that prices vary wildly even in the same town, but it might help you narrow down some of the ones you have liked if they are four times as much as the others.

Here is a link that might be useful: Granite Slabs Showing Prices

Some slab vendors here (San Jose, CA) post the prices, but for many of them you have to ask. I haven't found any that wouldn't give me a price directly.

Some will give you only the "retail" price, and say that your fabricator will have to get the discount price direct. I think that this is because some fab guys keep some of the discount, and some do not. It's kinda a pain in the butt for my fab guy, since he keeps going to various yards to check pricing for me. I told him just to call, but he always wants to see the material and look for any issues. Some places state that their listed price is the same for contractors and homeowners.

When I was wearing a remodeling company T-shirt, DalTile gave me the contractor price, which was the same price given to my fabricator at a different DalTile. One place quoted my wife a discount price and said it was even cheaper than he would give the fab guy -- and it was.

Out here, it is 2cm thick slabs, and the edges are laminated to make 4cm total. My fab guy charges $50 per foot of edge for a laminated edge with a full bullnose or an eased edge, an extra $5 - $10 per foot of edge for something like ogee-flat-bullnose, etc. He charges $175 for undermount sinks. He doesn't charge for cuts that don't get laminated, such as the back edges, seams, etc.
His "edge" price includes templating and installation. So, once I know how he quotes, I can figure out what various counter design changes would cost me.

For granite backspashes (up to cabinets), labor would be $500 for my 29 feet of wall.