Probably not as fishy as it might sound to you.

Somebody has to pay for a WHOLE second slab (even if your job doesn't require using/NEEDING all of it). Ultimately, it will be you who pays for it (unless a smaller piece of granite can be found), the KD is not going to be the one to eat the cost (from his profit) for leftovers that are not used.

Make sense?

I agree with teedup1. Another consideration is your slab color. If you have an unusual piece, it's going to take time and effort to get another slab that is compatible AND its going to take them a while to sell the rest of it to someone else.

How much more granite do you need? How much do you care about seams and matching colors? You can ask the KD if there are smaller cheaper pieces available? Maybe there is somewhere in your design where they can be used with minimal effect ... do you have an island or single base cabinet anywhere that is not connected to the rest of the counter top?

It really depends on how your place charges. Some places make you buy whole slabs and others just charge by the square footage you actually use. It sounds like your place charges by the sq. ft. if it fits in one slab and more otherwise. You could try shopping around at other places. The only way to compare apples to apples is by the total cost of your job not by the sq. ft. price since places also charge differently for cutouts, edges, etc.

Hmm, Weissman, isn't that what I said? The square footage of the JOB has not changed but the amount of material needed TO DO the job has changed because of ?layout? rqmts. Therefore, the cost of the additional material now needed is spread out and added to the per square foot quote originally received by the OP.

Costs for cutouts may or may not be included, but fancier edges other than (their) normal are generally charged for by the LINEAR foot when customer makes an edge selection.

many places don't have a "public" per sq. foot charge because of the factors others have mentioned: waste, cutouts, edge profile, etc. i agree it sounds like price was upped to cover "wasted" granite. if you're in fairfield county, i'd be curious what place this is.

Jenny, I would be curious where you are getting your granite if it is in Ct, since I am in CT also. Is there any reason you feel compelled to use this fabricator? I know there are many in my area, which is North of Hartford. IF there isn't any reason you need to use this one, you might check with other local fabricators to see if there are any good ones that do not charge that way. If the slab(s) you have picked out are already with that fabricator and you really love those particular slabs, you might be stuck. If the extra charge presents a major problem for you, as it might for some with tight remodel budets, me included, you might consider other options. One would be another fabricator, another might be to cut down/out areas of "extra" granite like overhangs, or incorporating a second type of counter top, like a butcher block area or marble baking station, so the granite part fits into one slab. Last, you might also consider increasing the granite you are using to get more for your money. For example, if I decide to go with granite, I have asked if my fireplace hearth and the window sill in the kitchen can be done at the same time, and was told there would be probably be no extra charge except for the charge for the extra granite. You might be able to do a window sill or two, fireplace, bathroom/laundry/office or other counters for the same or little more cost. If you were going to require more than 50 or 75% of the second slab, would the price per square foot go back down again? It sounds like you are being required to purchase 2 entire slabs, but the cost is being rolled into your sqare foot price. If that is the case, I would make sure you got the remainder of the slab you paid for. I am afraid it sounds like you are being charged for the full amt of the materials but fabricator would keep the left-overs.

It seems most slabs contain about 40-45 sq feet of material. Do you know how many square feet you need? Would it help if you could find a slightly larger slab of the granite you chose? I know some granites come in slightly larger slabs than others. Do you know if yours comes in smaller slabs than most others?

I guess the best solution for you would depend in part on just how much granite you need, how much of a second slab you are using, and how much more/less you would need to use to keep it to one slab or use closer to 2 full slabs so you get more for the same amt of money by decreasing your square ft price again.

Sue

Sue, I am in New Haven county.

We need 57 sq feet. I will definitely shop around. We recently did a masterbath and used a local granite place. I wasn't happy with them so I went to a different local place that I've heard good things about. It just seems that the two places I have gone so far for pricing, the price mysteriously goes up after my KD calls them (this time because of the amount we need). I know she needs to make money, but I didn't expect to be worse off (by $1500+) on my countertops than someone walking in off the street. I thought she would mark up a discounted price since she can get it cheaper than I can (if I go to one of her places). Does that make sense?

Do you know of any good granite places in my area?

57 sq ft is really too much for most slabs. I wonder though if your slab can just barely fit it. Maybe that is why it goes up when she calls. What type of granite did you pick? If it is one of the more common ones, like New Venetian Gold, then many fabricators would probably not charge you extra since they would likely have little problem using the rest of the second slab for a smaller job. If you picked something unusual or very expensive that might come into it also. Are you required to go through your KD for the granite? You might consider going out on your own for granite after the remainder of the kitchen is completed. You could simply say you are reconsidering the material due to cost and will finish it at some later date when you decide what you are going to do and would she please proceed to complete the project sans countertop. I know the people I am getting my cabinets from offer granite and laminante, for example, but when I mentioned quartz, they said I would have to obtain that on my own. Even if yours carries quartz, I am pretty certain they don't carry ALL brands of quartz, and if you had just fallen in LOVE with a color of some brand they don't carry, in a material that would be more cost effective given the slab problem, it would certainly present a problem for them to insist on doing the counters. When presented with the option of coming up with creative solutions to the granite problem or losing the countertop sale, it might help clarify where the real problem is, if nothing else.

I wonder if your KD is calling and saying she NEEDS two full slabs to make sure the layout is pleasing and to her specifications. Do you by any chance have a slide in range planned? I ask because, even though it only requires a couple inches along the back, it increases your granite requirement by about 9 square feet. Anyway, if your fabricator knows your slab is large, say 60 sq feet, he/she might feel they can get it out of one. They the KD calls and says she wants two slabs for design and layout reasons, to make sure pattern all goes the same direction, ect., that might explain it. Can you ask her directly if there is any way to make it fit into one slab and see what she says?

I don't know any fabricators near you, but I would certainly ask on this forum.

However, it doesn't seem like it is necessarily an issue with the fabricator, as much as the KD. But you never know. You just need to find out what is transpiring between them, and a frank talk with either one might help. If you don't want to make waves with the KD, would you feel comfortable calling the fabricator and asking what specifically had caused the price to go up and if he/she could get it into a single slab if necessary?

Sue

The pricing varies so much depending on how you are getting it. As you have been told it is possible that you are actually being charged for an entire second slab which shoots the total price up. If this is the case the leftover should be yours to resell if you can. I know in my case I will need 2 1/2 slabs. I am buying the granite straight from the supplier and can only purchase full slabs therefore I must buy 3. They only sell the granite and do not fabricate so I am hiring the fabricator seperately. Either he will find someone that wants something from the extra half and sell it for me or I will keep it. I then have the option to try and sell on my own or have something else made of it later. Of course it is possible that it may not be exactly half a slab. The granite we are using has some very large movement to it. The fabricator I am using is particular about matching these and may have to cut the slab differently to accomplish this. I will have some leftover but it may not be just a straight down the middle half slab. Either way I am paying for more granite than I actually need. This does raise the per sq. foot price of the total job but it is not a substantial amount in relationship to the total job. In my case it will be somewhere around $6.00 per sq. ft. assuming I do not recover anything by selling off the excess. I am ok with this since I am still getting the total job done for less than the typical rate in my area.

here is my thread asking about granite in fairfield county. i think 1 or 2 may be near you

Here is a link that might be useful: granite thread

We encountered this with our soapstone. If you are getting a common granite then I don't think you would face this problem. I have found-at least in my area that the very common granites are priced per square foot with the price displayed for everyone to see. The fabricator goes through so much of this product that while they have lots of remnants they have lots of demand and nothing goes to waste. In our case we needed two slabs but lots would be left over-thus they had to buy two slabs even though we really needed about 1 1/4 slabs. They figure out the square foot price based on the cost of buying but not using two full slabs. That is why no one (around here) will give you a per square foot cost on the rare-r granites without doing a full quote based on your lay-out and square footage. I think it is common practice.

Jennyct - take a copy of your kitchen plan to several fabricators (no need for the KD to accompany you) and get quotes on granite in the same level (Level I, II, III, IV, etc.) you've already priced. Get the quotes based on your plan - square footage for counters, splash, or risers + edging and see where the numbers are. Ask questions about how much material is needed and how the job is priced, so you know how that quote is created. No need to be in the dark about a major purchase for your new space.

This may be a dumb question, but after you find the granite you like, why do you need to have your KD call them? Can't you just buy the granite yourself. It does sound like she's adding some kind of markup to your purchase. What does your arrangement call for? KDs often make their money on the cabinets but if you're buying the appliances, counters, etc. yourself, she shouldn't get a cut.

I was going to have some butcher block in my peninsula, until I found out I was paying for two whole slabs, even if I didn't use all of the second one. Remnants are hard for the fabricator to use, so much of it is discarded.