My kitchen planner said the same to me. We were pretty much decided on Cambria, specially the oakmoor slab. I might look into Corian.

Ouch! That's a heck of an increase.

Cambria has built a great brand and they lead the estone industry with color, particulate, and movement. They think they can get it. The marketplace will tell us all soon enough.

I admire their unwillingness to play the price game; I don't do it either. DuPont, Corian's manufacturer, has never done it.

There is another possibility, your fabricator may have fallen victim to Cambria's vertical integration business model. Cambria sells slabs to local fabricators up to the point when they open their own shop. Instead of telling the local guy "No more Cambria for you" they just raised the price nearly 100% to make him unable to compete with them.

Thanks for letting us know! On a side note, did you hear anything yet about the stucco shower walls?

Glad I got my order in and deposit down last month! (Bellingham)

Yeah, we're not using Cambria. We're just going with white quartz counters, and there some less expensive options.

Rockybird, I don't think we're doing the stucco shower walls. Our contractor was reluctant, mainly because there is a floor to ceiling window in the shower. He was concerned about moisture issues. Also, he's not done stucco/plaster in a shower before. We're trying to figure out a similar seamless/minimalist look without using plaster/stucco.

I'd be concerned about a contractor who was concerned about waterproofing a window that isn't even subject to freeze-thaw cycles.

Last week, I was visiting the shop that will be installing my countertops next near and mentioned I saw that Cambria raised their prices and his reply was pretty much what Cambria outlined above. The price increase was only a narrow selection of products that are deemed as higher end. He mentioned they were all white designs which coincidently seem to be all the rage in many parts of the country currently.

I am a small fabricator who specializes in high end quality and cutting edge design in the central Florida area. Cambria is a no brainer for my clients who want really special engineered stone surfaces. With that being said, this price increase is very true. My cost has gone up 30% for Cambria. While I will still continue to offer Cambria products in my showroom, I will say that the price increase has caused three of my clients to either choose another product or simply find another fabricator all together. in either case, Cambria has lost three sales in January alone out of my little store. One of those sales I lost all together, but the other two chose another brand. As one user above has posted, time will tell if this price increase impacts Cambria's total sales/profit and ultimately gets their attention to address the pricing structure. I love Cambria, but I am not sure I will sell as many Cambria jobs as I did before the price increase.

You may not sell as many, but you'll make good money on the ones you do. There's no life bidding your way to the bottom. Cambria knows it; you should too.

I doubt that. my market has several other providers and their pricing structure is much lower because of their volume. Cambria price increase was not across the board for the fabricators. it was based upon volume of sales. The moral of the story is that Cambria makes more money, but I have to sacrifice my own markup to even try to compete with my nearest competitor.

"... but I have to sacrifice my own markup to even try to compete with my nearest competitor."

Thanks for making my point. There is no there there. You can't sacrifice your margins. Ever.

Hey, you are talking about something from three plus years ago. Is a price increase from then still an issue today?

the price increase I am talking about happened on January 1st of 2020. $10/ sq ft. or $600/ slab. it makes a 3 slab job cost an additional $1800 in cost without my markup which means after my markup about $2,200-$2,500 more.

Another important point to make here is that the consumers often confuse price with competition. The difference between installed products and a car, for instance, is that the craftsmanship often varies wildly between shops. cars are all made in the same factory and the final product to the consumer is no different from one dealer to the next.