Price often depends on the location of the project.

Has he shopped around at all? We found when we actually went looking that some natural stones are competitive with cultured in terms of price, especially with the better (and more realistic looking) cultured stone brands. It seems to depend on where you live and what you want. In our area there isn't as much choice for affordable natural stone because what is quarried in a 500 mile radius just tends to be more boring colors. We're going with it for our fireplace but are using cultured outside.

I assume you have considered real stone cut thin and applied to the wall?

Real stone can look fake if it is applied and mortared wrong, the trick is in the mortar joints. For manmade stone, some masons use more than one Texture and color family.

I never heard of manmade stone fading . . . but maybe I should get out more.

I now notice Real and natural stone when looking for the real stone cut thin and applied to the stucco. Whats the difference between real stone and natural stone? Do they also carry the real stone in panels to make it easier to apply then piece by piece?

My father is looking into real thin cut stone. He found MSI sparkling Autumn but he also found shadowstone and ledgestone. What is the difference?

This is the thin cut stone we're planning to use.

Samples to show the thickness:

The pic is from the Telluride Stone

e website. It's the "Montana" from the Heritage collection:

We are using the thin cut natural stone on our house and on the walls of our boat dock. Average 2" thick. I don't think there was a huge difference in price between this and the cultured stone. The installation price is the same on our project. We haven't started the house yet. Boat dock pic ... happy overall with the stone.