I wouldn't have allowed this during the part of the job where I OK the templating. I would have picked slabs without the brown coloring to better match my cabinet color. That's part of my control over what I'm paying for. I wouldn't accept this. I would not accept counters that did not match the picture I was shown. Having input at the earliest stage is the easiest way to get what you consider important.

I think the blame is split equally on you and your fabricator unfortunately. I drove almost 4 hours to be absolutely sure that there was no weird spots in the slabs I was interested in. Granite slabs vary and you're taking a chance if you don't select it in person. It's odd that they would incorporate that into the counter but a possibility that there wasn't enough room to cut it out.

You picked a natural product and this is what Mother Nature gave you. A fabricator doing work for a builder isn't getting paid nearly enough to hand-hold his client's customers. It's interesting; embrace it please.

That gawdawful double bowl sink could be replaced in about an hour. Way worse problem.

I’m guessing you worked with a production builder right? In my experience there is no recourse unfortunately so don’t dwell on it.

Oftentimes a fabricator will only have small sample sizes on hand for customers to review. This is usually ok when it comes to common material with consistent, tight patterns such as Blanco Pearla or a New Caledonia. Once a customer chooses a material, based on that sample, the fabricator will then go and purchase the full slab. It is important at this stage to try and go see the slab in person for final sign off before fabrication begins. Not all fabricators will want this, but you need to insist. Whenever possible, and it's not always easy to do, work with a fabricator who has full slabs on-site that you can choose and that they tag with your name. What you see in your material is natural and there is nothing you can do other than love the variation. I doubt the company will offer any type of fix.

I am a fabricator. That kind of variation is fairly common in the lower grades of granite. Quarries and slab suppliers grade the stone and inclusions likely to be objectionable cause a slab to be moved into the lowest price category. Without the opportunity to select your slabs you can't avoid this possibility. Additionally the fabricator was maximizing his use of the material by including the area in the pic which is typical for shops that do high volume low price commercial work. In a typical residential job no fabricator would include an area like that without at least asking the customer because of the high probability of a dissatisfied customer. Joe had good advice: "Embrace it."

Okay wow. Some very strong opinions on my abilities as a consumer. I should add- we are a military family. We had to go through this process from 1400 miles away. So no, I was in able to drive 21 hours to hand select it myself.

Thank you tho those with straightforward answers.

Rochelle even if you were there, chances are you wouldn’t have been able to choose the stone since this is a tract home.

Make up a story for anyone that asks to explain it. "it is a petrified [I can't think of anything that won't be censored], very rare and very valuable."

OR

"That's a spot that my daughter stared at for a long time and the pattern changed", then see how long that person stares at your countertop.

I can empathize with your having to do this long distance, and I feel badly if you don't have a lot of experience with these things, but.....this unfortunately may be an expensive lesson for you.

To me, one of the biggest reasons to love granite is that it is a natural product and therefore will have variations, even in the more "close" patterns. Nature isn't perfect, anywhere. I actually love discovering different variations every time I look at my counters, and so I don't see them as imperfections. To me, that large area you circled is what gives the whole thing a little character. Try to learn to embrace it. A manmade, artificial surface would have given you much more consistency, but really, where's the fun in that?!?

As to the color....I'm more a fan of warm colors and not so much a fan of grays. Still, we are choosing New Caledonia for our basement bar, and love that it will be a mix of shades. Our cabinets there will be a dark brown, as will the floors, and the walls in the surrounding areas will be a beige color. Although in the small sample I saw, I noticed grays and brown, I googled the stone and looked at larger pics of it and realized that, because I wasn't choosing the actual slab, nor would I be there for the fabrication, it could end up being less brown than I imagined. For that reason, I chose a backsplash that's almost even a 'greige' so it can work with either. Again, just planning for whatever variation I end up with, and I absolutely can't wait to be surprised!

I hope you learn to love it!!

Rochelle, to be fair, your OP did not mention you were 1400 miles away. The answering posts here would have been different if the posters knew that. Usually there is an opportunity to see the slab either in advance, or at least as it’s being brought into the home for installation. At either of those times a homeowner could have declined the slab. In any case, as has been pointed out, granite is a material of Mother Nature so it has variabilities.

What happens with brand new kitchens is you notice every little thing. In a short while, with all your things moved into the kitchen, and using it, you won’t notice those areas, I promise.

I think this is terrible and I would definitely not be happy. You are not the GC on the job and it’s not your responsibility to look for things like this. IMO this is not a small thing. The builder should have some kind of quality control that was not exercised here. (FYI I used to be a project manager for a real estate developer of a very large master planned community.)

louislinus, I beg to differ. Quality control for natural stone??? What does that even mean? As a consumer, I would feel ripped off if I purchased natural stone that had no variations....that would feel far too matchy-matchy for me and if I wanted that, I'd go with a manmade product that went through "quality control" to ensure exact consistency.

And you're wrong....it is the buyer's responsibility to look for things like this if they want absolute assurances as to what it'll look like. And if that's what you want, you're probably building custom and not a production build, which will give you little opportunity to do that. If, as a production buyer, you didn't realize that, that's certainly unfortunate but not a travesty, as even the basic amount of upfront research should have revealed that concept. I say this as someone who has built custom and is now going with a production builder. A home is your largest expense and deserves that much homework.

Of course it’s a natural stone and yes variations are to be expected. However, in this case, a 6” x 2” discoloration like that isn’t nothing and it is in a very visible location. I like imperfections and am looking at soapstone for myself because I like that patina look. However, to my eye this is an imperfection not a natural variation.

If I was the fabricator I wouldn’t want to put my name on this. At the very least they could have though to put the imperfection somewhere less visible.

Except that, you're looking at that one area in isolation and not in the larger context of the rest of it. In fact, if you look directly across from it along the back wall in the first picture, there looks to be a similar variation on that piece.

"Would this particular issue with granite upset you in a new construction?"

No

Rochelle, IMO Louislinus is trying to stir the pot and wants to make you feel bad. All granite counters have variations. Granite comes out of the ground, and so, it varies. Even if you had been able to reject that slab, the builder might not have been able to find any other that was free of any of those kinds of variations. Granite when it is cut from the ground is cut first like an enormous block, then that block is sliced into dozens of slabs just like a loaf of bread is sliced. And just like an air hole running through a loaf of bread, a color variation in granite will run through the entire “loaf”.

As I said earlier, once you are moved into your kitchen and using it, you will not notice this color variation the way you are now cause everything is brand new. It will just be part of the kitchen.

I’d complain. Where is the quality standards? Is there an unacceptable level of variation?

Builders tend to buy whole containers of construction grade Group A- for their subdivisions. And give zero control of anything other than which color. No slab selection or template viewing, or anything else. That’s how they make money. On everything.

Low grade Caledonia is about $1 a square as a slab stone with no fabrication. All the money is in the fabrication and builders markup. Just replace it down the road.

"I’d complain. Where is the quality standards? Is there an unacceptable level of variation?"

There is no quality issue there at all cobalty2004, it is a natural product. JuneKnow states exactly the deal above. Production builders are paying to have their fabricators use every available inch, period.

If you want quality standards for a rock, talk to God. Or whoever caused the Big Bang. It's like buying a Christmas tree -- you want perfect, buy an artificial one in a big box store; you want the character that comes with the natural product, chop one down at the farm.

Thank you all. I’m not as upset about the imperfection as I am the placement. I would’ve rather it be on one of the counters in a bathroom. Not the focal point of the kitchen. Also the colors decided on were gray and white caldonia. I specifically stated no brown.

@Rochelle . my apologies. I did not realize you were so far away during the selection process.

@Morningstar Stone & Tile no apologies needed. I was not referring to you as the rude one. Thank you for straight forward non opinionated answer.

Rochelle 1st of all thank you for your service!

As the granite goes, being miles away and if you had the opportunity to pick the granite from a picture showing the entire slab and that was there, not much you can do about it unless they used a piece from another "lot".

It happened to one of my customers... They used their own supplier and asked me to come with them, and they picked out 3 slabs ... I think one slab got damaged during transport or in the shop so the replaced it with a new one from a different lot. When they came to install it, the customer said one slab did not match and it wasn't what they picked and it's a good thing I take pictures of everything because they tried to tell her this is what they picked... but they end up replacing the entire counter.

If you picked the granite from a small image sample or a small granite sample which is the worst thing to do and you signed off on it, not much can be done also at this point.

Just treated as natural beauty and if someone asks about it tell them you paid extra for that :-)

Good luck in your new home!

I feel the 1400 miles shouldn't be your position for future similar situations. The military is a family with plenty of moving. 'A friend' with her phone could have stepped in for you. Next time for sure. And now you can offer assistance to another family member.

We just purchased a new tract home. Even though I love granite and quartzite, our builder made it clear that we would have no options to preview the slab or the templating. I ended up selecting a quartz which was a "safe" choice, but not nearly as dramatic as a natural stone. While I love our counter, I now think it may have been too safe of a choice. I miss the uniqueness of our previous granite countertop.

I hope that you grow to love your new counter.

@millworkman

The maker can just chop those parts off and use the leftovers for smaller areas?

I like the gem about “Quality standards for a rock, talk to God”.....

You know if I want to build furniture I don’t have to use the first tree I see. I’m sure there are plenty of other rocks on this Earth.

Sure, you want pick of the litter then you don't use a developer. They optimize everything thing they possibly can. No one here knows where it was in the overall slab. The fabricator throw's it on the C&C and walks away, no one is paying him at this price point for a custom layout. Kitchen "A" gets the template in the folder marked Kitchen "A", and the slab is cut. It is what it is.

It doesn't hurt to ask to have it replaced.

And I'd want to make sure that all sections are from the same lot of stone and that the perimeter counters are the same color as the island, just in case. (Looks like you have the same inclusion on the perimeter so they probably are from the same batch...)

On the other hand, it's sort of interesting! The second blotch helps a little to make it look intentional. I think it will be okay but I get why you're annoyed about it.

Even though the stone is browner than expected, it looks good with your selections. I think it's actually better than the sample.

And a lot of people like double sinks! (Remember, the people who LIKE their double sinks never call in Joe to replace them! :P)

Install a light fixture above it the same shape and claim it is glare.

If you can't get it changed, I would place a large, beautiful
cutting board there and just cover it up. Something like this would stay in place and look intentional:

This is $80 on Wayfair 18"x16":

Buy the solid color cutting board, you may not be happy with the variation in one with a pattern.

Lol Mark.

Nope. Wouldn't bother me at all. I had something similar in my granite on my island in my previous house. Loved it. Its a natural product.

People here just don't understand how new construction works. As a fabricator, you could have done excellent work for a builder for several years, then he calls you and says "You'll give me a $2.00 a square foot discount or the account goes to Bubba Newbie."

You bought a $300,000.00 dollar CNC machine with a huge monthly nut to make based partially on this guy's volume.

And you seriously think this fabricator is getting compensated for the time it takes to hand-hold fussies? Please. This is production work. Production prices: no picking through the yard, no matching templates, no nothing but Mother Nature.

Again, thank you all for your input. The builder is working to remove them now. To those who were snark, I have now figured out how I will decide who not to use for future jobs if I’m in the area you do work. This was a learning process and yes I do understand we chose a development option and yes they are less than a custom built home in your opinion. However, with the military, custom built houses are a dream for only when you retire. So when that time comes, yes we will choose very meticulously. At this point in our lives, we will be moving our family, once again in 3 years. We did not want to wait a year for a custom build that we will be leaving so soon after settling in. Please in the future @Joseph Corlett, LLC when you are responding with “Gawdawful” and things of the sort, you may be speaking to someone who has driven 21 hours to find a home that was not what they expected. It’s a bit emotional and I was reaching out for opinions on if it was something we could learn to live with or if we could possibly ask for another option. Not opinions on how we chose to buy a home. Thank you to those who were kind and offered suggestions.

Good News Rochelle, glad it’s getting resolved!

Well, I guess some people just don't understand what some people go through to even buy a home, maybe shelling out as much as they can afford, then discover that the builder/fabricator cut corners to make a few more bucks, leaving the homeowner with something that looks like 2nds or flaws in their brand new home.

If I were that builder and saw that countertop, I'd require it be fixed or go with the other fabricators in the future. And if I were that fabricator, I'd be ashamed to put my name on that job. If the finished product looks so shabby, just imagine what kind of flaws there could be in the installation that aren't visible.

I'm glad they're swapping it out for you! Contractually they probably didn't have to, so it's nice to hear that there are still builders with ethics out there. Hope it's all what you expect when you finally get to see it! :)

That’s great news! Hopefully now you will get the white/grey that you were promised

The thing nobody is mentioning is tract builders often charge their buyers a huge premium for granite. It is often much cheaper for the buyer to have the same exact granite installed after closing by a fabricator of their choice. And they get to choose their slab and approve the templating.

Glad it's getting replaced. The short answer is that it's not, IMO, within an expected range of tolerance for that stone. If any stone was "anything goes" because of "God" - then why name any stone - just say you are getting a natural product so suck it up. Maybe you can get "light" and "dark".

The answer here is that the production builder has sway over the granite installer and they too, thought this was too much variation. So - they told the installer "do better" templating and not try to pass that off in the future.

It's a little thing about pride in your work product. Anyone that did that should have KNOWN that it wasn't going to be acceptable. And the OP is still spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of her hard earned money on a home and deserves a decent level of fit and finish.

Just because someone buys a "production" build home doesn't mean that they have no leverage at all, or that they have to accept crapola quality and appearance as their penance for not having something 100% custom designed and built.

I think the moral of the story is, that it never hurts to ask. Rochelle asked - sounds like politely, also a wise touch! - and the builder said yes. So Rochelle is happy and yay. :)

If the builder had said not a snowball's chance in heck I'm replacing that....I'm not sure there would be much else a home owner on a tract build could do in this case.

I have a semi-wild granite and there are all kinds of crazy spots in it. I love it. I understand why Rochelle feels that was an unacceptable imperfection in that particular calm-ish stone....but ultimately I know we've all seen way worse come out of a tract build too. :)

" It is often much cheaper for the buyer to have the same exact granite installed after closing by a fabricator of their choice."

This was not a tract home and they have to install something to get a CO. The developer or tract home builder will not give you anything back if they don't install it, even if they are allowed.

Thank you for updating us! I'm so glad that the builder was responsive and is correcting the granite. That is great news.

Tract production houses are cost conscious builds. There are multiple units under construction. Identify the subs you want more from. Go to them direct and offer added compensation for what you want. $200 for slab viewing and templating and everyone is happy.

Additionally, when we built our 'builderless' home the rough crew came from a small tract development. We contacted them at work and they fit us in to their schedule starting on a weekend.

I sympathize, Rochelle! As another military family, we built a house in Oklahoma—from NJ— after spending two days with the builder. Our subdivision was semi custom, in that you could place the rooms however you wanted as long as they fit around a core of mechanicals and plumbing. So we actually designed the house without ever seeing another one like it! Four months later, we walked in the door for the first time. Thank goodness we liked it and it served us well for three years.

Over thirty years later, I would never have the guts to do anything like that ever again! Housing was very tight in the town and base housing, my first choice, was unavailable for our five kid family. It was basically build or rent. Then after we moved, the base changed one of its primary functions and there were far few families with kids moving in and way more single younger guys. Fun and games as a military family. We rented the house for ten years before selling it and finally making a profit.