How much does granite cost seems like such a simple question but I can never seem to get a straight answer. Why?
How much does granite cost?
The short answer is, it depends.
The answer you want to hear is $39 per square foot installed with a sink and faucet thrown in. Most granite fabricators offer packages for the most common installation project type and size. The most typical project is a (Kitchen at about 50 square feet). For this type of work they will price stone in levels. Price levels are not standard and are only relevant at that stone yard. The price level is not stone specific but is fabricator specific. You can not assume that Jupurana Bordeaux was a level 5 t one place and will be a level 5 everywhere.
If your project is not a kitchen of about 50 square feet within a reasonable travel distance then the real answer is it depends upon a few factors.
-What stone?
-How much of that stone?
-What is it being installed upon?
-Where is that installation to physically take place?
About 25% of a granite kitchen quote is actually the granite slab itself. That means that a $39 package must place the stone at about $10 or less per square foot. After all you have the cost of the sink and faucet. So what does granite cost? What am I really buying for the other 75% of the quote?
Waste ranges from 10 to 25% of the slab may be unusable based upon the size and shape of pieces needed for your job.
Freight is a variable that depends upon where it came from and where it is going but at about 1000 lbs per slab it is not going to be cheap.
Machining and tooling is performed with diamond tooling that wears out based upon how hard it is run and against what material hardness.
Overhead which depends upon how many square feet is being produced on average at the shop you are seeking a quote from.
Labor goes all the way back to the quarry operating, slab polishing operation, ocean freighter, truckers, sales people, templator, programmers, machining operators, fabricators, edge detailers and polishers and finally the installers that show up at your home.
Finally Profit, without profit there would be no stone.
If you need a skyscraper clad in granite it certainly is not going to be $39 per square foot.
If you want a little piece out of the middle of a slab it is not going to be $39 per square foot
If you need it installed at your 2nd home that is 12 hours away in the outer banks of South Carolina, again it is not going to be $39 per square foot.
If you want an exotic and beautiful stone, you get the idea?
Prices are rarely published on the web and with all of the above variables you can start to understand why. The recent economy condition has forced some fabricators to take ads out and sell stone at a loss just to keep volumes up in factories. This will not last. One way or another the companies will go out of business or the economy will recover and along with it margins, but one way or another it can not last.
Dan DiTomaso Stone Masters inc. 515 School House Road, Kennett Square PA 19348
www.stonemastersinc.net
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