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Stone slab pricing

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Stone slab pricing

Just wondering if anyone knows why pricing for stone slabs (granite, quartzite, quartz etc..) is still shrouded in secrecy? I can't think of another business that requires you to make your selection, forward that selection to another business, then wait to see if you're okay with price being quoted.

Why can't fabricators charge for their service, and slab sellers charge for the slab? Fabricators do exactly that, fabricate the stone. Nothing more. I can't understand why slab sellers can't sell me the slab directly.

What an antiquated system. Can anybody shed some light?
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To the 2 thumbs down voters, is it thumbs down cause you don't think it's worth discussing or because you don't agree with the sentiment?

I see a lot of people posting about buying counters, doesn't anyone else have any thoughts about this. I find the whole "you have to let your fabricator know what slabs you're interested in and they'll provide the pricing" a bit ridiculous.
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Middlemen want to get paid.
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exrcoupe wrote: Middlemen want to get paid.
I get the concept, I just don't understand what that has to do with fabricators. I walk into a slab store, I pick the slab I want, I pay for the slab. Simple. I hire a fabricator to fabricate and install my slab xxx dollars.

Why do I need to go pick slabs, that may or may not be out of my price range, send them to a fabricator, wait for a price, then go back and choose different slabs if the price doesn't work for me. These places won't even give customers a range for pricing. They give some arbitrary level 1/2/3/4 with absolutely no context behind what those levels mean in terms of cost. It's absurd.
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Sep 2, 2008
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I agree. Are your fabricators good at giving prices for all the different types? I went to one store to get a quote for custom cabinets and counter.

I wanted pricing on a variety of stones so I can compare the prices but they were so reluctant to do it saying everything is different. I went and selected 4 exaxt stones I wanted prices for and even then it was like pulling teeth to get even two quotes. Salesperson just kept saying "it will be more for sure"...without telling me how much more. I don't understand, is it a lot of work or something?

I probably would have ordered everything from them, since the cabinets were a good price but their attitude to getting me a quote annoyed the f"$& out of me and I said no way.
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slowtyper wrote: I agree. Are your fabricators good at giving prices for all the different types? I went to one store to get a quote for custom cabinets and counter.

I wanted pricing on a variety of stones so I can compare the prices but they were so reluctant to do it saying everything is different. I went and selected 4 exaxt stones I wanted prices for and even then it was like pulling teeth to get even two quotes. Salesperson just kept saying "it will be more for sure"...without telling me how much more. I don't understand, is it a lot of work or something?

I probably would have ordered everything from them, since the cabinets were a good price but their attitude to getting me a quote annoyed the f"$& out of me and I said no way.
I'm a bit underwhelmed with the service so far.

Quick response with one of them, but I got a "those are all ~$150 a square foot" price. I call bs, 4 different stones, 4 different sizes, and all the same price?! These are stones nearing 5 figures, prices between them I'm guessing might vary by $500-1000, so any price difference between stones goes to the fabricator, which why I think this system sucks.

I'm still waiting for a quote from a 2nd fabricator. Such a racket.
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Re - Thumbs Down Votes

Guessing it’s cuz you posted a NEW THREAD
When there’s already a MegaThread on Stone Countertops
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/ask-me- ... s-2310329/

Asking there you would have been able to get a Professional in the field to give you an answer

Anyhow my take ...

Natural Stone often has to be sourced, and then custom cut for your application

Some places the Customer doesn’t see slabs
They just pick based on samples of stones / countertops based on the “name” the stone is called by
Example ... Carrara Marble. It’s predominantly white with grey veins
But getting a slab that makes sense for the space / layout ... can be a lot more complicated than just cut this ... fit that
So it’s sourcing a workable slab ... plus the cutting to your specifications & layout

Even places where you can pick slabs
The artisan doing the cutting has to figure what’s the best way to do the cuts
(And that dictates wasteage etc )

ADD ... I think a lot of homeowners / folks don’t appreciate the skills that go into many trades
Some folks are true artisans ... not just “a guy” who does XYZ
You pay for that knowledge / talent too
A lot of trades have various skill sets ... including design and having to do behind the scene calculations etc to make things work
Like I said it’s not always a straightforward case of measure this ... cut that
Be it a carpenter, drywaller, stone & tile work, mason, electrician, etc
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PointsHubby wrote: Re - Thumbs Down Votes

Guessing it’s cuz you posted a NEW THREAD
When there’s already a MegaThread on Stone Countertops
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/ask-me- ... s-2310329/

Asking there you would have been able to get a Professional in the field to give you an answer

Anyhow my take ...

Natural Stone often has to be sourced, and then custom cut for your application

Some places the Customer doesn’t see slabs
They just pick based on samples of stones / countertops based on the “name” the stone is called by
Example ... Carrara Marble. It’s predominantly white with grey veins
But getting a slab that makes sense for the space / layout ... can be a lot more complicated than just cut this ... fit that
So it’s sourcing a workable slab ... plus the cutting to your specifications & layout

Even places where you can pick slabs
The artisan doing the cutting has to figure what’s the best way to do the cuts
(And that dictates wasteage etc )

ADD ... I think a lot of homeowners / folks don’t appreciate the skills that go into many trades
Some folks are true artisans ... not just “a guy” who does XYZ
You pay for that knowledge / talent too
A lot of trades have various skill sets ... including design and having to do behind the scene calculations etc to make things work
Like I said it’s not always a straightforward case of measure this ... cut that
Be it a carpenter, drywaller, stone & tile work, mason, electrician, etc
That thread is "ask me anything about quartz countertops" and I wasn't really asking specifically about quartz, but rather stone in general.

Anyway, I'm not trying to disparage what fabricators do. I understand that they have a particular skill which they expect to be paid for. What I don't understand is why the pricing process unfolds the way it does. I'm not paying them only for their skill, but also for the product, which they don't actually have in their possession.
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You think that's bad.. there are some manufacturers that even pick and choose which fabricators to work with.. so if yours is not on their list then you can't get their products.

It's just the way the industry is setup.. similar yo car dealerships before tesla introduced the direct manufacture model.
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Here is my non professional take based upon our kitchen reno completed last year. We visited numerous Quartz manufacturers in Vaughan, following visits to a number of retail stores and looking at their collections. Typical samples were small, and in almost all cases they cannot show every colour a manufacturer has to offer. We were looking at Si04 and Quorastone after finding them to be in our budget and having colours we liked for the counter/back splash. A couple of stores suggested we set up appts at the manufacturers where we could see larger slabs, and more colour offerings.

We did exactly this, and were able to bring more sample options home to choose what we wanted. Si04 allowed us in their showroom to look at actual slabs on the wall, and it was a great way to see and compare. We also were able to get into New Age Marble to look at the Quorastone options, and this was a tremendous help. We were advised to make sure when buying from a fabricator that we choose to make sure we get the right dye lots, and make sure we want mirror images of the same slabs we like. Quite often a manufactrer has different dye lots floating around, so we were able to choose exactly what we wanted and had Josh buy them for us, no surprises.

As for price, we visited a fabricator in Mississauga who was very open to showing us his catalogue and pricing on these same slabs....not sure my rambling helped, lol. I guess even if we were allowed to buy direct from the manufacturers why would you want to considering fabricators do all the cutting at their shops, etc, not in your home?
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I think the long story short of it is that natural stone varies so much, so based on what size is available from different places at the time, what sizes you need, what remnants there are will always impact the price.

I don't think most people would want to be sold a slab directly, then you would have to pay a higher price than the trades, coordinate how delivery works, where it gets stored, what happens with remnants, did you order enough to cover all your cuts plus edging, etc. Sure some people can do it easily, but most people wouldn't want too.

Also, with manmade stuff its a lot easier, most of the manmade stuff that they do a lot of volume in, I can go to my countertop guy and know it will be around $95/sqft installed.
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TLSRULZ wrote: You think that's bad.. there are some manufacturers that even pick and choose which fabricators to work with.. so if yours is not on their list then you can't get their products.

It's just the way the industry is setup.. similar yo car dealerships before tesla introduced the direct manufacture model.
Nothing like buying a car at all. I don't go into a showroom, spend time picking a car and all the options, only to be told that I must now take this information to a completely unrelated company that will now decide how much I pay.

I'm not asking to deal directly with the quarry (Tesla, in your example), I WANT to deal with the dealership (slab sellers). Who I hire to "customize" my car (the fabricator) shouldn't decide what I pay for my car.
redsfan wrote: Here is my non professional take based upon our kitchen reno completed last year. We visited numerous Quartz manufacturers in Vaughan, following visits to a number of retail stores and looking at their collections. Typical samples were small, and in almost all cases they cannot show every colour a manufacturer has to offer. We were looking at Si04 and Quorastone after finding them to be in our budget and having colours we liked for the counter/back splash. A couple of stores suggested we set up appts at the manufacturers where we could see larger slabs, and more colour offerings.

We did exactly this, and were able to bring more sample options home to choose what we wanted. Si04 allowed us in their showroom to look at actual slabs on the wall, and it was a great way to see and compare. We also were able to get into New Age Marble to look at the Quorastone options, and this was a tremendous help. We were advised to make sure when buying from a fabricator that we choose to make sure we get the right dye lots, and make sure we want mirror images of the same slabs we like. Quite often a manufactrer has different dye lots floating around, so we were able to choose exactly what we wanted and had Josh buy them for us, no surprises.

As for price, we visited a fabricator in Mississauga who was very open to showing us his catalogue and pricing on these same slabs....not sure my rambling helped, lol. I guess even if we were allowed to buy direct from the manufacturers why would you want to considering fabricators do all the cutting at their shops, etc, not in your home?
I think buying manmade stone is a little more straightforward as pricing is likely more uniform between sellers. Natural stone has many, many variations, so pricing would be more difficult to catalogue.

I too have been to New Age, excellent selection and great service, but the buying process sucks. I need to record the slabs I"m interested in, forward those to a fabricator, wait for them to contact New Age, then they get back to me to provide a price/sq ft. But wait a minute, I bought a whole slab, I only need 3/4 of the slab for my counter, why am I paying the fabricator a whole slab price, when they're only "fabricating" 3/4 of a slab?! I end up paying a premium to the fabricator, who is only actually fabricating only part of the slab. That's BS. And I don't want the stone fabricated in my kitchen, I would expect the fabricator to pick up, fabricate, then install the stone. And they will be paid fairly for that job. I don't need (want) them to buy the slab for me.
SubjectivelyObjective wrote: I think the long story short of it is that natural stone varies so much, so based on what size is available from different places at the time, what sizes you need, what remnants there are will always impact the price.

I don't think most people would want to be sold a slab directly, then you would have to pay a higher price than the trades, coordinate how delivery works, where it gets stored, what happens with remnants, did you order enough to cover all your cuts plus edging, etc. Sure some people can do it easily, but most people wouldn't want too.

Also, with manmade stuff its a lot easier, most of the manmade stuff that they do a lot of volume in, I can go to my countertop guy and know it will be around $95/sqft installed.
My cabinet maker can provide me a pretty exact number with respect to how much counter top I need. I'm okay with buying my own slab, if only I could.
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For our kitchen basically same process, went to the showroom to select our specific slab from the assortment they have in the warehouse / showroom. Believe the salesperson gave us a ballpark cost of the slab/s to allow us to select from the multitude of varieties in stock. We selected a natural white/grey veined quartzite (not marble, not man-made quartz), then proceeded to mark the specific slabs which we wanted to take them off the market while we went to our fabricator and make arraignments to craft into our kitchen layout. The fabricator sent us layouts (pictures) with lines indicating how they were going to cut the slabs (minimal seams) to make best use of the stone, and price thereof. When the stone was installed we also received the left over (non used) portions of the slabs as we had paid for them so they are ours to keep. We ended up selling a piece to a separate installer who did my neighbours house for a client in another area, have a second portion in my garage waiting for a use which will likely never arrive...lol.
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Toukolou wrote: Nothing like buying a car at all. I don't go into a showroom, spend time picking a car and all the options, only to be told that I must now take this information to a completely unrelated company that will now decide how much I pay.

I'm not asking to deal directly with the quarry (Tesla, in your example), I WANT to deal with the dealership (slab sellers). Who I hire to "customize" my car (the fabricator) shouldn't decide what I pay for my car.



I think buying manmade stone is a little more straightforward as pricing is likely more uniform between sellers. Natural stone has many, many variations, so pricing would be more difficult to catalogue.

I too have been to New Age, excellent selection and great service, but the buying process sucks. I need to record the slabs I"m interested in, forward those to a fabricator, wait for them to contact New Age, then they get back to me to provide a price/sq ft. But wait a minute, I bought a whole slab, I only need 3/4 of the slab for my counter, why am I paying the fabricator a whole slab price, when they're only "fabricating" 3/4 of a slab?! I end up paying a premium to the fabricator, who is only actually fabricating only part of the slab. That's BS. And I don't want the stone fabricated in my kitchen, I would expect the fabricator to pick up, fabricate, then install the stone. And they will be paid fairly for that job. I don't need (want) them to buy the slab for me.



My cabinet maker can provide me a pretty exact number with respect to how much counter top I need. I'm okay with buying my own slab, if only I could.
You can ask your fabricator for the leftover and do whatever you want with it, they rarely get asked but will provide it. We went to a place in Mississauga and he tried to sell us on existing inventory of one slab he had, and would source 1 slab fresh. He did not even mention that the new slab would be a different dye lot nor did he say the mirror images would line up. Needless to say I never went with them. Yeah it sucks you pay for what you don't use, but find a project/resell do whatever. Also, we paid for the job, not sq ft.
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redsfan wrote: You can ask your fabricator for the leftover and do whatever you want with it, they rarely get asked but will provide it. We went to a place in Mississauga and he tried to sell us on existing inventory of one slab he had, and would source 1 slab fresh. He did not even mention that the new slab would be a different dye lot nor did he say the mirror images would line up. Needless to say I never went with them. Yeah it sucks you pay for what you don't use, but find a project/resell do whatever. Also, we paid for the job, not sq ft.
I understand that I will get whatever is leftover. But again, I'm paying by the square foot for the slab, from the fabricator. If the fabricator isn't fabricating the whole slab, what am I paying a premium for? That's the issue I have. Why should the fabricator add their 10/20/30% markup, whatever it is, to the entire slab if all I'm doing is hiring them to fabricate a part of my stone?

I don't understand why the slab sellers don't tell them to go pound sand, and the slab sellers will take the full markup on the stone. I would at least get an upfront price from the slab sellers on the spot and I can decide what kind of stone I'm going for right then and there. This back and forth is BS.

I'm assuming either we don't have any fabricators on this forum that clearly answer why this is a legitimate way to do business, or, there isn't anything to support its legitimacy. This is an antiquated system, I know I can find US pricing for slabs online.
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When we picked even tho it was quartz.. wife just picked from 3"x3" samples what she liked for whatever would go with the decor... price/brand was secondary.

So .. keep it simple.. you seem to be overthinking this... and as others said .. you can pay a flat fee for the job not on the sqft.. that said some stone is harder to cut and some are more delicate to handle.. so there will be a difference in price.

Your buying this probably once for this project .. get what some you want even if you pay 500-1000 more (to the supplier/ fabricator) ... your gonna see it everyday and enjoy it and be happy.

This is just how the industry is setup .. and until it changes (again what disruptors like TESLA, Apple etc) we just have to live with it and move on...
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Toukolou wrote: I understand that I will get whatever is leftover. But again, I'm paying by the square foot for the slab, from the fabricator. If the fabricator isn't fabricating the whole slab, what am I paying a premium for? That's the issue I have. Why should the fabricator add their 10/20/30% markup, whatever it is, to the entire slab if all I'm doing is hiring them to fabricate a part of my stone?

I don't understand why the slab sellers don't tell them to go pound sand, and the slab sellers will take the full markup on the stone. I would at least get an upfront price from the slab sellers on the spot and I can decide what kind of stone I'm going for right then and there. This back and forth is BS.

I'm assuming either we don't have any fabricators on this forum that clearly answer why this is a legitimate way to do business, or, there isn't anything to support its legitimacy. This is an antiquated system, I know I can find US pricing for slabs online.
Who is the slab seller you are talking about, the distributor, or fabricator? If you are asking why a manufacturer won't sell to us, well that is simple. GM won't sell us a car, but will sell hundreds to a dealershp at volume pricing. A manufacturer will sell to a fabricator who is doing a condo project and make tons more money in volume than off of your or I. Again not sure if this is what you are asking?

The fabricators are indeed double or even tripe dipping if they are not offering you the entire piece you have paid for. They pay around $1,250 for a mid range slab and are charging the consumer that exact price, 2-3x over plus labour. The only fair way for the end consumer is to get what's leftover from the slab and do whatever with it..thus no double dipping for the fabricator. Assuming there is even enough slab left for a project.
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I'm a fabricator.

There's a difference between natural stone vs quartz.

Natural stone - suppliers purchased them by the block (volume) and sell it based on the surface area. Cutting into 2CM and 3CM makes a big difference in profit. You need to adjust for forex, overhead, etc...so bianco carrara marble can vary from different local suppliers. (slab sizes are different too).

Labour - depending on the material, certain material are harder to work with. That being said, some fabricators like to mark up on the material and sell. Also please keep in mind that fabricators/supplier needs to schedule the handling and moving of the slab from their warehouse to their shop. I like to charge for my labour time fairly and add the material cost on top. This way it's easy for the homeowner to make their decision on what they want.

Quartz - this is man made and the difference in thicknesses are incremental of the material. That being said, there are a few major brands out there and a lot of oem (from China) brands.

One way to see if it's from China (the slab sizes are always 62/63 x 125/126 inches).

Quartz a lot simpler to work with. Because it's from a manufacturer, it's good to know which brand/company you're buying from who will be responsible for their product. The last thing you want is a countertop that's staining (which a quartz shouldn't be doing).
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redsfan wrote: Who is the slab seller you are talking about, the distributor, or fabricator? If you are asking why a manufacturer won't sell to us, well that is simple. GM won't sell us a car, but will sell hundreds to a dealershp at volume pricing. A manufacturer will sell to a fabricator who is doing a condo project and make tons more money in volume than off of your or I. Again not sure if this is what you are asking?

The fabricators are indeed double or even tripe dipping if they are not offering you the entire piece you have paid for. They pay around $1,250 for a mid range slab and are charging the consumer that exact price, 2-3x over plus labour. The only fair way for the end consumer is to get what's leftover from the slab and do whatever with it..thus no double dipping for the fabricator. Assuming there is even enough slab left for a project.
The slab seller is not the equivalent of GM. The quarry where the stone is taken out of the ground and/or cut into saleable pieces is the GM of the natural stone world. The slab seller is the "dealership". They buy stone in bulk, the place where you go and walk around the warehouse looking at slabs.

A fabricator is the dude I hire to cut my stone to shape. Again, not sure why I have to "buy" the stone from him. He has no skin in the game so to speak, other than the machinery required to fabricate the stone, which is the cost of operating his business.
Last edited by Toukolou on Mar 18th, 2021 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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cwh2 wrote: I'm a fabricator.

There's a difference between natural stone vs quartz.

Natural stone - suppliers purchased them by the block (volume) and sell it based on the surface area. Cutting into 2CM and 3CM makes a big difference in profit. You need to adjust for forex, overhead, etc...so bianco carrara marble can vary from different local suppliers. (slab sizes are different too).

Labour - depending on the material, certain material are harder to work with. That being said, some fabricators like to mark up on the material and sell. Also please keep in mind that fabricators/supplier needs to schedule the handling and moving of the slab from their warehouse to their shop. I like to charge for my labour time fairly and add the material cost on top. This way it's easy for the homeowner to make their decision on what they want.

Quartz - this is man made and the difference in thicknesses are incremental of the material. That being said, there are a few major brands out there and a lot of oem (from China) brands.

One way to see if it's from China (the slab sizes are always 62/63 x 125/126 inches).

Quartz a lot simpler to work with. Because it's from a manufacturer, it's good to know which brand/company you're buying from who will be responsible for their product. The last thing you want is a countertop that's staining (which a quartz shouldn't be doing).
Excellent, maybe you can answer why the process is the way it is. I know, as someone else mentioned, that picking engineered stone would greatly alleviate many of the concerns I've brought up here, but we're really more interested in natural stone. All of the points you brought up about cost, stone thickness etc..make perfect sense.

My question is, how does any of that apply to you? Why can't I buy a slab direct from a slab seller, and then pay you whatever your going rate to fabricate the stone for me? Why do these slab sellers act like the price is a state secret? I'm guessing it has to do with their relationship with fabricators. Namely, if they want to have any fabricators work with their stone, they better keep their mouths shut. But I'm only guessing about that part.

Maybe you could shed some light?
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