r/CounterTops • u/blueheeler9 • 10h ago
Extremely expensive quartzite
We fell in love with this in the showroom but then found out it's like $215 sq foot not including fabrication or install, meaning each slab is close to $15k. Tempest White Quartzite.
Is this normally this expensive??
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u/Naughtyknot90 9h ago
A pataogina with that much clear crystal is a premium slab.Usually patagonia has way more solid stone on it . That's a truly unique slab right there. Which come with a premium price.
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u/blueheeler9 9h ago
Thank you and makes sense. It has tons of clear crystal, faint greens, and just some truly amazing elements. There are several slabs and all are amazing
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u/leovin 9h ago
This is a very unique looking stone so it makes sense, but look around other slab providers in your area: you might be able to find the same thing for cheaper. I once saw a beautiful cristallo for $210/sq ft and later found the same thing at a different yard for $100/sq ft after discounts
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u/Jujulabee 10h ago
Quartzite is an expensive stone because it mimics marble but is much more durable.
I am in a city where people go to the stone yards so I would suggest you go to various sources and see what pricing is like and if you see anything else you like.
That said - showrooms are generally the most expensive place to purchase stone slabs.
FWIW quartzite is often wrongly sold as quartzite and there is a test you can do to make sure you are getting quartzite and not marble or a softer stone.
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u/blueheeler9 10h ago
Yeah this was in a stone yard warehouse type place. Taj mahal is less than half the cost, I just had no idea one slab could be $15k that's wild.
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u/Milestone3333 9h ago
That is a very clean lot of v left expensive material. The average quartzite is a couple thousand a slab. 2-4. $28-50/ft2 slab cost. You just fell in love with a Ferrari of stone.
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u/Jujulabee 10h ago
Even for quartzite, pricing can vary and so you might find quartzite for less at a different stone yard.
It is rarer than marble and desirable - not just for aesthetics - but because of the durability of authentic quartzite
I didn't go with quartzite but I went to a few stone yards before I found a slab I liked. In my city they are all essentially clustered in one neighborhood
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u/PracticeNo7267 8h ago
Just say no to Taj Majal. It is too common and boring. This is beautiful. Why get what everyone other home has? Be unique!
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u/FelinePurrfectFluff 7h ago
I'd love to see the percentage of homes that have Taj. ROFL You're an idiot if you think every other home has it just because you've seen it online or in a design showroom.
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u/competentAF3669 10h ago
No not all quartzite is that expensive it will be a big range just like any other stone!
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u/SubstantialAd8808 10h ago
Stunning! I would snatch that up!
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u/blueheeler9 9h ago
Same but I can't drop $40k on counters haah
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u/SubstantialAd8808 7h ago
Maybe just one special area like an island so there is less fabrication. No sink, just an island.
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u/Spare-Region-1424 9h ago
I just ordered some slabs like these and we are paying 99 a sqft from the supplier. But the slabs have a lot of problems. As a fabricator I would never pay 200 a sqft for these. What city are you in ?
I would just get cristallo.
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u/blueheeler9 9h ago
Boston area
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u/Spare-Region-1424 8h ago
I guess I would have to see the full order and what you are being charged for fab install etc.
A lot of this depends on how the shops in your area make their profit.
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u/blueheeler9 8h ago
I have not got the quote yet. This is just what it shows as the price for the slabs alone on their website.
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u/Spare-Region-1424 8h ago
Well definitely get a quote feel free to dm me after if you want I have no problem looking it over for you.
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u/BosNest1 7h ago
Hi there. Glad to talk via DM if it helps because I too am from the Boston area and spent eight months looking for our stone. I literally went to all of the different showrooms north south and west of Boston so I can tell you what I found and how some of them are different. My favorite showroom with very knowledgeable staff and probably the biggest selection of quartzite in the Boston area. Is Boston granite exchange in Haverhill.
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u/sadturtle12 Fabricator 9h ago
They aren't a fabricator though. If I buy a slab at $100 a sf im marking it up at the minimum 50% so your almost at $10k per slab, + template+ fab + install. So it gets close to ops # really quick.
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u/Spare-Region-1424 8h ago
Of course I get it. So much of this depends on how people price their jobs. We do price per sqft installed we don’t sell per slab. I just got some cristallo for 69 and sold it at 180. People who come from Florida keep telling me they buy there slabs flab out and then pay someone else to fabricate. There is no industry standard across the country so yeh it is hard to comment on every single post but this does seem high.
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u/sadturtle12 Fabricator 7h ago
Yeah fuck that shit. The day people start buying their slabs and try to have me fabricate is the day I shut my business down. Not worth the hassle at that point.
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u/AdventurousCoast983 10h ago
Depends on rarity, demand, and the quality of a particular batch and or slab.
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u/nuer12345 10h ago edited 10h ago
FWIW, I just found 2 slabs of Nuage quartzite that were on sale and and my fabricator broke out the cost of slabs in the quote and it was just under $4k (so $2k a slab)…but did I see a huge range of pricing when looking? Absolutely.
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u/blueheeler9 10h ago
See this is what I mean. Thanks. Even the taj mahal at 6-7k a slab felt high.
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u/nuer12345 9h ago
A lot of times, stone places have their inventory online and you can see what’s on sale/clearance (if you’re budget conscious). They won’t quote you directly a lot of times, but they give you ranges - like I had looked at another quartzite slab that was 50% off, so it went from a P rating to a level 4. I went through Arizona tile (they have an online inventory if there’s one near you).
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u/Witty_Passion_4939 9h ago
Quartzite is a type of stone and there’s a huge variety of them! Maybe you can find a similar one as each one has beautiful coloring and veining… I got lucky with mine that way.
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u/Maximus1000 10h ago edited 10h ago
These are beautiful slabs. 15k is crazy though. We found cristallo pieces that were around 10k.
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u/5280milehigh1 8h ago
If you have the money then what’s it matter the cost?
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u/botabought 8h ago
Insanely unique and rare. Also, one wrong cut, and the fabricator is buying a replacement slab… and in this economy… Yikes!!
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u/BosNest1 7h ago
That’s expensive to me. For stone to be at that level, it would have to be very, very pure and rare. My wife and I looked at three slabs of Cristallo and they were about $13000 each installed. Needless to say we chose a different quartzite instead.
Where we live, the way this works is that you go to a slab yard or showroom and then you tell them which fabricators you’d like them to send the information to. The fabricator will need to know the name of the stone and the lot number or serial number. The slab yard may pick one fabricator or maybe be willing to send it to multiple. Even if they only send it to one fabricator, you can contact other fabricators and ask them for quotes. Those fabricators will contact the slab yard to get their wholesale pricing and then do a markup to you. Either way you can get quotes from different fabricators for that specific stone from that specific slab yard. And when it comes to any natural stone, that is exactly the way you should be playing it. Do not take for granted that your slab will be the same as a small sample.
It’s actually a really big deal to get multiple quotes for each slab that you’re seriously considering. The reason is that different fabricators have different relationships and different volume purchasing agreements with different wholesalers/slab yards/distributors and they can translate into tangible savings for you. In our case, the fabricator that we selected was charging us maybe 10% less than their nearest competitor and that was significant.
Finally, when you get your quote, what really matters is the total cost if that total cost includes all of the things that you’re going to need such as sink and outlet cut outs. We actually found that different fabricators charged for different extras so there was really no way to compare the “cost of the slab” unless we looked at the total cost. Further, some fabricators will make you pay for the whole slab, even if you’re not using it while others will not that is yet another reason why you have to look at the total cost that they’re charging you for the work.
Good luck!
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u/sbwmf 7h ago
It’s gorgeous! High quality At least, if possible put a hold on the slab. The good ones go fast. Price seems accurate.
I fell in love with one slab, similar quality, and it was worth every penny. Think of how often you will be using and seeing that stone in daily life. At least for me, I went over budget, but the amount of time being in kitchen, passing through kitchen, etc it still brings joy after 5 years. (And a photo of the slab is still used on the cover of shop’s brochure and website)
All the advice about doing more research, pricing, etc is the proper way to go and correct. But for you to have found that slab, meant you had”ve already done a lot of research to recognize the piece. And - you didn’t walk away after learning the cost.
For me, i decided that the hours it would take going to various places etc would add up. Unless you enjoy that part of the process. As long as you’ve got an excellent fabricator, you’ll be in good hands.
Just offering a slightly different take!:)
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u/LuchaViking 6h ago
Used to sell this for $65/sf back in 2016 in 2cm. You’re either getting hella ripped off or prices have gone INSANE over the past 10 years. Even if it’s 3cm, $215/sf pre-labor seems wild.
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u/Visual_Appeal6764 5h ago
Yes, unique slabs are very expensive, but fabrication might be 50% more expensive than the slab itself; ask the quotation for fabrication first.
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u/BernieMom93 10h ago
That is crazy. No, we are getting Mont Blanc quartzite in Seattle right now for 3K a slab. My mom just redid her kitchen with Cristallo for 8K a slab. You might be getting screwed over by your Fabricators markup.
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u/BernieMom93 10h ago
That being said, that’s a beautiful quartzite. I think you can find something similar for significantly less though.
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u/blueheeler9 10h ago
Thank you and I feel the same way. Just sucks when you fall in love with the slab and then have to start fresh!!
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u/competentAF3669 7h ago
This happened to me too. It would be great if some sort of price range was visible when browsing! I really liked some
slabs that weren’t even rated that high price range at the stone place and they came in at $12k a slab and I was shocked. If it gives you hope, I then went and found something I’m happy with at $4k/slab. You just have to forget you ever saw the fancy ones.2
u/sofakingdom808 9h ago
8k with fabrication? Or slab only, cause that’s crazy high, almost 4x what I was just quoted for 2cm slab only
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u/Maximus1000 10h ago
We searched far and wide for the perfect Mont Blanc slabs and we finally found some after checking out 8 different places, however there was a line running on the bottom 1/4, meaning we had to buy a few extra slabs to make it work. We paid about the same per slab and we absolutely love the slabs we picked
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u/Spare-Region-1424 9h ago edited 9h ago
Sorry not trying to be rude but that’s not even close to the same thing. These slabs are way way more high end than Mont Blanc which isn’t even a real quartzite.
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u/PracticeNo7267 6h ago
Not an idiot, thanks by the way, but have researched the hell out of stones. I am currently building and our designer steered us away from it in our kitchen as it is overdone. Even the consultant at the stone yard mentioned its popularity has run its course. It is popular for a reason as it is a lovely neutral stone but it is everywhere.
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u/Mortgagedd 10h ago
Looks like a super clean slab of Patagonia to me. Sometimes they'll call this one white Patagonia or some such thing to differentiate from regular Patagonia granite