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Design DilemmaBathroomsKitchens
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is paying for an entire slab to get a smaller amount needed the norm?

lucky driver
2 years ago

Went to the granite place my contractor is dealing with and looked at some quartz samples. we told them we have a 72 inch bathroom vanity with 2 sinks being built. they have different levels of quartz pricing and ours was level 4 and we also liked a level 7. pricing was 3000 and 3400 total. we do know that it's 200 per sink cut out and 400 for template and install. However she surprised us by telling us if you dont use a remnant you must by an entire slab.


Is this the norm in the world? it seems crazy to pay for the entire slab, use only 12 sq ft of it, then the rest they resell at a remnant price. is that even legal to sell the same thing 2x?


Down the road we may do an island and kitchen countertops and it almost seems like it's best to use the slab now to do that.

Comments (17)

  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    2 years ago

    "Is this the norm in the world?"


    If you're a fabricator and can get away with it, more power to ya. I had a fabricator try this once on me; it didn't fly.

  • User
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    They aren’t bringing in a 2.5K slab for you take one piece of the cake. You have to order a whole cake. If you want to buy cake by the piece, look at what’s for sale that way.

    The upside is that if you buy the slab, you own the slab. So find another spot that needs a new counter out of the leftovers. If you don’t use it within a certain amount of time though, storage fees happen, and you might as well just sign it over to them. Storage fees will eat up the value.

  • Jenn Powers
    2 years ago

    Sounds like you should look for a prefab 9'x2' slab.

  • PRO
    Lawrence's English Garden
    2 years ago

    I always start by Looking at All the Cut Off's - If their Big Outfit they will have LOTS

    to Choose from , Plus two adjoining Pcs - Generally will Kick It up Notch , with Grain running in Directions like Herring Bone

  • Helen
    2 years ago

    Standard in my location. You go to the stoneyard and select the slab you want and then the fabricator you (or your GC) have hired picks up the slab and handles the rest.


    In my experience, the left over is used for shower curbs, niches and perhaps trivets and cheese boards. My friend had enough marble left over to use for her kitchen table.


    If you don't need most of a slab you need to select among the remnant choices or pay for the whole slab. I fell in love with a granite but since it would only be used for the guest bathroom which needed a small amount, I couldn't justify $5000 for the full slab.


    I guess theoretically you would own whatever is not being used but for most people it's not a large amount and what would you do with it anyway? They are heavy bulky items. I got rid my left over tiles because I didn't want to store something useless and perhaps my tile person could make use of it. I did keep some tiles in the event I needed to replace a few tiles in the future.


  • lucky driver
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    This place does everything from a to z and now I'm wondering if that's a good thing or not. They have the stuff there they come to your house and measure and then they produce what you want and they deliver and install it.

  • Becky H
    2 years ago

    I used a remnant piece for my hall bathroom 72” double sink. Im now having to buy 2 slabs for my kitchen reno I’ll have 1/2 slab left so now Im going to go ahead and use it in the laundry room and a 1/2 bath. I’d rather use as much as i can than loose it. Go look around at thier remnat pieces you might find something.

  • LH CO/FL
    2 years ago

    Our fabricator does both. Some slabs are in their "builder's program" and you only buy what you need. Other slabs you buy the whole slab no matter how much you need. It's such a weird industry, and we'lre still trying to figure out what things will cost.

  • suedonim75
    2 years ago

    “Is this the norm in the world? it seems crazy to pay for the entire slab, use only 12 sq ft of it, then the rest they resell at a remnant price. is that even legal to sell the same thing 2x?”

    She’s not asking if its the norm to have to a whole slab! She’s asking if its standard practice to keep what’s leftover and sell to another person. A little reading comprehension goes a long way.

  • Helen
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    There is nothing in OP's post to indicate the stoneyard is keeping the leftover slab and selling it to another person. I would imagine that if for some reason she wanted to keep whatever was left over they would bring it to her.

    The stone yard indicated that they don't cut a piece from a slab and sell it to an individual and that is indeed the norm. There isn't much value in a remnant because most people need larger amounts which are why remnants are sold at heavily discounted prices.

    If she buys a slab she would be free to do whatever she wants with what is left over but as a practical matter most people don't want to pay to have large amount of stone left over because what are they going to do with it. It is heavy to move around and bulky to store. That is why people who have small areas needing stone generally purchase remnants so they don't have excessive waste.

    @Leslie CO and Florida coast I woud suspect the stones that you can cut a slab off are the fairly ubiquitous ones which are pretty much fungible. When I was selecting stone for my remodel, I looked at a lot of different marbles and actually went to several stone yards before I found the marble slab I liked. Even within the same grouping of marble which I assume came from the same "lot", there were subtle variations and I picked the one which I liked the most and it was marked with my initials. I used Black Galaxy in my kitchen and there is so much unformity between slabs that I didn't pick a specific slab but just looked at what they had to make sure the quality was okay. I bet one could easily find remnants of Black Galaxy if necessary but there was no way any stone yard is going to cut small pieces from a distinctive marble slab.

  • julieste
    2 years ago

    Well when we did a kitchen seven years ago in Minnesota, the leftovers didn't belong to me. They belonged to the fabricator. It's mu understanding that different locales have different norms.

  • User
    2 years ago

    Ask what there choices are for prefab. should have many options, maybe even the ones you have picked come in a prefab

  • Mrs Pete
    2 years ago

    However she surprised us by telling us if you dont use a remnant you must by an entire slab.

    The smart thing to do is start with the remnants. See if they have something you like.

  • chiflipper
    2 years ago

    "This place does everything from a to z and now I'm wondering if that's a good thing or not. They have the stuff there they come to your house and measure and then they produce what you want and they deliver and install it."

    Hmm, that might be of a concern. Top of the line fabricators are specialists as the machinery cost is astronomical. There's a "we do it all" outfit in my town, their output is mediocre at best. Suggest you proceed with caution.

  • PRO
    Granite City Services
    2 years ago

    I am a fabricator. Material cost is a component of your price. If you select a color the fabricator carries in inventory then he can use the amount required plus an allowance for waste and charge you accordingly. If you select a color where he has to purchase a slab then the entire slab is in the fabricators material cost for the job and your job is priced accordingly.


    If the fabricator priced jobs based on partial slabs used when he had to pay for an entire slab he would have a business that collected remnants instead of one that made money. The best pricing comes when you select remnants.


    Occasionally the customer that selects slabs not carried by the fabricator the customer asks for the remnants to be delivered to them because after all they paid for it. Not a problem except big, heavy pieces of leftover stone are pretty useless and must be leaned up against a wall or stored on an A frame.


    If you must select stone not from inventory of the fabricator your best price per sq. ft. will come when you use as much of the purchased stone as possible. my 2 cents.


  • PRO
    Patricia Colwell Consulting
    2 years ago

    Well why not choose a real stone they have in stock and see if there is a chance to get a smaller piece to match . IMO the all in stone yards are by far a better choice than choosing a counter top from one place then having it go to the fabricator and then to an installer . So many places for mishaps and poor communication and blame.

  • weedyacres
    2 years ago

    I've used my local fabricator twice: once I bought a granite remnant for a bathroom vanity top and once I bought new for kitchen counters. In both cases I was only charged a price/sf actually used, and it was in the same range of pricing ($65/sf). I did not pay for both full slabs in the case of the kitchen, or the portion of the remnant that I didn't use in the case of the bathroom.


    I know this, because in the case of the kitchen he originally priced it with a backsplash, and when I deleted it, the quote went down by $65/sf for that portion.

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