Granite From a Retailer or a Fabricator

Compare DreamStone Kitchen's material prices to Toronto General Contractors' installed prices and a $40 per square foot advertisement and a $110 per square foot quote can both describe the same countertop. The first covers the slab itself, priced as a retailer would price merchandise displayed on a rack. The second is a finished surface after installation, priced by a fabricator for a job that includes measuring your cabinets, cutting the stone, and carrying it up your stairs.

CGD Cabinetry lists granite in Mississauga at $40 to $90 per square foot and treats installation and transportation as separate charges. DreamStone Kitchen prices ordinary black, grey and speckled granite at $40 to $60 per square foot for the material and imported exotic slabs at $100 to $200, also before installation. Neither figure is misleading on its own. They become misleading only when placed beside an installed price without that distinction being stated.

Installed pricing also disagrees with itself. Toronto General Contractors lists a price of $75 to $175 per square foot installed for granite. TecCorp Stone quotes $55 to $140 or more for its Level 1, 2 and 3 tiers. Countertop Pro GTA includes exotic slabs in a quote of $70 to $250 or more and prices exotic and premium granite specifically at $150 to $250 per square foot installed. Toronto General Contractors' own mid-range row is $80 to $130, where the company says most GTA kitchens land.

Among the 876 companies in this index, 120 belong to the granite countertops category. Across the whole index, 43 records have the Google Maps label granite supplier, and 88 have the label countertop store. Another 27 records across the index are labelled marble contractor, and 110 companies belong to the marble countertops category, because granite and marble are both natural stone cut using the same equipment. The data does not show the extent to which the two categories overlap.

The category identifies the industry a company reports for itself. It does not separate retail from fabrication, and the data has no field that separates them. The records show a range of business types. In Brampton, Tile Land Depot appears under granite and marble countertops with a 4.7 rating across 381 reviews, one of the larger review counts in the index. In Mississauga, Canadian Home Granite & Tiles appears under granite, marble and countertop installation at 4.9 across 125 reviews. Marble Granite Depot Inc. in North York appears under stone fabrication, granite and marble at 4.3 across 27 reviews. Master Marble Corp in Brampton appears under stone fabrication, quartz and granite at 4.7 across 49 reviews.

Small records with only one category appear alongside those. Granite Palace in Burlington is listed under granite countertops alone, has a 4.7 rating across 36 reviews, and has no website on file. Hong Fa Granite in Markham appears under granite countertops with a 4.4 rating across 25 reviews, and also has no website. The index includes a website for 783 of the 876 companies, so you can reach a number of records only by phone or address. That does not indicate quality. It does mean a written itemised quote from those companies begins with a phone call.

If the number you were given is for material only, you still face four additional costs, and GTA sources assign different prices to them. DreamStone Kitchen lists GTA installation at $30 to $50 per square foot, a price that covers digital templating, which the company says costs $500 to $1,000 on its own, plus delivery, the lift, and the sealing done at installation. Countertop Pro GTA quotes professional installation at $30 to $80 per square foot depending on complexity.

Next are the extras. DreamStone Kitchen quotes undermount sink cut-outs at $100 to $200 each, and Stone Valley Countertops quotes $250 to $350 each. DreamStone Kitchen prices upgraded edge profiles at $10 to $20 per linear foot, while Countertop Pro GTA charges $10 to $25 per linear foot. DreamStone Kitchen charges $300 to $500 for old countertop removal and disposal. Stone Valley Countertops prices a mitred waterfall panel on an island at $900 to $1,800 per side and a full-height stone backsplash at $900 to $2,200 or more.

Project-wide figures set the upper bound for the calculation. For a typical 40 square foot Toronto kitchen, Toronto General Contractors lists $3,200 to $6,800 supplied and installed before HST. TecCorp Stone uses kitchen-based ranges instead: $2,800 to $4,500 for a small condo kitchen, $4,500 to $7,500 for a standard family kitchen, and $7,500 to $12,000 or more for a large kitchen with an island. The full set is available on the granite cost page.

TecCorp Stone states clearly that granite Levels 1, 2 and 3 are commercial pricing categories each supplier sets, that suppliers use level, grade, group and tier interchangeably, and that a slab one Toronto shop sells as Level 2 may be listed as Level 1 or Level 3 elsewhere. Level 1 does not mean weaker stone. It means the supplier bought the stone in volume.

In practice, a level number has no consistent meaning when you compare two quotes. Countertop Pro GTA recommends buying directly from a local fabricator so you avoid retail markups, and it warns that a quote listing only granite gives you no protection regarding the slab's origin, so the written quote should name the exact slab. It also suggests approving the slab layout before cutting, because natural veining determines where seams appear and where the pattern breaks.

Granite needs ongoing upkeep that quartz does not, and GTA sources disagree about how often that upkeep is due. Countertop Pro GTA advises sealing granite every one to three years to avoid stains. CGD Cabinetry notes that many granites do better with sealing every one to three years, and installers test the stone at installation. Granite Nations recommends sealing once a year. Pacific West Floor Decor advises sealing every two years and sets the price for professional resealing of an average kitchen at $200 to $350 per visit; the work takes about four hours.

You can settle the argument for your own counter with a test, without a service call. Apply a little water to the surface. If the water forms beads, the seal still works. If the water soaks in, the stone is ready to be sealed. That answer changes from slab to slab, which is the honest way to put it, because the sources describe different stones in different kitchens.

Thickness is the other choice that stays with you. According to Countertop Pro GTA's Toronto guide, 2cm granite is suitable for many condo kitchens, vanities and laundry counters when the cabinets are level and the overhang is controlled, and you can get the thick look from a mitred edge without a thicker slab. You should also confirm the total installed price including any support work before placing a 2cm quote beside a 3cm one, because the support can absorb the saving.

Remnants are the only situation in which the retail rack comes in below a full-slab quote outright. Countertop Pro GTA and DreamStone Kitchen both steer homeowners toward their remnant racks for vanities, laundry tops and small islands, and Countertop Pro GTA prices installed budget granite or quartz at $45 to $75 per square foot, with most small projects finishing at $2,000 to $4,500. A piece already sitting in the yard carries no slab minimum.

The other factor is colour, and it affects only the material portion of the quote. Black, grey and speckled granites have material costs of $40 to $60 per square foot, compared with $100 to $200 per square foot for scarce stones, according to DreamStone Kitchen. Timing can help slightly: DreamStone Kitchen says scheduling work in the quieter winter months can cut 10 to 15 percent from labour.

You still cannot determine which of the 120 granite companies to call. What it does is settle the question you put to each one: whether the number includes templating, fabrication, delivery, installation, the cut-outs, the edge and the removal, or whether it is the price of stone on a rack. This index lists 77 companies under stone fabrication, and the 43 records Google labels granite supplier may or may not belong to that group. The records do not state it, so the quote has to.