How Much Does a Headstone Cost?

At our shop, a granite headstone costs between $1,100 and $3,650+ depending on style: flat markers start at $1,100, bevel markers at $1,325, slant headstones at $1,850 (or $2,850 on a granite base), memorial benches at $3,600, and upright monuments at $3,650. Every one of those starting prices includes a name, dates, a verse, a catalog design, and Sierra White granite — a complete, finished memorial. Nationally, prices vary widely, and the same things drive the range everywhere: style, size, granite color, and how much custom work you add, plus fees your cemetery controls.

What does each headstone style cost?

We’ve published our starting prices since long before it was common, because we think you should be able to plan with real numbers before you ever pick up the phone. Here is the full range, lowest to highest:

All prices exclude sales tax and any setting or endowment-care fees your cemetery charges. Full details, including standard sizes for every style, are on our pricing page.

What does a base price include?

A starting price at our shop is not a teaser for a blank rock. Every base price includes one name, birth and death dates, a verse, a design from our catalog, and standard Sierra White granite— everything a dignified single memorial needs. The stone is sandblast-engraved, the finish is appropriate to the style (a flat marker gets a polished top with sawcut sides; an upright is polished front and back with rock-pitched sides), and the design is proofed with you before anything is cut. Nothing goes into production until you’ve signed off on the final proof.

What makes a headstone cost more?

Six factors move the price above the base number:

1. Style. The biggest single lever. Moving from a flat marker to an upright monument more than triples the starting price, because an upright uses far more granite and includes a separate base.
2. Size.Starting prices cover a single memorial with one name. Two names, companion layouts, and side-by-side stones use larger granite — a flat marker grows from 24″ wide to as much as 48″ depending on the artwork.
3. Granite color. Sierra White is our standard and is included in every base price. We source granite from quarries around the world, from deep blacks through grays to earth tones, and premium colors cost more than the standard. Our granite guide explains how color also affects engraving contrast.
4. Personalization. Custom artwork beyond the catalog, additional verses, and ceramic memorial photos (which carry a lifetime warranty) each add to the total.
5. Double-sided engraving. Slants and uprights can carry lettering on the back — more engraving time, more cost, but twice the space for a family story.
6. Cemetery fees. Not ours, but very real — covered next.

What costs does the cemetery control?

Three costs on a memorial bill don’t come from the monument maker at all, and it’s worth budgeting for them from the start:

• Setting fee.Many cemeteries charge to place the memorial, and some require that their own crew do the installation. Where we’re allowed to, we install what we fabricate throughout Nevada and Northern California; where we’re not, we deliver to the cemetery’s approved installer.
• Endowment care. A fee many cemeteries collect toward the long-term maintenance of the grounds.
• Sales tax. Charged on the memorial itself and excluded from our published prices.

Fee schedules vary from cemetery to cemetery, so ask for yours in writing before you order — our cemetery rules guide lists the exact questions worth asking.

What’s the least expensive option — and what do you give up?

The $1,100 flat markeris a genuinely good memorial, and it’s the style most widely accepted by cemeteries — some memorial parks allow nothing else. What you give up is prominence: a flush marker sits at ground level, so it’s harder to spot from a distance and offers the least room for artwork. Each step up buys visibility and space. A bevel lifts the face above the grass for $225 more. A slantpresents a large angled face with real presence. An upright is the classic monument — visible across a cemetery, engravable on both sides, and shapeable into nearly any custom silhouette. There is no wrong answer; there’s only what fits your family, your cemetery’s rules, and your budget.

Should you buy before you need it?

Some families choose to arrange a memorial ahead of need — it locks in today’s decisions calmly, spares survivors a hard task, and lets the person being honored have a say in their own tribute. Companion memorials for couples are often handled this way. If that’s a road you’re considering, our pre-need guide walks through how it works and what to document.

Why do we publish our prices?

Most monument shops don’t, and we think that’s backwards. A family comparing memorials is usually doing it in the hardest week of their year; making them call three shops just to learn that a bevel marker costs around $1,325 helps nobody but the shops. We’ve been a family business in Reno since 1979 — 47+ years — and our experience is that honest numbers up front build the kind of trust that keeps a business alive that long. You can see every starting price on our pricing page, and families anywhere in the country can order through the same phone-and-email process Reno families use.

Questions families ask

If your question isn’t here, call us at 775-323-1835. You’ll reach the family that designs, carves, and installs the work — and we’ll give you a straight answer, whether or not you buy from us.