On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 20:58:59 -0000, "Dave Walsh"
wrote:



Any recomndations on a good source for granite work tops?..Should I look to
Europe??...

We're in Europe.

The two main costs with granite are transport and finishing.

If you go for an African granite, there won't be a huge difference in
the transport element between buying in the UK or other places in
Europe.

There is extraction of granite in Finland, but I suspect with high
labour costs you wouldn't save a lot.

There are some practical issues.

Good quality granite, well polished, finished and fitted is not cheap.

Having gone through the exercise, I would *strongly* suggest finding a
good local specialist firm with references and also go and take a look
at some of their work. The best way to approach the exercise is to
discuss the exercise with a number of suppliers from the usual sources
such as Yellow Pages, home magazines, web search etc.
Give them a scale drawing and ask them how they will approach the job
and a costing. For example, when I had this done, there was a
requirement for underhung sink, an L-shape and drainage channels to be
machined. The cheaper suppliers wanted to supply in two pieces,
saying that the L shapes couldn't be done.

Fit all the units in place firmly first, then ask the granite
supplier(s) to come along for a final quote. On selection, ask them
to template for supply and also whether there are any site
requirements.

I think that it's better to get the supplier to own the whole job
including templating, cutting, polishing, delivery and installation.

That way, if there's a screw up, the buck is in one place.

It really does then imply a reasonably local supplier unless you want
to take on some of the risk.

Personally, I felt that if one is going to invest in granite, it's
better to get it done properly.



--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl