Quote for £615 to correct a leaning gravestone?

[mallet]

I learnt recently that my fathers gravestone is " leaning" and due to " Health and Safety" laws unless it is corrected it will have to be laid down on the ground. I rang the undertakers and told them to put it back up. Today I received a quote for £ 615, to remove, clean, re mount, re letter and re install said gravestone. thank god they didnt just do it!! is it just me or this this outrageous???!!!

There is it seems, big money to be made out of our loved ones dying. My nan died recently and we had her funeral last week, she was buried with my grandad who died a long time ago so the plot was already owned. They charged £900 to dig the hole!

Outrageous imo but seems to be the norm.

It seems a lot but im no expert. Does it have to be cleaned and re-lettered? Would cutting this out reduce the cost?

That is about half the price of a new headstone but that quote you got seems to include a fair bit of renovation work.

Surely it would be a lot less to just set it in an upright position. Even at £25/hour I think 2 men should surely be able to do it in an hour for around £100 including materials.

Am bf atm, but if youre going to do it you'd be better off with a ground anchor. will be back to add more soon

No, this quote does include cleaning and re lettering ( £160 ) which i personally dont think is necessary as i like " ageing" gravestones, but even so I agreee with BeenBeta about £100 for a mornings work is more like it!!!

deemented - Am bf atm? what does this mean? sorry not good at abreviations? look forward to hearing more

Firstly, you can't just set it back in an upright position. If the ground it's been set on has subsided then that won't work. Ideally it should have a ground anchor, which would stop it from tipping over, but it sounds like it doesn't - most older stones don't. What's it made of? It may be worth investing in having one put on to stop this happening again in future years - although having said that it may also be worth considering replacing the stone with a new one (including anchor) altogether. There may be only a few £'s in it.

Sadly, the price quoted is not outrageous - it's simply what it costs. Whereabouts are you? The price does seem about right to me - it cost me just short of £400 to have my sons headstone taken off, and have my DH's name added to it, then put back on.

One thing i would say however, is make sure you take photo's of the headstone before it's removed and check against them when it gets put back - thats to check for chips/cracks when the use the machine to remove the stone they aren't always as careful as they should be.

Oh another thing - is there insurance on the headstone at all? If there is, you could claim for the cost of it on your insurance.

bf = breast feeding.

£615 is a LOT of money I would have thought.

Sorry - i was breastfeeding and couldn't type properly

thankou deemented! you are more than multiskilled bf and typing!! bless you! The stone has only been up 12 years, which doesnt seem long to me compared to how long some have been up! thanks for your advice xx

update: I visited said grave today, the headstone is absolutely symmetrical. I rang church warden and told him this, he said it's not because it leans, its because when you push it you can " rock" it.!!!!!!! i am outraged, it transpires a man from health and safety visits once a year and tries to " rock" headstones. apparently the steel pins they used 12 years ago are no good. what a ridiculous situation!!!

If the pins 'they' used - only 12 years ago - are not up to the job then its the problem of who ever put the stone in place, not you.

Was there a guarantee from the undertaker/stonemason when you buried your dad: like the one that this company offers?

Sounds about right. We just had my gran's name added to my grandad's plus his lettering re done and the stone set. It'll be nearly 900quid.

thomsc - thats what i thought, clearly unfit for purpose!

I have been to graveyard to check the " rocking" situation. Yes, if you apply enough force the headstone will move, but you've got to be pretty determined to actually make it fall ( obviously i did NOT try to make it fall) i have been reseaching and am sure i can buy some " adhesive" to make good. Who's to say it wasnt broken by the " Health and Safety" man?

What a scam! And who is it meant to be a danger to? The H&S guy doing the rocking?