Cut to your drawing: how a stone order is quoted

Stone is not sold to a universal standard. Two orders for the same material, cut in the same week off the same block, can leave the yard as two completely different sets of pieces — because each one is cut to the drawing in front of it rather than to a catalogue number.

That is not an inconvenience, it is the method. A stone piece is only correct against the opening it has to fill. Here is what we quote against, what we need from you, and what we will tell you before anything is committed to stone.

What we quote against

Every line on a quotation traces back to a drawing, a template or a written order — never to a size list we keep on file. It is the same method across the range: cut-to-size paving, stair treads and risers, pool coping, countertops and thin tiles are all priced the same way.

What we need from you

Three things, in order of usefulness:

• A drawing or a template. A photograph gives us a look. A template gives us a piece that fits the opening. Where the piece has to meet a wall, a column or a stair, the drawing is the only thing that settles it.
• The place it goes. Inside or outside, walked on or not, wet area or dry. This decides the finish and the edge — the finish page sets out what each one is for.
• The destination market. Not because we hold a size list per market, but because it tells us what the piece has to survive and who will be checking it on arrival.

What we flag before we commit

Some requests cannot be made well, and it is cheaper to say so on paper than on site. Three we raise often: an unpolished fine edge on a stone that will spall at the rim; a piece thin enough that transport will decide its shape for it; a colour match that only holds if the whole order is cut as one run rather than as three.

You will hear about these while the order is still a quotation.

What we will not do

We will not quietly cut to the size that suits the saw and let you find out at the port. If your list and your drawing disagree, we stop and ask. That question costs a day; the alternative costs a container.

Send the list

Send the drawings, the templates, or simply the list you already have, together with where each piece goes. We will come back with what we can hold, what we cannot, and what we would change. Start from the full range, or send it straight to the quote form. If you are still choosing the stone itself, the two companion pieces are which rock you are actually being quoted and the seven granite finishes.