We do the whole thing ourselves: the design, the granite, the engraving, the cement foundation, the delivery, the cemetery paperwork, and the placement. One written price, given up front, covers all of it. A national online retailer carves a stone and a freight truck leaves the crate at your curb. Everything after the curb is the part we refuse to skip.
Both start with granite and skilled carving. They end in very different places.
A crated stone on a pallet at the curb. The carving may be lovely. But the advertised price did not include the foundation, the setting, the cemetery approvals, or the fees that come with each of them. All of that is left for your family to figure out, at the hardest possible time to be figuring things out.
A finished memorial standing at the grave: proofed and signed by your family, approved by the cemetery, set plumb and level on a poured concrete foundation, cleaned, photographed, and backed by people who answer the phone afterward. All of it was on one written quote before we began, and the quote is what you paid.
This is the short version of a checklist we run on every single memorial. Typical national online sellers stop at roughly three steps: carve, crate, ship. We keep going until the memorial is standing, finished, and checked on.
Nothing is ordered until the family has signed off on paper.
The paperwork most families never knew existed. We file it.
Monument-grade granite, checked at every pass.
The part nobody sees and everything rests on.
Our crew, our equipment. Never a freight carrier.
Done means standing, clean, documented, and checked on.
This is not a criticism of the people who carve stones for national online retailers; many are skilled. It is a plain accounting of where their responsibility ends and where ours does.
| What you are buying | Reserve Memorials | Typical national online retailer |
|---|---|---|
| What the price covers | A finished memorial, standing at the grave, on one written quote | A carved stone on a pallet at your curb |
| Cemetery approval | We check the regulations and file the paperwork | You research the rules and file it yourself |
| Foundation | We excavate below the frost line and pour concrete to spec | Not offered |
| Installation | Included: our crew sets the stone plumb and level | Curbside delivery only; finding an installer is up to you |
| Damage on arrival | Our problem, and we make it right | Your freight claim to photograph, file, and dispute |
| Speed to standing | Typically within days once the cemetery approves | Weeks of freight, then more weeks finding a contractor |
| Someone to call in five years | Yes. Same shop, same phone number. | Not part of what you bought |
On timing: once your cemetery approves the design, installation typically completes within days, not the weeks to months families experience elsewhere. As far as we know, that is the fastest installation timeline in Northeast Ohio, and your written quote includes a realistic schedule for your cemetery.
Shipping a crated stone is genuinely cheaper than delivering a finished memorial, and we will not pretend otherwise. If a family truly needs only a stone, we will say so and help them either way.
The gap in price is not a mystery. It is the foundation excavated below the frost line and poured to spec. It is the installation crew and equipment. It is the cemetery paperwork filed correctly the first time. None of those are baked into an advertised online price, because none of them are part of what is being sold. And it is accountability: one company responsible from the first sketch to the standing stone, and for years after.
A family pays for those things either way. With us, the cost is a line in a written quote. With a curbside delivery, it is paid in phone calls to the cemetery office, in finding and vetting a contractor, in freight claims, and in weeks of a grieving family's own time. We think the quote is the kinder way to pay.
Every quote we give is in writing, itemized, and honored. We stand behind our workmanship. If we cannot put an answer to your question in writing, we do not expect you to rely on it.
Ask us anything about the quote before you sign, and ask us anything after the memorial is standing. The phone number stays the same: (234) 269-5432.
Granite holds a name and two dates. A life holds more than that, so every Reserve memorial also includes a permanent online memorial page for the person you love: their obituary, their photographs, and a recording of their voice, with their social media accounts linked. There is no charge for it, and it is never taken down.
Your family can open the page any day, from anywhere, see the memorial, and hear their voice again. We maintain that legacy honorably, the same way we stand behind the stone.
And the page is not a fixed template. If your family can think it, we can probably do it. Ask us.
More questions are answered on our FAQ page, or ask us directly at concierge@reservememorials.com.
One conversation, one written quote: the stone, the design proof, cemetery approval, foundation, installation, finishing, and the online memorial page. No pressure, and no surprises afterward.