OUR FEES.
We seem to be significantly cheaper than most of our competitors, although we have not priced ourselves with them in mind. We want you to be clear about how our charges works, so below is an explanatory paragraph or two. We are happy for you to supply your own coffin, flowers and so on. We are also happy to be much less involved, perhaps just look after the body for you.
If you ring round for quotes, please be aware that undertakers quote their prices in very different ways. Some (most) add on big amounts to each cost/disbursemenr and therefore quote a very small undertaking charge (professionel fee) , we think our way is more clear and honest.
We do not charge for advice, all our funerals are bespoke.
Our pricing system works like this.
Our professional fees are £ 1,200.00.
What this fee covers is our time and expertise and all of the practical arrangements, including collection of the body of the person who has died from anywhere in Devon or Cornwall and looking after them until the funeral, coming to visit you at your home for the initial meeting, all funeral administration, helping to create the ceremony, and ourselves on the day with an estate car. It covers as many visits you or your family and friends may make to us at our place of work, in or outside of normal working hours.
If you would like us to take the service we charge £150
What it does NOT cover is a coffin or a grave plot or any of what are known in the trade as disbursements. These include things like flowers, and grave preparation, cremation fees, church fees, doctors fees, notice in the paper, orders of service. All of these costs vary from place to place, please call us and we can talk you through them.
For instance, a natural burial at Rattery, our nearest woodland site, with a bamboo coffin and a graveside service conducted by us would cost £ 2, 600.00.
This breaks down to:
Our fees: £1,200.00
Grave and grave preparation: £ 800.00
Bamboo coffin: £ 400.00
Flowers: £ 50.00
Taking the service £ 150.00
A cremation at Torquay would cost £2,264.00.
This breaks down to:
Our fees: £ 1,200.00
Cremation fees: £ 625.00
Doctors fees: £ 147.00
Cardboard coffin: £ 250.00
Notice in paper: £ 47.00
For a body to be cremated there is a legal requirement for two doctors to visit the body and agree on the cause of death. Unfortunately and wrongly in our opinion this cost (of £147) is borne wholly by the family. There is no requirement for burial.
It is not unusual for funeral directors to place huge hidden charges on everything from the grave digging to a notice in the paper. There is no way to tell if this is being done, though their professional fees may seem unusually competitive.
