Step 3 · Over time
The gravestone is the last decision on the list, and the only one taken months after the funeral, once things have gone quiet again. It is also a bill that almost nobody had in the funeral budget.
Updated on August 12th, 20267 minute read
A gravestone stands outdoors for twenty years at least, through the frost and the summer sun. So the material decides more than the first impression. It decides what the grave will look like in fifteen years, and how much work it leaves to the people who still come.
Granite
Local natural stone
Marble
Finishes and lettering
One question is worth putting to the stonemason: where the stone comes from. A large share of the granite sold in Switzerland is imported from India, China or Brazil. That takes nothing away from its technical quality, but Swiss and European stone exists, the Ticino granites among them, and the price gap is sometimes smaller than people assume.
The stone is almost always billed separately from the funeral, several months later. It hardly ever appears in the funeral home's quote, as the guide on funeral costs sets out. So it is the line the budget forgets. It is not a small one.
| Item | CHF |
|---|---|
| Plaque or small stone for an urn grave (small format, for a grave holding an urn) | 1,100 to 2,600 |
| Catalogue memorial (granite headstone and base, lettering included) | 3,000 to 8,000 |
| Bespoke or family memorial (large dimensions, an unusual stone, carving or your own design) | 8,000 to 20,000 |
| Adding a name later (after a second death, on site or back at the workshop) | 300 to 900 |
| Kerb surround, planter, ornaments (edging, vase, lantern, enamelled photograph) | 300 to 2,000 |
| Setting and foundations (often included in the quote, worth checking explicitly) | As quoted |
On top of that come the municipal fees tied to the grave concession (the right to use a plot for a set number of years) and to the permission to place the stone. The federal Price Supervisor (Preisüberwacher / Surveillant des prix) has found considerable gaps between Swiss municipalities in what a cemetery charges. There is no national guide price, and the only way to find out is to ask your municipality for its cemetery regulations (Friedhofsreglement / règlement des cimetières). The figures above were collected in French-speaking Switzerland; municipal fees vary widely from canton to canton.
Two or three written quotes
Ask for them line by line, and say that the memorial has to comply with the regulations of that particular cemetery. For comparable work the gap between one stonemason and the next is large, and nothing here is pressing: you have several months in front of you.
Many families worry about the grave sitting bare for months, with a wooden cross or a temporary plaque, and conclude that the stonemason is dragging his feet. The reason is technical. After a burial in the ground, the soil settles. Put a stone up too early and it can tilt or crack, and straightening it is at your expense.
A wooden cross or plaque with the name, put in place by the funeral home.
The usual wait for a burial in the ground. On a vault, the stone can go up considerably sooner.
A visit to the stonemason, the stone, the wording, the lettering. Nothing stops you starting early.
The stonemason submits the design to the cemetery: dimensions, material, wording. The municipality checks it against the regulations.
Longer for an unusual stone or a bespoke order.
Often between six months and a year after the funeral. That is normal, and it says nothing about how much you cared.
The municipal cemetery regulations set out what is allowed: maximum height and width, materials, sometimes the colours, the planting permitted and the kind of ornaments. Some historic cemeteries require one style throughout. The stonemason files the application, but ask to read the regulations yourself. It saves falling in love with a design that will be refused.
A grave is not bought. It is granted for a limited period, and in Switzerland the resting period (Ruhefrist / délai de repos) is generally twenty years, sometimes twenty-five depending on the type of grave and on the municipal regulations. For people who lived in the municipality, a single grave in the next available row is often provided free of charge for that first period.
After that, two possibilities depending on the municipality. Some allow renewal for a fee, often for another ten or twenty years. Others clear the plot: the grave is taken back, the memorial removed, and the remains transferred to an ossuary or a common area of the cemetery.
What actually happens when the term runs out, and few families see it coming:
Worth writing down
Note the expiry date of the concession and the address of the cemetery with the family papers, and tell the next generation. Twenty years is how long it takes for nobody to know who the municipality should be writing to.
Upkeep of the stone and of the planting falls to the family, or more precisely to the holder of the concession. The municipality looks after the paths and the common areas, not individual graves, and its regulations can require a grave left to itself to be put back in order.
One remark that settles a lot of people: no longer going to a grave is not neglect. Some families go every week and some never go at all, and the bond is just as strong. Keeping the stone in order is an obligation towards the municipality. It measures nothing else.
The stonemason designs the memorial, makes it, obtains the authorisation and sets it. Some funeral homes work with a regular partner, which is convenient and commits you to nothing: you are free to choose, including several months after the funeral.
Describe what you have in mind in a few lines — the municipality of the cemetery, the type of grave, the material or the inscription if you have got that far — and we pass your request to a stonemason working in your area, who gets back to you. No obligation.
Some requests are forwarded to Funere's commercial partners. We may be remunerated when an order goes ahead, which never changes the price you pay. Always compare several offers before committing.
On the quote, insist on two things in writing: the setting and the foundations shown apart from the price of the stone, and the origin of the granite. A serious stonemason also checks the cemetery regulations before the order goes in, not once the stone is cut.
Cemeteries and burial are regulated by the cantons and the municipalities. Concession periods, fees and the rules on the form a memorial may take are set in the municipality's cemetery regulations and differ a great deal from place to place. The amounts given are orders of magnitude collected in French-speaking Switzerland and do not replace a written quote. Your cemetery's regulations are public and can be requested from the municipality. This page is general practical information.