TRANSCRIPT:

G’day!  I’m Chris Cullen, the Friendly Funeral Guy.

Introduction

Today I’m going to talk to you about the cost of a funeral.  This is a question that I get asked very frequently, “what does an average funeral cost”?  And its an area that’s surrounded by mystery and intrigue because if you look at most Funeral Director’s websites you won’t find their pricing there.  And in fact that’s the same for our Funeral Director.

The reason for this is because we’re not web developers, we’re Funeral Directors and there’s lots of changes in pricing throughout a given year, suppliers change their pricing for various things and there’s so many different options available for families for a funeral, that it’s very difficult to give an indicative price.

So you’re much better off to ring a Funeral Director when you need to know and ask them to give you a quote.  And they should be able to give you some pricing over the phone once they’ve found out what options you’re interested in.

Cremation

But to give you a general overall average price, sort of figure:  think about a cremation service at a crematorium in Sydney with a simple but dignified coffin, a nice arrangement of flowers, a Funeral Director who comes to your home and meets with you and cares for your family through the process of arranging the funeral, a lovely celebrant who will lead the service for you in a fitting and dignified manner.  You’d be looking at approximately $7000 for a funeral like that.

Now you’d be able to get it cheaper if you change some of the options that you choose.  And certainly you can go a lot more expensive.  If you have a craftsman built wood coffin then that will be more expensive.  If you have hire cars to pick family members up, if you have a Scottish Piper, or a dove release, if you have order of service booklets; all of these things of course, increase the costs and that’s, you know, something to be aware of.

Burial

Now the average price of a burial in Sydney, you’d be looking at Funeral Director costs of approximately $5500 – $6000 and on top of that you have the cemetery costs to purchase a grave if you don’t already have one and then you have the interment or the grave digging costs as well.

On the outskirts of Sydney the average sort of cost you’d probably buy a grave and interment costs for approximately $5000.  As you come closer in to Rookwood or Botany you’d be looking at something more like $15,000 to cover that.  If you want a grave in a monumental section of the cemetery then that will be more expensive again.  If you want an above ground burial in a mausoleum or in a family vault you could be looking at tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So these are all costs that are associated with the cemetery and are not controlled by the Funeral Directors and its important for you to be aware of that.  And if that’s the sort of funeral that you are wanting then its a really good idea to go and purchase a plot in advance, so that you buy it at today’s pricing rather than waiting until when the funeral actually takes place.

I hope you’ve found this video helpful and informative.  I’m Chris Cullen, the Friendly Funeral Guy for Ian J. Arthur & Sons.