When looking at the cost of a funeral,
there are generally two areas of cost.
Funeral Directors’ Charges
Generally, these charge are the service charge, after-hours services, non-standard equipment and coffin/casket selection.
A ‘Service Charge’ or ‘Professional Fee’ is the fee a funeral director charges to cover the cost of the services and items that they provide.
This fee generally covers the cost of human resources, consultations, administration services, supply of specialised funeral equipment, professional expertise, care of a deceased, mortuary facilities, vehicles such as a dedicated transfer vehicle or hearse, 24 hour transfer teams, ceremony coordination and facilitation, and overheads like electricity, insurances and OWH&S compliance.
The biggest difference between one funeral director and another will be the services they include, or exclude, from their service charge.
You may find that some companies will start with a lower service charge/professional fee, only to reveal that things that you would expect as standard are treated as ‘extras’.
At Frank J Siebert Funeral Directors, you will always receive an itemised schedule outlining our service inclusions so that there are no surprises. To see our Service Charge inclusions, download Frank J Siebert Service Charge
Other charges from the funeral director will be a coffin or casket selected from their range; cemetery equipment when not provided by a cemetery, after hours or extended time surcharges or in-house audio visual services.
Disbursements
These are services or items sourced directly from third parties.
At Frank J Siebert Funeral Directors, we charge all disbursements at cost.
We do not mark up the cost of services and items provided by third parties for a funeral service.
Such third parties services and items include:
Importantly, GST applies to the entire cost of a funeral.
