funeral cost

baron777red

My dad has recently passed away, he divorced mum so its down to me and my brother to arrange the funeral, i have never done anything like this before, and am looking for some advice as to how much it should cost. i want to give dad a good send off, but i dont want to be ripped off.
we are having a burial, there is no existing plot, we want to keep it simple, i have looked on the co-operative website and the plan we think is the best is £4500 not including flowers, is this fair or is this just an indication of cost.
we will be having a catholic service, do we need to pay the church for this? and the nearest cemetary is not at the church.
and how much does a burial plot cost?
the funeral will be in salford manchester

thanks

rnj

That seems about right I think in terms of cost, maybe slightly higher. They should give a break down of each element at the funeral directors (casket type, speaker cost, organist etc these are mostly optional things, they're not much individually but add up), this is the whole point of a funeral director, to arrange it all for you. I recently arranged one with a funeral home and the trend seems to be celebration of life (held away from the crematorium/cemetary) which tends to be a little more expensive than a regular funeral.

Weirdly when I went the burial fee was an additional cost I had to pay the council that the funeral director arranged but did not quote me a figure initially, this came to about £600 plus a cost for headstone and stonemason labour. IIRC a burial plot and stone was about twice the cost of a cremation plot. I think it varies depending on where you get buried, what council you are part of. I guess they kept that fee separate as many people scatter ashes instead.

Mojisola

baron777red wrote: »

we will be having a catholic service, do we need to pay the church for this?

and the nearest cemetary is not at the church.
and how much does a burial plot cost?
the funeral will be in salford manchester

You'll need to talk to the priest about the church service and relevant costs.

A burial plot will be £1000+ and then extra costs for a headstone.

Dime_Bar

Funeral cost could be lower if you shop around, we paid just over £3k late last year for a Crem funeral including the chapel and celebrate. That's in South Manchester.

Up in Salford are you looking at Wardley cemetery? My Dad was buried there 20 years ago and I remember the prices then where very expensive.

Not sure which church you are looking at but the church should only ask for a donation and they don't usually expect it in advance. The has been my experience of all Catholic ceremonies.

couriervanman

co-operative may be the so called biggest but after experiencing the service they offer i would choose an independent every time
If you do stick with them watch out for the extras

Yorkshireman99

rnj wrote: »

That seems about right I think in terms of cost, maybe slightly higher. They should give a break down of each element at the funeral directors (casket type, speaker cost, organist etc these are mostly optional things, they're not much individually but add up), this is the whole point of a funeral director, to arrange it all for you. I recently arranged one with a funeral home and the trend seems to be celebration of life (held away from the crematorium/cemetary) which tends to be a little more expensive than a regular funeral.

Weirdly when I went the burial fee was an additional cost I had to pay the council that the funeral director arranged but did not quote me a figure initially, this came to about £600 plus a cost for headstone and stonemason labour. IIRC a burial plot and stone was about twice the cost of a cremation plot. I think it varies depending on where you get buried, what council you are part of. I guess they kept that fee separate as many people scatter ashes instead.

You need to shop around. The cost of plots can go up to £10K or more. Funeral costs can range up to 3 or 6K. The cheapest of all in direct cremation can be low as £1300 upwards.

Flugelhorn

re the cost of the church service - there usually is a fee in the CofE, not always in the Methodists and TBH I don't know about the RC church - what I do know is that if the whole thing is organised between the funeral director and the church then the bill will go to FD, hence you pay it all together.

Re the cost - very variable, depends how many cars you want (do you need any?), service booklets (you can get your own done), type of coffin, newspaper announcements etc etc

Just be careful re costs, it is difficult when you are at this stage and you may feel bad saying no to things but lots of things will be offered to you and the cost can go up ++.

I remember my mother saying yes to just about everything when my father died and I wasn't able to do anything about it - I had my sensible head screwed on when I arranged her funeral and spent £2500 ish for direct cremation, church memorial service, interment of ashes in prexisting plot etc

Mojisola

baron777red wrote: »

My dad has recently passed away, he divorced mum so its down to me and my brother to arrange the funeral, i have never done anything like this before

Be aware that whoever signs the paperwork at the FD is responsible for paying the bill.

If your father had enough money to cover the cost, his bank should pay the bill directly to the FD if they send the bill.

If your father didn't leave much of an estate, be cautious about how much you spend unless you can easily cover the costs.

baron777red

were thinking of weaste cemetery, dad lived in ordsall, and the church is st josephs RC, thanks for the reply

Socajam

As you are in an emotional state, could you get a family member or friend to go with you.
That way you have two heads together instead of one.
See if they can give you a breakdown of all the cost that the funeral home delivers
As others mentioned the church, burying plot etc will be extra.
Also if you are having something after the funeral, make sure you know what that entails and the cost. You really do not need any surprises.

Yorkshireman99

Socajam wrote: »

As you are in an emotional state, could you get a family member or friend to go with you.
That way you have two heads together instead of one.
See if they can give you a breakdown of all the cost that the funeral home delivers
As others mentioned the church, burying plot etc will be extra.
Also if you are having something after the funeral, make sure you know what that entails and the cost. You really do not need any surprises.

Executors should be VERY cautious about funeral costs. Wake should be modest and only for the immediate family.