Memoria Columbaria Services

There are two cases. If the panel is new and still in our workshop, we engrave it flat on the sandblast table before it is fitted, which gives the deepest and cleanest cut. If the columbarium is already installed, we engrave on site with portable equipment, masking the surrounding granite so neighbouring niches are not marked.

Every job is proofed before any granite is cut. You approve a layout that shows the exact typeface, letter height, line spacing and position on the panel. Nothing is sandblasted until that proof comes back signed, because engraving cannot be undone.

We record the typeface, letter height and layout for each family we engrave. When a second name is added to the same niche years later, we pull the record and match it, so the two lines look like they were cut on the same day rather than by two different shops.

Engraving is quoted per panel and per line count, and it can be ordered on its own, without buying a columbarium from us. Send photographs of the panel and the wording you want to sales@memoriacolumbarium.com, or call +1 904 870 8730, and we will confirm what is possible on that specific stone.

Size is the first price driver. A two-crypt private mausoleum uses a fraction of the granite of a six-crypt family building, and granite volume drives both the material cost and the freight cost.

Granite colour is the second. Our colours are Bahama Blue, Black, Gray and Red, and they do not cost the same per cubic foot, so switching colour can move a quote noticeably without changing the design at all.

Roof and door detailing is the third. A flat slab roof, a gable roof and a hipped roof are different amounts of cutting and fitting, and bronze or glass door options change both the lead cost and the installation sequence.

The site is the fourth. Cemetery access rules, foundation requirements and crane access decide how the structure is delivered and set, and that is why we ask for the cemetery name and section before quoting installation.

We draw the mausoleum and show you a 3D preview before we price it, so the number you receive matches a design you have already seen. The quote is itemised into granite, engraving, delivery and installation rather than given as one lump sum. Our catalog pricing runs from $375 to $122,052 depending on scope; email sales@memoriacolumbarium.com or call +1 904 870 8730 to start a quote.

The sequence is the same on every site. First we confirm the foundation: either we pour a reinforced concrete pad sized to the unit, or we work to the written specification the cemetery provides for its own foundations. The pad must cure before the granite arrives, which is why installation is scheduled as a separate visit from delivery on larger projects.

On installation day the components arrive crated. Base courses are set first and checked for level in both directions, because a base that is off by a few millimetres shows as a visible lean at the top of the monument. Each course above it is set on setting compound, and niche shelving and front panels are fitted last.

Joints are sealed against water, the granite is cleaned, packaging is removed from the site, and the niches are opened and closed once in front of you so you can see how the panels operate before we leave.

We install throughout Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Pasadena and the rest of our California service cities, and we coordinate directly with cemetery offices on access rules, working hours and crane placement. Call +1 904 870 8730 with the cemetery name and section and we will confirm what the installation involves at that specific site.

On a new columbarium, niche fronts are engraved flat on the sandblast table before assembly. Flat engraving allows deeper cuts and crisper edges than vertical on-site work, so if you know some of the names in advance, it is worth having them cut before installation rather than after.

The granite colour changes how the engraving reads. On Black granite, sandblasted lettering shows high contrast with no paint at all. On Bahama Blue, Gray and Red we cut deeper and can add lithichrome colour fill so the letters stay legible at a distance. We show you the difference on your own inscription in the layout proof before anything is cut.

Emblems, crosses, portraits and epitaphs are quoted per element. Because engraving is permanent, every engraved columbarium order includes a signed proof stage: you approve the exact typeface, letter height and position on the panel, and the sandblast stencil is cut only after that approval comes back.

Later additions are part of the service. We keep the layout record for each niche front we engrave, so when a second name is added years later — on site, with portable equipment — it matches the first line in typeface and depth.

The two common formats are different projects. A walk-up mausoleum is a solid granite structure with crypt fronts on the exterior face; it needs no interior, so it fits smaller plots and costs less. A walk-in mausoleum is a true building with a door, an interior aisle and crypts on the inside walls, which adds roof structure, ventilation and door hardware to the scope.

Capacity is set at the design stage. Private mausolea typically hold one or two crypts; family mausolea run from four to eight and can combine casket crypts with cremation niches in one building, so one structure serves both burial and cremation in the same family.

Every mausoleum starts as a drawing. We model the building in 3D on your plot dimensions, show you the granite colour on the actual design, and revise it before quoting — the price you receive is for the building you have already seen, itemised into granite, engraving, delivery and installation.

Cemetery approval is part of our work, not yours. Mausolea are subject to stricter foundation and setback rules than monuments, so we submit drawings to the cemetery office, adjust to their specification and schedule crane access with them directly. Catalog pricing runs from $375 to $122,052 across all product types; a mausoleum sits at the upper end of that range, and we will put an exact number on yours after the drawing stage.