How to Buy Granite: A Straight Talk from Someone Who’s Been There
Buying granite is not as easy as some people think. It’s not just picking a nice slab and paying for it. From my experience, it takes time, patience, and a lot of hard work, starting way before the stone reaches your home.
First off, the quarry is not a nice place like a showroom. It’s full of dust and can be dangerous to walk around. But if you want the best quality granite, you have to go there yourself. Places like Ongole or Khammam are where the real stones come from. When we go there, we don’t take any agent with us. Trust me, that’s important. Agents don’t leave you alone until you buy from them because they get their cut, and that makes things expensive or worse, you get poor quality stones.
To check if the granite is good, there’s a simple trick. Just pour water on the surface and see how it reacts. If it soaks well or looks dull, it might not be the best quality. Good granite shows its strength in how it looks when wet.
Many people make mistakes when buying granite because they focus only on price. They bargain without even seeing the stone properly. This is bad for the industry because sellers start bringing low-quality slabs to the market just to meet those low prices. It’s sad because granite should last for decades, but if it has cracks or bad spots hidden inside, it won’t.
Also, you might think the best quality stones are sold here in India, but the truth is, the premium quality is mostly exported. Sometimes the local market gets lower-grade stone, so that’s another reason to buy carefully.
How long does this all take? From the quarry visit to getting the stone ready, it can take at least a week. But for smaller orders, we keep some granite ready in our yard at Baralamapuram, so customers don’t have to wait too long.
In short, buying granite means going direct to the source, checking every stone yourself, and not rushing to buy just because of price. If you do these things, you’ll get good quality granite without paying too much. And it’s worth the effort because granite is not for a year, it’s for a lifetime.