Monument and Gravestone Makers Confront Tariffs and Rising Cremation Rates
Nearly a century passes as families such as John Dioguardi’s craft custom headstones and memorial markers. They keep a long tradition alive. Rome Monument, a family business in western Pennsylvania, now faces hard challenges that shake its future.
Dual Pressures: Tariffs and the Shift Toward Cremation
An industry of small, family-run companies meets two heavy forces. One force comes from tariffs on imported granite. The other force comes from a rising shift to cremation.
- Tariffs hit imported granite, a key raw material, and raise production cost.
- The climbing use of cremation cuts demand for burial markers.
The Tariff Impact
Tariffs, set by recent trade policies, nearly double on some imports. This change hurts profits. Jim Milano from Milano Monuments in Cleveland saw duties jump from about 29% to 59% on granite shipped from China in one year.
Producers now take new steps:
- Suppliers get granite from India instead of China, where rates stay low.
- Unique granite types, like India’s multi-colored aurora granite, are not found in the U.S.
- Companies bear extra costs so that families do not face sudden price hikes.
- Some businesses add clauses in contracts that let prices change with tariff moves.
Operational Challenges and Industry Uncertainty
Each monument is made to order, making the work slow and planning hard. Long lead times turn scheduling and pricing into a worry when tariffs shift in the middle of production. Nathan Lange, President of Monument Builders of North America, sees this unknown as the hardest test.
Granite wholesalers like Kentucky’s PS Granite also find it hard to set prices and create steady marketing materials as tariff rates change often.
Cremation’s Growing Influence on Memorialization
Even before tariffs changed, cremation had already reshaped the field:
- Cremation rates passed 60% in 2024 and are set to rise. Later, more than two-thirds of bodies may be cremated.
- This trend makes monument makers craft new memorials like pedestal markers and tributes especially for cremation.
- John Dioguardi’s team now also works on items such as a "rainbow bridge" memorial for pet ashes.
Navigating Toward a New Future
As costs rise and burials shrink, companies like Rome Monument stretch to serve wider areas and sometimes buy related businesses. Jim Milano worries that higher prices may push more customers toward cremation and shrink monument sales even more.
Across the border in Canada, the market feels the strain too. With cremation expected to top 80%, the falling demand now stops tariffs from being passed on as much.
John Dioguardi sees the shift in culture. Ancient peoples built pyramids to honor their dead. Today, with few memorials, the very base of his craft is in question. The task before monument makers is to show families a lasting worth in memorial products.
Summary:
The monument and gravestone field, built on a long tradition, finds itself at a turning point. Tariffs on granite push up costs, and more people choose cremation over burials. Businesses respond with new ways to get granite, new contract rules, and new products. Yet the future remains uncertain.
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