FAQ-abourt our services
Written by: Annissa Cole
Published: 1st July 2026
J.Gumbrill is frequently asked questions about our services- what we can and can’t do, and how we work. Monumental masonry is a subject that not many people are expert on and so there are often a lot of matters to discuss! Luckily, our team has years of experience in guiding customers through this unfamiliar territory.
In the first of a three-part series, Annissa talks us through the answers to some of the questions we are most often asked about our services.
Q: I do not live locally or am unable to attend an appointment to choose a new memorial. How can we do this?
Don’t worry. Although we recommend having a face-to-face meeting where you can spend some time in our showroom, this is not essential. Everything can be arranged remotely. All memorials are designed bespoke to your requirements and so there will always be an element of you needing to visualise what you have chosen. There are several ways we can proceed remotely:
- We can arrange this over email, answering your questions as you ask them until you are happy.
- We can send a pdf brochure and link to our website. The ‘Memorials’ page of our website is full of useful information to help you choose.
- We can also send photos of lettering styles, stone colours, previously-created memorials in the same shape or material and so on.
- Our quotes are also sent by email with Adobe e-sign.
- We can also discuss by telephone and follow up by post, but this tends to add time to the process.
Q: Do I need an appointment to come and discuss an additional inscription being added to an existing memorial?
No, an appointment isn’t necessary. We can take the information over the telephone or by email. The information we would require is:
- The name of the church or cemetery where the memorial is sited.
- The name(s) and year(s) of death currently on the stone.
- The new details you wish to be added to the memorial.
- Your address, phone number and email address.
Our memorial mason will then pay a visit to the stone to assess it. Following this, we would send a quote for a matching inscription in the same style. For example, if the first inscription expresses the dates of birth and death as years (e.g. 1937-2015), we would quote on this basis for the addition. We would also add details of any restoration work which we think the memorial would benefit from. It’s usually a good idea to do this at the same time as having an additional inscription placed on the stone, because it will have to be removed to be worked on in any case. All of this can be discussed, and we won’t proceed until we have your written confirmation.
Q: Do you offer payment plans?
Yes, all our work is split into manageable instalments.
For a new memorial our costs are split over three payments:
- When you decide to proceed with the quote, we will ask for deposit of 25% of the total cost.
- Once we have received the stone from the supplier and it is ready for lettering, we would contact you for a further 50% payment.
- Once the stone is in place at the church or cemetery, we would invoice you for the final 25% payment.
For additional inscriptions and renovation work, the cost is split over two payments:
- When you decide to proceed with the quote, we will ask for deposit of 50% of the total cost.
- Once the work has been completed- and the memorial is back in place at the church or cemetery if this was necessary for a renovation- we will invoice you for the final 50% payment.
We do not make any charge for visiting an existing memorial to obtain necessary details to give a quote for a new inscription, or to appraise its condition for renovation work. All quotations are free-of-charge and without obligation.
Q: Will you handle permits or approvals with the cemetery/church?
Yes, this is part of our service. We will submit all applications to the relevant burial authority on your behalf. We will also check we have a clear understanding of the regulations in place to ensure that the proposed memorial is likely to be accepted. There can be regulations over a memorial’s shape, size, and the material it is made from. Sometimes there are also rules about lettering. We will work with you to create a design that meets both your requirements and the burial place’s stipulations. We can also advise about other parts of the process such as checking who owns the plot to ensure the correct person is signing the permits. You may need to change ownership in advance if the owner is deceased.
Next time, we cover questions we are often asked about the process of creating the memorial. If you have any queries about any part of our service then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks for your time, Annissa.
