We advise that you refrain from purchasing a memorial from telemarketers or from salespeople that insist on coming to your home. We strongly encourage you to take the time to visit the monument company's display showroom and also ask to see their workshop studio. See for yourself that the people that you are buying from are a strong and stable business, and that they are actually the ones that will be engraving and carving the memorial that you select.

Look For:

Find out how many years that they have been in business and if they are members of the Monument Builders of the Southwest. Otherwise you may be dealing with a middleman that buys the memorial from someone else.

A stable and honest business reputation, with a full-time commitment to designing, carving, and installing monument. You want a firm that was in business yesterday and will be in business tomorrow.

An attractive outdoor and/or indoor display where you may view a selection of monuments in different sizes, colors, materials, and styles. This allows you to see the wide range of choices available before deciding on your monument.

The ability to listen, to counsel and to help you create a monument that is artistically designed and personalized.

Knowledge of your cemetery's rules and regulations, governing types and sizes of monuments. You need to know right away if the cemetery has restrictions that will limit your freedom of choice of a monument.

A payment policy that is fair and reasonable. Because most monuments are custom made to your specific name, most monument dealers request a down payment with the balance due when the monument is placed in the cemetery.