Funeral Costs

This can be a difficult issue to address, because there are numerous options regarding how simple or elaborate the funeral arrangements may be. Generally speaking, funeral costs are divided into three main categories:

(1) Professional Services, Use of Facilities, Equipment, Staff, and Transportation. These services include the 24-hour availability and services of the funeral director and staff, embalming, other preparation of the deceased, use of the funeral home facilities for a visitation and/or services, removal from the place of death, transportation to cemetery/crematory, and administrative tasks to coordinate the funeral services.

(2) Merchandise: merchandise may include a casket, a burial vault, memorial items, clothing, urn, cemetery monument, etc.

(3) Cash Advance Items. These are not funeral home charges, but are related items that you would incur as part of the funeral arrangements. They are paid out on your behalf as a convenience by the funeral home at the time of need and appear on your funeral statement. Cash Advance items could include certified death certificates, clergy honorariums, newspaper obituaries, flowers, cemetery grave opening fees, etc.

The total of these three categories comprise the total cost of a selected funeral arrangement.

Total costs can vary greatly. For example, one choosing a direct cremation with no visitation or services may have funeral expenses of just $2,000; while the average traditional funeral arrangement (i.e. one-day visitation with a funeral service, steel casket, concrete burial vault and related cash advances) may total $5,000 or more, depending on the merchandise selected. During the arrangement conference, your funeral director will guide you through this process; discussing the many options available to you to not only personalize the services, but to maintain the costs within your budget. If you are interested in obtaining prices for a particular type of service, please call the funeral home and we will be glad to review our general price list with you.

Hile-Best Funeral Home accepts cash, check, VISA, MasterCard, and Insurance Policy Assignments as forms of payment. We appreciate funeral account balances being paid in 30 days.