To paraphrase country singer Hank Williams, none of us is getting out of this world alive. The question is, what will it cost to get out?
In 2010, the average full funeral in Ontario cost $7,500, according to Ontario’s Board of Funeral Services. Add a catered reception, burial or cremation, interment and a grave marker or headstone and that can quickly balloon to $10,000 or more.
But funerals seem to be an essential part of letting go, a way of both managing the chaos of death and celebrating the life that’s passed.With that in mind, what are your options when arranging a funeral?
Traditional
A traditional funeral usually means a visitation, sometimes with an open casket, in a funeral home. There may also be a church, chapel or memorial service.
This is the most expensive type of funeral and when you’re grief-stricken and anxious to do the right thing, it’s easy to overspend.
“Emotion can be tied up in it,” agrees Brian McGarry, chief executive of Ottawa’s Hulse, Playfair and McGarry funeral home. He suggests renting a casket for the visitation as a way to control costs. The rented casket has an inner liner that is burned along with the body, leaving the fancy outer shell for reuse.
Rentals start around $1,500. That’s a chunk of change, but as McGarry points out “if you buy the same casket, it’s two to three times that.”
Critics routinely accuse funeral homes of charging an exorbitant mark-up on caskets, which can equal one-third or more of the total funeral cost. Companies such as Casket Outlet (casketoutlet.ca) sell visitation-suitable caskets for about $1,200 and up with free delivery. Funeral homes are not allowed to refuse a casket from an outside source like this unless there is a safety or other serious concern, but you are counting on timely delivery with this option.
When it comes to comparing funeral costs, some homes, like Cole Funeral Services in Carp (colefuneralservices.com), publish their fees. Others don’t.
“It’s the Wild West out there,” concludes Mary Nash, president of the non-profit Funeral Information Society of Ottawa. “Funeral homes group things differently so it’s hard to compare costs.”
It costs $25 to join the society (myfuneralplan.org) for 10 years. Members get information about funeral arrangements and options in an annual newsletter, access to a summary of current funeral and related costs in Ottawa and other benefits.
Nash also serves on the board of the nascent Funeral Cooperative of Ottawa (funeralcooperativeofottawa.coop). Following the lead of co-ops in other provinces, it hopes to drive down the cost of death in Ottawa by establishing a funeral home in 2012.
Online funeral services
Operating in Ottawa since 2009,Basic Funeral and Cremation Choices (basicfunerals.ca) lowers costs by dispensing with a physical funeral home, offering instead online funeral arrangements.
The Toronto-based service includes an Internet quotation system, which lets you select options. A basic funeral with a casket costs around $3,200.
Since the company does not have its own facilities, it rents space at various cemeteries for visitations and services.
McGarry, who stresses the personalized aspect of a traditional funeral home, scorns companies like Basic Funerals, saying they “shop around” for cremation and other services to get the lowest rate.
“That’s ridiculous,” says Basic Funeral’s co-founder Dominic Mazzone.
“We’re half the price of what they provide and they’re mad.”
No-frills options
The least expensive option is a simple transfer service, where the body goes from the place of death to cremation with no visitation in between. It includes preparation of a death certificate and an inexpensive casket, but not the cost of cremation, normally around $450 to $600.
Hulse, Playfair and McGarry charges $1,635 for this transfer service, which it calls its Simplicity Plan.
Ottawa Cremation Service (ottawacremationservice.ca) charges $765 for a similar service.
While we no longer lay out the body of a loved one in the front parlour for friends and neighbours to pay their respects, some families honour the deceased by holding a gathering at home once the ashes have been retrieved from the crematorium. A transfer service could be appropriate in such cases, although you may want to find an alternative to a funeral home urn, which typically runs into the hundreds of dollars.
Some people, whether for sentimental or financial reasons, either keep the ashes at home or scatter them. For Ontario regulations on scattering ashes, visit www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Cemetaries_and_Funerals_Scattering_Remains.aspx.
Other cost-saving tips
Preplanning. Leave instructions with a funeral home and a family member detailing exactly what you want. It can keep the cost down and save your survivors from having to make a lot of decisions at a difficult time.
Don’t fly solo. If the deceased hasn’t preplanned the funeral, bring a friend or family member to the funeral home when making arrangements, says Nash. “You need someone on your side to say, ‘Do you really need this?’ ”
Prepayment. Funeral homes routinely offer prepayment plans. If you opt for this — and critics say you’re better opening a special bank account instead — make sure the home guarantees that the price is fixed and that the money is deposited in a legitimate trust fund.
Insurance. Some funeral services offer insurance policies to cover funeral costs.
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