Headstone cleaning and monument questions, answered

Neither. The $80 per stone is the price of the completed cleaning, paid once. It covers the trip to your cemetery, the full biological cleaning of the stone, trimming and edging around the base and its perimeter, and before-and-after photos emailed the same day with your receipt. There is no hourly rate and no second invoice after the crew leaves.

The number of headstones is chosen on the booking form. The form shows the total as you pick, and the secure checkout that follows charges exactly that total — there is nothing to adjust on the payment page. Cleaning several stones is the same $80 each; more than five is quoted directly so the group can be routed together.

$80 per stone, and that is the finished job rather than a booking charge. Each additional stone is the same $80, with the number of headstones chosen on the booking form, which shows the total before you pay. Standard cleaning includes professional biological cleaning using safe soft-brush methods, light trimming and edging around the base where appropriate, before and after photographs, and participation in the One-for-One Veteran Memorial Program. More than five stones is quoted directly so the whole group can be routed together.

Yes. For every stone we are paid to clean, we clean one veteran’s headstone in that same cemetery free of charge, on the same visit. It is one for one. Nobody is billed for it — not you, not the veteran’s family — and it is not funded by a surcharge hidden in your price. Your total is still $80 per stone. Read how the One-for-One program works.

It works because the trip is the expensive part of this job, and your booking has already paid for it. Once we are at the cemetery with the solution mixed and the brushes out, honoring a second stone costs us time rather than another drive. Veterans’ stones get the identical method yours does: cemetery-approved biological cleaners, water, and soft brushes, with no bleach, no acids, and no pressure washing — the same restriction the VA places on the government-furnished markers it still owns. If every veteran’s stone in that cemetery is already cared for, the cleaning carries forward to the next cemetery we visit.

We work out of Davison, Michigan. Monument sales and memorial projects are available statewide throughout Michigan. Custom monuments are drawn, etched, and set at cemeteries across the state, including Genesee, Lapeer, Sanilac, northern Oakland, and northern Macomb counties. Headstone cleaning runs weekly through Genesee, Lapeer, and Sanilac — including Marlette and the rest of the Thumb — so you pick your own date there. Huron County is cleaned on the Thumb route that runs up to Bad Axe and Harbor Beach, usually one to two weeks out.

Northern Oakland and northern Macomb cemeteries are cleaned on selected routes rather than every week, usually one to three weeks out and confirmed once that run is set. Those six counties are our primary routine cleaning area. Outside our regular cleaning area? Contact us — cleaning requests elsewhere in Michigan may be available based on routing and availability. Monuments and laser-etched artwork are sold statewide, and monument resetting is quoted as well. Call 586-404-5869 and a person will tell you what is possible at that cemetery.

Online, at any hour, at /book-cleaning. The form asks for the cemetery's city, the name on the stone, how many headstones, your name and email — that is all; everything else is optional. You then pay the total shown on secure checkout. Your booking joins the route as soon as the payment settles, and we confirm the arrival window with you by phone or email before the visit.

We travel Monday through Friday and agree the arrival window with you rather than asking you to commit to an hour at booking. You can name a preferred date on the form and we confirm the window by phone or email once that day's route is set. Booking by the day is deliberate: one crew working one stop at a time cannot promise a nine-to-ten on a stone an hour away, and it means a cleaning is never turned away because a single hour was already spoken for.

Biological cleaners only, applied with water and soft brushes — the gentle, cemetery-approved approach used in monument conservation. No bleach, no acids, no pressure washing, and no wire brushes, all of which etch and permanently damage stone, especially older marble. The cleaner keeps working for weeks afterward, so a heavily lichened stone often keeps lightening after the crew leaves.

Every cleaning also includes trimming and edging around the base and cleaning the base perimeter, plus before and after photos emailed the same day with the receipt.

Starting prices: $400 for a flat marker, $600 for a bevel, $1,250 for a slant, $1,500 for an upright, $2,750 for a bench, and $6,500 for a family or estate monument. Memorial benches run from $2,750 for a 3 foot flat top to $4,300 for a 4 foot couch bench, foundation included either way, and a color picture on the bench adds to the price. Custom laser etching starts at $400 and is done in-house on Jet Black granite; other granite colors are sandblasted instead. Consultations are free, friendly, and focused on helping you choose the right memorial.

It is the image cut into the stone itself, not paint, film, or an applied plaque. Polished granite is dark because the surface is mirror-smooth; a laser removes that polish point by point, and every point it touches turns pale. Millions of those points at different densities build the greys of a photograph the way ink dots build a newspaper picture. Because nothing sits on top of the surface, there is nothing to peel, flake, or wash off.

Etching is done on Jet Black granite, because the blacker the polish the wider the range between the darkest shadow and the brightest highlight — and that range is what makes a portrait look like the person. Lighter granite colors do not have it, so those are sandblasted instead, which cuts deeper and reads beautifully for lettering, borders, roses, crosses, and emblems. Etching starts at $400 and is done in-house here in Davison rather than sent out, which is what makes revisions practical. Portraits, wildlife, landscapes, farms and barns, churches, tractors and trucks, military insignia, pets, hobby scenes, and handwriting lifted from a letter or a card are all things we etch. See how etching works or look through finished etchings in the gallery.

The largest original file you have. An original print or the original digital photo beats a phone picture taken of a framed photo on the wall — re-photographing a print throws away exactly the detail the laser needs. Send it as it is, glare and all, rather than cropping or filtering it first; we would rather start from the real thing and work around its flaws.

Old, damaged, and faded photographs are normal here, and pulling one person out of a group photo is routine. Before anything is cut we prepare the image for stone: backgrounds come out, contrast is rebuilt for granite instead of paper, and the artwork is drawn to the shape and size of the face it is going on. You approve a proof before the laser runs. You can attach a photo directly to a free monument consultation.

Yes. Custom shapes are special orders cut in-house rather than ordered from a catalog: hearts, crosses, angels and wings, open books and bibles, obelisks and columns, trees and rustic rock-pitch, children's shapes, hobby silhouettes, and sculpted relief work. A shape that is not on that list is still worth asking about — families bring photos and sketches, and we draw it from there.

Once the special order is placed, we review the drawing and cemetery requirements with the family. Production begins after the family approves the final direction. Special orders are quoted per project, since cost depends on stone color, size, and how much cutting and carving the outline needs, and custom shapes need cemetery approval on height, footprint, and color before fabrication.

Yes. We work with many cemeteries across Genesee, Lapeer, Sanilac, Huron, and northern Oakland and Macomb, from large memorial parks to small local and township cemeteries, so we already know many of their monument rules. We still confirm the exact section requirements before production and contact the cemetery directly when anything needs clarification.

We can also help coordinate the required foundation with the cemetery. Cemetery-set foundation or permit fees remain separate unless your quote specifically says they are included.

Cleaning needs above-freezing temperatures and running water, so the practical season runs roughly April into November. Most stones look their best on a two to four year cleaning cycle, and shaded, tree-covered sections grow biological film faster than open sunny ones.