Stone benchtops landed in Brisbane

The stone benchtops we priced

A kitchen's benchtops in porcelain, sintered or natural stone: long wall plus island, about 7 m2, 20 to 30 mm, cut and edged to shop drawings, crated.

Landed in Brisbane, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Shipped with a kitchen

On its own, a kitchen's stone benchtops pays the full set of fixed charges and Elje's minimum fees. Added to a kitchen in the same shipment it adds about $7,377 to the kitchen's landed price ($4,925 to $10,403), because the port, broker, delivery and Project Plan are already paid. Estimate.

Against Brisbane prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

No city price page. WTD market report: Brisbane and Adelaide fabricators are 15 to 20% cheaper per metre than Sydney and Melbourne.

Stone is the closest call on this site. Against local porcelain the saving is thin once install is added back; it is widest on natural marble and quartzite, and only when the stone ships with the kitchen.

Is it worth it?

Sometimes. For porcelain, local supply and install is close enough that the saving is thin. For natural marble and quartzite, shipped in the same crate run as the kitchen, the gap is real. Weigh it against the risk of cutting to drawings rather than a site template. Estimate.

The Brisbane market

Brisbane is the base of the national renovation cost index we use (What's The Damage): kitchens $12,000 to $45,000 installed across budget to upper mid-range, bathrooms $10,000 to $35,000. Rider Levett Bucknall forecasts building costs here rising 5 percent in 2026 and 7 percent a year from 2027 to 2029, the steepest of the capitals, as the Olympics work ramps up. Plumbers charge about $80 to $200 an hour. Stone fabrication runs 15 to 20 percent cheaper per metre than in Sydney or Melbourne.

How it gets to Brisbane

Foshan factory to Nansha or Shekou, then a South China service that usually calls Sydney or Melbourne first, then about 28 km up the Port of Brisbane Motorway to the inner suburbs.

DP World, Patrick and Hutchison all run container terminals at Fisherman Islands, at the mouth of the Brisbane River.

A side-loader drops a container at the kerb in most suburbs. On a steep or narrow street, ask for the container to be unpacked at a depot and delivered on a tautliner instead.

What moves the number

• Material. Porcelain and sintered slabs are usually the cheapest per m2. Natural marble and quartzite cost more and vary by block.
• Cut to drawings. The factory cuts to your shop drawings, not to a template taken on site. The cabinets have to go in square and the drawings have to be exact.
• Edges and cut-outs. Mitred aprons, integrated sinks and waterfall ends add labour at the factory.
• Weight and breakage. Stone is heavy and fragile. It is crated, and insurance sits at the top of the range.
• What it travels with. Crated in the same shipment as the kitchen, stone only adds its own freight, not a second set of port charges.

What it has to comply with

• Engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs have been banned from import and use in Australia since 2024 and 2025. Elje prices porcelain, sintered and natural stone only.
• Ask for the material test report. A slab sold as sintered or porcelain must not be resin-bound engineered stone.
• Natural stone worked: tariff 6802.91.00 (marble) or 6802.93.00 (granite), general duty 5 percent, Free from China with a certificate of origin.

Notes for Brisbane

Humid and subtropical. Ask for moisture-resistant (HMR) board on every carcass, not only in wet rooms, and PVD or 316 stainless finishes on anything outdoors.

• Brisbane is often the last east coast call on a South China service, so the sea leg runs about a week longer than Sydney or Melbourne. Plan for it.
• Queenslanders and post-war houses often have tight stairs and high floors. Ask for kitchen pieces over 1 metre to come flat-packed so they carry up the stairs.
• A licensed QBCC contractor installs and certifies the plumbing and electrical. Imported WaterMark and RCM products are installed the same way as local ones.

Questions