Stone benchtops landed on the Gold Coast

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 on the Gold Coast, 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 $7,376 to the kitchen's landed price ($4,925 to $10,403), because the port, broker, delivery and Project Plan are already paid. Estimate.

Against Gold Coast prices

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

No city-specific benchtop price found. WTD market report: Sydney and Melbourne fabricators charge 15 to 20% more per metre than Brisbane or Adelaide.

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 Gold Coast market

The Gold Coast tracks Brisbane, about 2 percent under it on the same cost index: kitchens $11,750 to $44,100 installed, bathrooms $9,800 to $34,300. Rider Levett Bucknall expects the same 7 percent a year escalation as Brisbane from 2027. The Tile Collective prices its Gold Coast store the same as Brisbane, and plumbers charge about $78 to $195 an hour.

How it gets to the Gold Coast

Foshan factory to Nansha or Shekou, a South China service to the Port of Brisbane, then about 95 km by road down the M1 to Southport, Burleigh or Palm Beach.

The Gold Coast has no container port. Everything lands at Fisherman Islands in Brisbane and comes down the M1.

Most Gold Coast deliveries are tautliner loads from a Brisbane depot rather than a container at the kerb, because of apartment access and the extra distance.

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 the Gold Coast

Coastal and subtropical, with salt air within a few kilometres of the beach. Specify PVD or 316 stainless on tapware and hardware, and marine-grade powder coat on anything outside.

• The landed price is the Brisbane price plus a longer truck run. The ocean leg is identical.
• High-rise apartments need a booked loading dock, lift and body corporate approval. Containers are unpacked at a depot and the goods come in by truck and trolley.
• Many Gold Coast renovations are apartments and townhouses, where the order is a kitchen and two bathrooms, not a whole house. That usually means a shared container, not your own.

Questions