Two plain options
The NSW Government says funeral directors usually offer something called a basic funeral, sometimes under another name such as an ‘economy’ or ‘budget’ funeral, and that there is also the ‘no service, no attendance’ cremation or burial.
| Basic funeral | No service, no attendance | |
|---|---|---|
| Ceremony | Arranging and conducting the funeral is included. | No official ceremony, and no mourners attend at any stage of the process, which is why the NSW Government calls it the least expensive choice. |
| Generally includes | Transport of the person who died, storage at a mortuary or holding room, preparation, the least expensive coffin, the compulsory medical certificates or permits, and the cremation or burial. | In NSW Fair Trading’s sample price list, the least expensive package covers transport from the place of death within 30 km, care and preparation before the cremation, and a cremation capsule, with no funeral service. |
| Not included | Preparation for viewing, and embalming. | A ceremony at the time and place of the cremation. |
The NSW Government says the cheapest way to have a ‘no service, no attendance’ cremation is a direct cremation. Because packages are named differently from one director to the next, the contents matter more than the name: the table is a way to read a package, not a promise of what any one of them holds.
The fees that stay on the bill
Even with no service, some lines do not go away. The basic funeral’s list includes ‘compulsory medical certificates or permits’ and the cremation itself. NSW Fair Trading’s sample price list shows how those reach the bill: a death certificate and a cremation certificate appear as disbursements, the fees a director pays to others for you, given as the director’s reasonable estimates and subject to change, with a note that there may be other disbursements it has not listed. The sample also prices ‘cremation services’ at the director’s own crematorium as a separate line.
When you compare two simple cremations, these are the lines to set side by side. A lower package price can sit beside higher estimated disbursements, and the total is the number that counts. A NSW funeral director must give you the cost of disbursements and the total payable before you agree.
What can be left out
The NSW Government lists what a quote may break down: hosting and organising the service plus the wake, transport and coffin, the death certificate and permits, the burial or cremation, a cemetery plot, a celebrant or clergy, and newspaper notices. Of those, the service, the wake, the celebrant and the notices are the parts a simple cremation does without, because, in the NSW Government’s words, you are not legally required to hold a service.
Viewing and embalming are separate again: the basic funeral’s preparation does not include preparation for viewing or embalming. In the sample price list, embalming and viewing are each their own line, and viewing outside business hours is charged as a disbursement.
What still moves the price
Within a simple cremation, a few lines still change the total. Each one shows up in NSW Fair Trading’s sample price list:
- The coffin. The sample’s least expensive package uses a cremation capsule, and the list gives the price of its other coffins as a range. Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW suggests working out in advance which materials suit your needs and budget, and talking them through with a funeral director or crematorium operator.
- Distance. The sample prices transport within 30 km, then by the kilometre.
- Time. Storage in the sample is charged by the day, and a refrigeration plate by the hour or the day.
Compared with burial, Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW says cremation can be significantly cheaper, partly because it uses less space, and that two in three of the people who die in NSW each year are cremated. It also notes that the price and availability of burial and cremation options vary depending on where you live.
After the cremation
The ashes can add a cost or not, depending on where they go. Placing them in a cemetery, in the ground or in a structure such as a columbarium, is an interment, and an interment right is what allows it: a contract, bought from the cemetery operator, for a particular place in that cemetery. When ashes are kept at home in an urn or scattered outside, Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW says no interment right is involved.
If a gathering is wanted as well, Doing some of it yourself covers the parts a family can arrange.
Questions about the price
- Is this your least expensive package, and what is in it?
- Which disbursements, such as certificates and the crematorium fee, are included, and which are estimates?
- Does transport from the place of death have a distance limit?
- Is storage charged by the day, and from when?
- Is there a professional service fee on top?
Each question rests on something a NSW funeral director must show or disclose before you agree: its least expensive package, itemised prices, the cost of disbursements, the total, and any professional service fee.