How Cemetery Fee Calculation Works

Cemetery fees are automatically added to an order when the selected cemetery has fees enabled. The fee is calculated based on the cemetery's settings and the monument's dimensions. You configure this in Settings → Cemeteries under the Cemetery Fees section.

Fee types

Toggle on Does this cemetery charge a fee? to enable it. You can add multiple fees to a single cemetery. For example, you can add a size-based fee and several fixed fees (like "Flat Marker Fee" or "Double Marker Fee"). In the New Quote, you will see a dropdown of all the fees configured for that cemetery and you can pick one or multiple. Size-based fees only become selectable once monument dimensions are entered. Fixed fees are always selectable.

You have two fee types:

• By Size calculates the fee automatically from the monument's dimensions.

• Fixed Fee charges a flat dollar amount regardless of the monument's size.

How By Size calculation works

First, choose what to calculate from: Foundation Dimensions or Base Size.

Then choose the unit type: Square Inch, Square Foot, or Linear Foot. Enter the price per unit.

Here's how each unit type calculates using a 48" x 20" foundation as an example:

• Square Inch multiplies width by height, then multiplies by the price per square inch. 48 x 20 = 960 square inches x $0.40 = $384.00.

• Square Foot multiplies width by height, divides by 144 to convert to square feet, then multiplies by the price per square foot. 48 x 20 = 960 / 144 = 6.67 square feet x $8.00 = $53.33.

• Linear Foot takes the longest side of the base or foundation, divides by 12 to convert to feet, then multiplies by the price per linear foot. For a 48" x 20" foundation: 48 / 12 = 4 feet x $5.00 = $20.00.

Minimum fee for small stones

Toggle on Apply minimum fee for small stones and enter a minimum dollar amount. If the calculated fee comes out lower than the minimum, the system uses the minimum instead.

For example, if the minimum is $40 and the calculated fee is $25.60, the order will show $40.00.

Fee changes don't affect existing orders

When you update a cemetery's fees in Settings, the new fees only apply to new orders. Existing orders keep the fees that were set when they were created.

This is called fee snapshotting. Every order saves a snapshot of the cemetery fees at the moment it was created or last edited. This protects you and your customers from unexpected changes to their totals.

How it works

When you create an order, the cemetery fees selected are saved onto the order. Those amounts are frozen on that order.

When you update a cemetery's fees in Settings, only new orders will use the updated fees. All existing orders keep their original snapshot. The same goes for fees you change in bulk in Settings → Price Book.

When you edit an existing order, the editor keeps the fees the order was saved with, even if you changed them in Settings since. To use the current amount of a fee, untick it and tick it again. If you change the base or foundation size, the size-based fee is worked out again for the new size. Saving the order updates the snapshot. If you close the editor without saving, the original snapshot stays unchanged.

Example

Cemetery A has a $100 setting fee. You create an order for Cemetery A. The total includes $100. A week later, you change Cemetery A's setting fee to $200 in Settings. The original order still shows $100. A new order you create for Cemetery A will use $200. If you open the original order and click Edit Order, the editor still shows $100. Untick the fee and tick it again, and it shows $200. Saving the order then updates the snapshot to $200. If you close the editor without saving, the snapshot stays at $100.

Customer pickup takes the cemetery fees off

An order the customer collects has no cemetery, so it carries no cemetery fee. Mark it on step 2, Cemetery & Logistics. The Cemetery field in the Cemetery & Plot Details card has a package-icon button to the right of Add New, with the tooltip "Customer pickup: no cemetery, the customer collects the stone."

1. Click the package button. It fills solid, the Cemetery field shows Pickup, and the tooltip becomes "Customer pickup is on. Click again or pick a cemetery to turn it off."

2. Any cemetery already chosen is cleared, and so are the cemetery fee selections that came with it, so no cemetery fee stays on the total. Plot and decedent details you already entered are kept.

3. Save the wizard. Switching an order to pickup removes the cemetery fee from the subtotal, the total and the balance on save.

To turn pickup off, click the button again, pick a real cemetery, or clear the Pickup value. Every new order starts as a cemetery installation, so pickup is always an explicit choice.

If no cemetery is selected on the order

Cemetery is optional in the New Quote wizard. If an order is saved without a cemetery, no cemetery fees are calculated or applied. There is nothing to calculate against, since fees are tied to the cemetery's settings.

Tax comes from the next step down: the purchaser's ZIP code rate when Automatic Tax Calculation is on, then the Default tax rate of the order's location, then your default Sales Tax % from Company Profile. With Automatic Tax Calculation off, you can still override the rate manually in the Pricing Panel.

If you later add a cemetery from Edit Order, cemetery fees activate based on that cemetery's settings. The tax rate stays the one the order was saved with; if the new cemetery's county or zone rate should apply, click the rate in the Pricing Panel and type it in.

Billing a cemetery fee to your own QuickBooks item

If your books are connected to QuickBooks Online (QBO), you decide which QuickBooks item a cemetery fee bills against. On the Review & Create step of New Quote, the QuickBooks fees & custom lines card lists every cemetery fee and custom line on the order. Open the row's Match to a QuickBooks item… picker and choose the item it belongs to, usually the service item already on your books. The match saves at once and is remembered for that location, so every future order with the same fee posts to the same item. Fees that share a name appear as one row, and a lump-sum cemetery fee appears as Cemetery fees.

A fee you have not matched keeps syncing as before, to a generic QBO item named after the line.

Learn more: How to Connect QuickBooks Online (QBO)

Good to know

Cemetery fees recalculate automatically when you edit an order and change the base or foundation dimensions. The examples here use inches, the unit US companies enter sizes in. The system converts to square feet or linear feet automatically based on the cemetery's unit type setting.

Learn more: How to Add and Configure a Cemetery

Related articles:

• How to Add and Configure a Cemetery

• How the Pricing Panel Works

• How to Configure the Monument Type, Color, Size and Finishes

• How to Use Sketch and Inscription