What Does A Funeral Cost

Excellence in Service – Personal Family Care

Alex Gow Funerals philosophy of providing personal care extends from the moment we take your loved one into our care. We guarantee to continue that personal care at all times until our service to you is completed.

“Take your loved one into our care” are words used by every funeral director when talking to families. Unfortunately for some funeral companies the term “our care” is not always true.

When Alex Gow Funerals are called upon to transfer your loved one from the place of death into our care, we guarantee this task will be carried out by our own professional staff. We do not engage third party or contract transfer companies.

Your loved one is transferred into our care to our own mortuary facilities at Geebung and we guarantee the careful preparation of your loved one will be carried out by our own fully trained and experienced mortuary staff. We do not use third party contract mortuaries or their staff. The safe keeping, care and standard preparation of your loved one at our facility is included in each of our professional service fees. 

We have our own fleet of fully maintained modern Funeral vehicles, we do not use Hire-a-Hearse companies.

Alex Gow Funerals are proud to be members of the Australian Funeral Directors Association and the Selected Independent Funeral Homes association. These associations have strict Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct and Good Practice which we must honour to continue our membership. Currently the funeral industry in Queensland is unregulated and unlicensed, so maintaining these memberships is an important way of continuing the trust the community have in our company.

The cost of a funeral can vary a lot and depends largely on the choices you make when creating a funeral befitting the person who has died.

Transparency is paramount when you plan a funeral with Alex Gow Funerals, each item you choose has the cost clearly shown, so you know exactly what you’re paying. This lets you not only create the type of funeral service you want but it allows you to make decisions based on your budget also. Our goal is to provide you with the very best funeral experience, but just as every funeral is different, so is the pricing. For a more accurate idea of what the funeral you would like to plan will cost please call us on 3851 7800 and make an appointment to meet with you in your own home or at one of our 4 offices situated across Brisbane.

The information in the Funeral Cost Table below will give you an approximate guide to some of the most common service combinations chosen by families we serve. These examples are based on funeral services where cremation has been chosen.

Funeral Cost Chart(PDF)

What does influence the cost?

• Whether you choose cremation of burial.
• If burial, is there the requirement to purchase a new grave or only to reopen an existing grave.
• The choice of venue for the funeral service.
• If the funeral is held on a weekday, weekend or a public holiday.
• If choose to place a funeral notice in the newspaper, which newspaper you decide on and the length of the funeral notice.
• Are you supplying order of service sheets and how many are required?
• The type of coffin chosen. Materials, construction and finish will vary the cost.
• Will there be a photo tribute audio visual and who will be preparing it?
• Providing extra personnel for larger gatherings or alternate venues.
• The size of the flower arrangement, type flowers chosen and from where they are supplied.
• Whether you will be supplying catering for a wake after the service, the type of food and drink supplied and the number of people attending.
• Quality of the facilities provided by your funeral director such as Chapel, Mortuary, vehicles and arranging rooms, some funeral directors have none of these.

Each of the scenarios in the Funeral Pricing PDF above includes our professional service fee and these range from $4185 – $6685

While there are some fixed expenses, most costs will vary depending on location, the choice of burial or cremation, religious requirements, vehicle transportation and flower options.

Below are explanatory notes about our professional service fees. For most funerals in our care, our professional service fee is made up of the components discussed below. When a family requests no ceremony or gathering (i.e. no attendance cremation/burial), the professional service fee will only include components 1,2 and 3.

1. Provision of Alex Gow Experience, Skills, Equipment and operational overheads : ($2185) This portion includes but is not limited to consultation with the family; administration, co-ordination and clerical services; preparation and lodgement of the registration of the death; a proportionate cost share for the provision and maintenance of necessary premises and equipment; maintenance of purpose built specialty vehicles e.g. mortuary transfer vehicle and hearse; compliance with current workplace health and safety requirements; ongoing training and development of our staff; telephone, electricity, gas, rates, taxes and insurances; workers compensation, compulsory superannuation; and standby and award penalty rates for the availability of a 24 hour workforce.
2. Supply of staff and purpose built vehicles (Ranges from $565 to $ 1140) To conduct the transfer deceased into our care within the local area and also transportation to their final place of rest.
3. All necessary preparation, care and safe keeping of the deceased for the requested duration, in our purpose-built Mortuary Care Centre: (Ranges from $550 – $1410) depending on level of professional care required or requested to prepare the deceased to an acceptable quality for our family clients.
4. Facilitating Funeral Ceremony: As an average $1850, however this fee can range from $1165 – $3195. This portion of the professional service fee is based on the provision of funeral personnel required for the preparation and conduct of viewings, ceremony and/or gatherings at the chosen location and also if required, a proportionate cost for the use of Alex Gow facility and resources when used as a venue or gathering place.

Our commitments

• AFDA Code of Ethics
• SIFH Code of Good Practice
• AFDA Code of Professional Conduct
• Fair Trading (Funeral Pricing) Regulation 2022

Alex Gow Funerals has been providing funeral care to the families of south east Queensland for over a century. If you would like a more accurate idea of the cost for the type of funeral you would like, please call us on 3851 7800.