Not all funeral homes are the same. Whether you’re planning ahead to take the burden off your loved ones or you just had a family member pass away, choosing a funeral home that will honor your traditions and requests is an important task. Many times, details surrounding death can make us uneasy, and we often avoid thinking about the topic until absolutely necessary.
The reason the topic of death makes many of our clients uneasy at first is that most of us don’t know that much about funerals. For most of our lives, we only attend funerals, seeing the end result of important decision making, planning, and the craft of the funeral director giving the deceased an honorable and beautiful sendoff. It’s rare that we step back and think deliberately about the information needed to make the best decisions.
So what goes into choosing a funeral home? Every family, every individual is different. We each value different traditions and details that make a memorial service beautiful. So let’s go through a few things to think about and questions you want to ask when searching for the perfect funeral home for your family.
Family Tradition
Sometimes when choosing a funeral home, it simply comes down to family tradition. If your family has trusted the local, family-owned funeral home down the street for your great grandparents’ and grandparents’ funerals, most likely they’ll be a good choice to memorate other family members.
If you felt the funeral home respected your wishes, did everything they could to help honor your loved one, and gave you the attention you deserved, there’s no reason not to go back to them!
If your family doesn’t have a trusted funeral director or funeral home to go to, below are a few things to think about and questions to ask when searching for the perfect one.
Funeral Home Appearance
As you drive up to the funeral home, would you feel proud to host your or your loved one’s funeral there? Can you tell the owners take pride in the outer appearance by keeping the gardens maintained and the exterior updated? Does the inside have plenty of comfortable, modern furnishings, options to customize the space with your own memorial decor, and a private space for immediate family?
Just as you get to know the funeral director and his or her offerings, also take a look around to see if the funeral home gives you a sense of relief or makes you feel like you’re in 1977.
Bateman-Allen Funeral Home has been newly renovated to support our value of service and comfort for our clients. The garden has been redesigned to celebrate the change of seasons, the walls have a fresh coat of paint, and the furniture is all new (and extremely comfortable.) Send us an email below to request a tour!
Is the Funeral Home Locally Owned, Independent, and/or Family Business?
Independent funeral homes, like Bateman-Allen Funeral Home, are often owned by families and may have been in business for generations. Knowing how long a funeral home has been in business can give you a sense of their commitment to their community.
This isn’t to say that a national chain cannot provide everything you desire, but if local ownership is important to you, it’s important to ask. Asking is crucial because chain ownership isn’t always apparent since the appearance of the home, the name, and the personnel often remain the same.
There are many benefits of working with a small, independent, family-owned funeral homes. It’s common for huge corporations to buy up small, independent funeral homes to add to their portfolio. Sometimes, they keep the previous owners on as salary employees (which is the better outcome) but sometimes the owner wants to retire and the conglomerate takes over all ownership and operations. Unfortunately, this could mean that the corporation will send a funeral director to run the funeral home from out of state.
On the outset, it doesn’t seem like an issue. But in our experience, a funeral director that isn’t part of the community and didn’t grow up in the neighborhood makes it hard for them to understand the community culture. Of course, each individual is different within a community. But many times, those individuals in a community celebrate, mourn, and display emotion in similar ways. They support each other. Having a funeral director that is in tune with those traits can be helpful in the funeral planning process.
Caring about the local economy is another reason why searching for an independent funeral home in your community is a great idea. You’re not just supporting a neighbor, but you’re giving back to your community in ways you couldn’t otherwise!
What Kinds of Funeral Packages Do You Offer?
A funeral home should offer everything from a basic set of options to an all-inclusive plan, for varying prices. Regardless of the options you chose or the funeral home you work with, all packages will include a fee for overhead and professional services — it can range from about $1,000 to $3,500 — which includes, among other things, responding to you initial request, consulting with you on arrangements, coordinating with the church and/or cemetery, preparation of official documents, and a host of other legal and administrative tasks.
Not all funeral homes are the same. Whether you’re planning ahead to take the burden off your loved ones or you just had a family member pass away, choosing a funeral home that will honor your traditions and requests is an important task. Many times, details surrounding death can make us uneasy, and we often avoid thinking about the topic until absolutely necessary.
The reason the topic of death makes many of our clients uneasy at first is that most of us don’t know that much about funerals. For most of our lives, we only attend funerals, seeing the end result of important decision making, planning, and the craft of the funeral director giving the deceased an honorable and beautiful sendoff. It’s rare that we step back and think deliberately about the information needed to make the best decisions.
So what goes into choosing a funeral home? Every family, every individual is different. We each value different traditions and details that make a memorial service beautiful. So let’s go through a few things to think about and questions you want to ask when searching for the perfect funeral home for your family.
Family Tradition
Sometimes when choosing a funeral home, it simply comes down to family tradition. If your family has trusted the local, family-owned funeral home down the street for your great grandparents’ and grandparents’ funerals, most likely they’ll be a good choice to memorate other family members.
If you felt the funeral home respected your wishes, did everything they could to help honor your loved one, and gave you the attention you deserved, there’s no reason not to go back to them!
If your family doesn’t have a trusted funeral director or funeral home to go to, below are a few things to think about and questions to ask when searching for the perfect one.
Funeral Home Appearance
As you drive up to the funeral home, would you feel proud to host your or your loved one’s funeral there? Can you tell the owners take pride in the outer appearance by keeping the gardens maintained and the exterior updated? Does the inside have plenty of comfortable, modern furnishings, options to customize the space with your own memorial decor, and a private space for immediate family?
Just as you get to know the funeral director and his or her offerings, also take a look around to see if the funeral home gives you a sense of relief or makes you feel like you’re in 1977.
Bateman-Allen Funeral Home has been newly renovated to support our value of service and comfort for our clients. The garden has been redesigned to celebrate the change of seasons, the walls have a fresh coat of paint, and the furniture is all new (and extremely comfortable.) Send us an email below to request a tour!
Is the Funeral Home Locally Owned, Independent, and/or Family Business?
Independent funeral homes, like Bateman-Allen Funeral Home, are often owned by families and may have been in business for generations. Knowing how long a funeral home has been in business can give you a sense of their commitment to their community.
This isn’t to say that a national chain cannot provide everything you desire, but if local ownership is important to you, it’s important to ask. Asking is crucial because chain ownership isn’t always apparent since the appearance of the home, the name, and the personnel often remain the same.
There are many benefits of working with a small, independent, family-owned funeral homes. It’s common for huge corporations to buy up small, independent funeral homes to add to their portfolio. Sometimes, they keep the previous owners on as salary employees (which is the better outcome) but sometimes the owner wants to retire and the conglomerate takes over all ownership and operations. Unfortunately, this could mean that the corporation will send a funeral director to run the funeral home from out of state.
On the outset, it doesn’t seem like an issue. But in our experience, a funeral director that isn’t part of the community and didn’t grow up in the neighborhood makes it hard for them to understand the community culture. Of course, each individual is different within a community. But many times, those individuals in a community celebrate, mourn, and display emotion in similar ways. They support each other. Having a funeral director that is in tune with those traits can be helpful in the funeral planning process.
Caring about the local economy is another reason why searching for an independent funeral home in your community is a great idea. You’re not just supporting a neighbor, but you’re giving back to your community in ways you couldn’t otherwise!
What Kinds of Funeral Packages Do You Offer?
A funeral home should offer everything from a basic set of options to an all-inclusive plan, for varying prices. Regardless of the options you chose or the funeral home you work with, all packages will include a fee for overhead and professional services — it can range from about $1,000 to $3,500 — which includes, among other things, responding to you initial request, consulting with you on arrangements, coordinating with the church and/or cemetery, preparation of official documents, and a host of other legal and administrative tasks.
What are the basic costs and what additional expenses should I expect?
Ask your funeral director for a copy of their General Price List, if available. If prices for such things as caskets and urns aren’t on that list, request a list for those prices as well.
If you are transparent with your desires, your funeral director should be able to give you a fairly estimated quote.
Can I customize the funeral service?
Your budget, traditions, and family heritage are unique and it’s crucial your funeral home respects that. To make your loved one’s funeral perfect, you want to make sure the funeral home will be flexible with your memorial decor decisions, ceremonies, and traditions. Ask the funeral director about specific requests during your first informational meeting.
Your options also shouldn’t be limited due to personal beliefs. All options, such as embalming, viewing, cremation, and burial should be available to you, including those dictated by your faith or personal beliefs. Embalming — which is the process of cleaning and preserving the body— is not required by law, though a funeral home may require it if you request a viewing or if burial will not be immediate.
What are my payment options?
Find out if the funeral home will work with your insurance company and if they help with arranging for financial assistance if needed. The funeral home should be able to work with an insurance company regarding existing life insurance policies. In the case of financial need, they can help arrange for accommodations for the least expensive services possible to fit most budgets.
Who will I be working with during the process and when will they be available?
In our experience, families appreciate that we are a family-owned and operated funeral home. So when you call, the person that answers your questions will ALWAYS be either one of the two owners, Charles or Eve. It won’t be a salesperson who works off commission that’ll hand you off to one of the multiple funeral directors. No matter if Charles or Eve picks up the phone, they will be the one to assist you through the rest of your funeral process.
If you’re looking for pre-planning, the funeral director, in our case Charles or Eve, should outline staff procedures in terms of who comes to remove the body, how long it takes them to arrive after they’re called, and what you can expect to happen when they get there.
Next Steps
Choosing a funeral home is only one of the decisions that must be made throughout the process. More and more people are pre-planning and pre-paying their funeral expenses to save their loved ones from having to take care of the arrangement and shoulder the unexpected cost upon their death. But whether you’re pre-planning or planning a funeral for a loved one, it’s important to know all of your options.
Ask questions. Chances are that no matter what you ask, the funeral director has answered it before many times over. Understanding your options and aligning those choices will your budget will keep you focused and confident.
Click the button below to start the pre-planning conversation with Charles or Eve!
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