"Is there some advantage I'm missing to using two trades instead of the one?" As a non-pro I can only speak from my own experience, FWIW.

I liked using a separate fabricator. I went to 3 different stone yards (and got counters from 2 of those, since I used a different stone for one bathroom.) My fabricator rejected some slabs that I had picked as they arrived from the stone supplier with cracks. He then scouted at a second supplier for the same type of stone (also cracked, also rejected.) Finally, he met me at one of the suppliers to check over the slabs I ultimately used to make sure they had no issues and to talk through templating with me.

I don't know if a fabricator tied to a stone yard would try to fix and use the cracked slabs - maybe not - but I liked getting an opinion and assistance from someone who wasn't trying to sell me something. I also liked using a fabricator who both my builder and my designer had good relationships and experience with, while having the flexibility to choose slabs from whichever supplier had what I wanted.

I think the savings is because of liability. If something goes wrong the finger gets pointed to the other party, then the general contractor gets blamed by the home owner. Wait a minute . . .

Thinking about your question & I can’t come up with much. I wonder though - is the stone less $$ from a supplier only? No markup from being passed on in supply chain? The supplier provides a list of fabricator / installers but doesn’t have to get involved in resolving issues from bad or incorrect fabrication - that might be the liability Mark Bischak is referring to.

I hope you pushed back on your daughter’s reaction 😊 As a consumer who’s writing the check, you have every right to ask any question you like to educate yourself. Now, if she was upset that you didn’t ask her first because she’s sort of in the industry - well, that’s another kettle of fish!

All the natural stone slabs I have bought have been purchased from a stone/slab yard and then my contractor hired a fabricator to pick them up, fabricate and install. When I also used quartz slabs in other parts of the project, the fabricator that was already fabricating the natural stone slabs, also sourced and fabricated the quartz brand/color that I wanted.

No real advantage to either method.

The odds of finding the right fabricator, who just happens to have the perfect natural stone slabs for your project, is close to zero! For natural stone it makes sense to shop where they have the most and best inventory, and then find the best fabricator for your project and budget.

Now I see (said the blind man). Incredible stone selection at the supplier. Man made silestone is available from either fabricator or supplier. You'd think the saleswoman could have come up with that answer instantly!