How to choose a funeral director in New Zealand
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To choose a funeral director in New Zealand, ask at least two firms for a written, itemised, GST-inclusive estimate for the same funeral and compare them line by line. Joining the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand (FDANZ) is voluntary, but FDANZ says its members are bound by a Code of Ethics that requires them to be open about costs.
A funeral director is the business that looks after the person who has died and arranges the funeral. It collects the person from where they died, prepares and cares for them, makes the arrangements with the family, the celebrant and the council or crematorium, and registers the death. FDANZ says a funeral typically takes 16 to 20 hours of a funeral director's time (FDANZ: What to do when someone dies). The charge for that work is the professional services fee, which FDANZ's indicative range puts at $3,000 to $6,500 as at July 2025, and the rest of the bill is made up of costs the firm usually pays on your behalf and passes on. Our guide to what a funeral director does covers the role itself. This page is about choosing between firms. Nothing here ranks or names firms as better or worse.
What you are actually comparing
Two quotes only compare fairly when they cover the same things. FDANZ splits a funeral bill into the firm's own fee and "external" costs that the firm normally pays and then passes on, such as council burial or cremation charges and the doctor's fee for a cremation (FDANZ: Funeral costs and financial support). The ranges below are FDANZ's indicative figures, GST inclusive, as at July 2025, and they vary by firm and by region.
| Item | FDANZ indicative range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Professional services fee | $3,000 to $6,500 | May be lower for a cremation without a service |
| Preparation, for example embalming | $700 to $1,050 | Sometimes inside the professional services fee |
| Casket | $1,200 to $5,000 | Cheaper cremation caskets exist |
| Cremation fee | $600 to $1,100 | A council cost, per FDANZ |
| Burial plot plus interment | $1,000 to $8,000 | A council cost, per FDANZ |
| Celebrant or clergy | $300 to $900 | Ask whether the firm arranges and invoices this |
| Doctor's fee and medical referee, cremations only | $100 to $400 and $100 to $120 | Only needed for a cremation |
The same page notes that a firm "may ask for an upfront deposit" to cover the outside costs. For a sense of the total, FDANZ's 2026 industry report puts a full cremation funeral for 50 people at an average of $11,700 and the same funeral with a burial at $14,300, from a survey of member firms in 2025 (FDANZ: 2026 Industry Trends Report). Those are averages from one scenario, not a price you should expect.
Seven questions to ask every funeral director
Ask each firm the same seven questions, and write the answers down next to each other. FDANZ's own advice is to ask for a detailed breakdown "so you can check you are comparing like with like".
- Can I have the estimate in writing, itemised, with GST shown? Check that GST is shown, because a list that leaves it out looks cheaper than one that includes it.
- What does your professional services fee cover? Ask whether transfer, paperwork, registering the death, 24-hour availability, mortuary care and the use of a chapel are inside it or charged on top.
- Which costs are outside your fee, and who gets paid? Council cremation or burial charges, the doctor's fee, the celebrant, flowers and notices are the usual ones. Ask for the figure, not "at cost".
- Does the quote include the cremation or burial charge, the casket and the death certificate? One published list we read prices a cremation without a service at $3,030 as the professional fee only, with the crematorium fee, medical documentation and casket extra. Another prices a similar plan at $4,215 with the cremation fee, a basic casket and the certificate included. The two numbers are not comparable until you line the items up.
- What is optional? Embalming, a viewing, a chapel, a hearse and catering are choices, and a clear answer separates them from what is always needed. Our embalming guide explains that one.
- Who does the paperwork and the work? FDANZ's own example is to ask whether a budget cremation brand will do the paperwork for you. Ask too whether the firm cares for the person on its own premises or passes that work to another firm.
- When is payment due, and what happens if a grant or insurance pays part? Ask about the deposit and the final invoice date, and whether the invoice will be itemised, because Work and Income asks for an itemised account when you apply for a Funeral Grant.
Why two quotes can be $1,000 apart for the same funeral
The usual cause is where a cost is placed, not that one firm is dearer. A firm that puts embalming and a chapel inside a higher professional services fee can look more expensive than one that charges them as extras, and the final bills may be close. The reverse also happens: a low headline price can leave several charges to be added later. Published price lists show the range of practice. Weekend or public-holiday funerals, for example, carry an extra charge at some firms (one Auckland firm lists $760 to $1,530 as at May 2026), and others may fold that into a different fee. Our funeral director price lists page explains how to read a list and which firms publish one.
Members, independents and who checks them
There is no central register or regulator of funeral homes in New Zealand, and joining FDANZ is not a legal requirement. FDANZ says only its members are bound by its Standards and Code of Ethics to be transparent about costs, and that it can hear complaints only about members. It also says the Commerce Commission can be approached about pricing (FDANZ: 2026 Industry Trends Report). That means membership is a useful thing to ask about, and a firm that is not a member is not thereby less careful or less lawful. Ask any firm, member or not, what it does when a family is unhappy with a bill. The association also keeps a find a funeral director list of members by region, which is a directory and not a ranking.
A full service, or a cremation without one
The kind of funeral changes which firms suit you. FDANZ reports that about 60 per cent of 2025 funerals were full funerals and about 40 per cent were a private goodbye or a cremation without a service (its report gives 17 and 23 per cent for the two groups in one place and the reverse in another). If you want no service, look at direct cremation and ask each firm what you can still do, for example whether you can view the person or say a few words.
You do not have to decide on the first call
When someone dies, FDANZ says the first step is for a medical professional to confirm the death and the cause, after which "the funeral director of your choice" can arrange to transfer the person. Health NZ says that for a death at home you need not call an ambulance or the police, and that both the healthcare provider and the funeral director can wait until morning (Health NZ: Dying at home). FDANZ says the first meeting with a director is usually within 24 hours of first contact, and the choice of director is yours, so you can ask for estimates before you agree to anything. If money is tight, see help with the cost after a partner dies and the wider funeral costs guide.
If you are planning your own funeral
Choosing a firm in advance removes the time pressure. Some families also hold a fixed-benefit policy. Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance, issued by Momentum Life Limited (rated B (Fair) by A.M. Best; see its financial strength page), accepts New Zealanders aged 40 to 75 and pays a fixed benefit of $3,000 to $30,000 towards costs. It does not pay a funeral director directly: the wording says Momentum cannot pay a benefit directly to a company, charity or other organisation, so it goes to the policy owner, a nominated person or the executor. In the first 24 months it pays only for accidental death, and the premiums you pay over the years can add up to more than the benefit. The buttons on this page open Momentum's online application, which is one option among several. See Funeral Cover for the details.
Adviser's view
Most of the difference between two funeral director quotes sits in what each one counts inside its own fee and what it passes on as an outside cost, so the useful comparison is line by line, not total against total. Ask each firm to price the same funeral in writing, with GST and council charges shown. Membership of the industry association is voluntary and is not a quality guarantee either way.
Talk to a licensed adviser about funeral cover · free, no obligation.
Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). How to Choose a Funeral Director NZ. www.quotehub.co.nz/guides/when-someone-dies/how-to-choose-a-funeral-director-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.
References
- FDANZ: Funeral costs and financial support
- FDANZ: What to do when someone dies
- FDANZ: 2026 New Zealand Funeral Industry Trends Report (PDF)
- FDANZ: Find a funeral director
- Health NZ: Dying at home
- Work and Income: Funeral Grant
- Dils Funerals: Standard price list as at May 2026 (PDF)
- Simplicity Funerals Christchurch: Funeral plans and pricing
- Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance Policy Wording (PDF, issue date 17 August 2023)
- Momentum Life: Financial Strength
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