A multitude of factors comeinto play when determining the cost of a particular stone at any given time.Market demand, quality, ease of extraction, availability, and transportationare a few notable variables. The advantage to making cost an issue is that itopens the door to exploring alternatives based on the original parameters.  Within a particular material, efficiency oflay-out for the slab sizes available, and logistics of getting to the point ofuse are the most prevelent factors.