Funeral Directors Sydney – 2021 Guide + Lists

This guide is designed to help you find and choose a funeral director in Sydney.

We understand. It’s a daunting task. At one of the worst times in our lives, we’re required to answer some extremely difficult questions about which funeral director to trust, what type of service to arrange and how much to spend.

This guide is broken down into 3 parts:

1. How to use our website to find and compare funeral directors in Sydney
2. A breakdown of prices and reviews of Sydney funeral directors
3. Other key issues you need to consider when choosing a funeral director in Sydney

1. How to Find Funeral Directors in Sydney

Gathered Here is a free and independent funeral home comparison website. Each month we have over 8,000 visitors searching for funeral services on our website, and we have itemised pricing information and reviews for over 240 funeral directors in Greater Sydney.

Comparing funeral directors in Sydney is easy:

1. Go to www.gatheredhere.com.au
2. Select Burial or Cremation
3. Select the Type of Service you want
4. Enter your Postcode and click “Compare”

Alternatively, you can go directly to our dedicated search page for Funeral Directors in Sydney.

Tip: When viewing the comparison results, you can filter your results by selecting “Price (Low)” to see the cheapest funerals in Sydney, or “Rating” to see the best rated funeral directors in Sydney.

2. Prices and Reviews of Sydney Funeral Directors

Two key considerations for families when comparing funeral directors are price and customer reviews. There are significant differences in price and service levels offered by funeral directors in Sydney so it’s important to do your research and really think about what your main priorities are.

Sydney Funeral Prices

The cheapest funerals in Sydney start at $1,790 for a no service, no attendance cremation. For more information on cost-effective funerals, read our Guide to Cheap Funerals in Australia.

Compare this to the most expensive cremation in Sydney which is $10,439, and the most expensive burial which is $9,957. To provide you with more guidance, we’ve set out the average, minimum and maximum prices in Sydney for direct cremations, single service cremations, simple burials, traditional burials and graveside burials.

(Note: The prices calculated above are based on 242 funeral directors in Greater Sydney. The prices include the cost of the coffin, transfer fee, celebrant, mortuary care, venue hire and death certificate (and in the case of cremations, the cremation fee, cremation certificate and urn). Additional costs to consider include funeral flowers, newspaper notices, headstone and cemetery fees.)

For more information on funeral costs you can see our articles on Understanding Funeral Costs, the Average Cost of a Cremation and the Average Cost of a Burial.

Cheapest Funeral Directors, Sydney

At the time of publication, for an all inclusive direct cremation, the cheapest funeral directors in Sydney are:

While the idea of a cremation without a service may seem too distant for many families, a growing trend in Sydney is to pair a no service, no attendance cremation with a memorial service held several days after the cremation. This keeps costs down but also gives family and friends a chance to properly pay their last respects.

Sydney Funeral Director Reviews

Many people choose a funeral home based on the single recommendation of a family member or a friend. And while word-of-mouth referrals are important, the availability of the internet means that families can now access much more information than was previously available.

Funerals are often far and few between and things can change, so it’s definitely a good idea to look at more recent reviews (which you can do on our website) even if you do have a personal recommendation. The more positive reviews you can find, the more confident you can feel about trusting a funeral director with your loved one.

Best Funeral Directors, Sydney

At the time of publication, the best funeral directors in Sydney based on customer reviews are:

3. Choosing the Right Funeral Director in Sydney

Price and customer reviews are helpful, but before you make a final decision and meet with your chosen funeral home there are a few more important points to consider.

Corporate or Family-Owned

You might not know it, but a multinational corporation called InvoCare owns 42% of the funeral homes in NSW. This means that there’s a good chance that most of the funeral brands you’ve heard of are owned by this corporation.

InvoCare owns the following funeral director brands in Sydney:

• White Lady Funerals
• Simplicity Funerals
• Value Cremations
• Guardian Funerals
• WN Bull Funerals
• Liberty Funerals
• Allan Drew Funerals
• David Lloyd Funerals
• Universal Chung Wah Funeral Directors
• Hansen & Cole
• Ann Wilson Funerals

There are a number of other companies that own multiple funeral brands in Sydney but not on the same scale as InvoCare.

Choosing between a corporate or family-owned funeral home is a personal question. Corporate funeral homes are often able to charge a premium due to brand recognition and the belief that their services will be of a higher professional quality. On the other hand, family-owned funeral homes may be more variable in quality of service, but are often more connected with the communities they serve and have more freedom to tailor funerals to reflect the wishes of the family (rather than being bound by strict package options).

There’s no right or wrong answer here. For a full discussion, you can see our Guide to the InvoCare Brands.

Locations and Venues in Sydney

By default, our comparison site will show you funeral directors within a 15km radius of your postcode. However, most funeral directors can service a larger area than this, so you might consider casting your net wider and searching suburbs that are further away.

The main regions serviced by funeral directors in Sydney are:

• Sydney Eastern Suburbs
• Northern Suburbs (including the North Shore)
• The Hills District
• The Inner West Sydney
• South-Western Sydney
• Greater Western Sydney

Beyond this, some Sydney funeral directors even travel as far as the Central Coast and Wollongong for families.

The main things to think about when it comes to a funeral director’s location in Sydney are: (1) proximity to their storage/chapel facilities if you’re planning on having a viewing; and (2) proximity to the final service venue if you’re having a dual service.

Location of Storage Facilities / Chapel

If you are planning on having a viewing, it’s important to ask the funeral director where they can hold the viewing. Some funeral directors might have an office location that is close to you, but their chapel and/or storage facility might be much further away. Greater Sydney is a large area and there are concentrations of mortuary facilities in the Hills District.

If you have a large family which plans to visit the deceased only to later find out the viewing can only happen in a different region of Sydney because that’s where the body is being stored, this can be a source of major frustration.

Cemetery, Crematorium and Memorial Park Venues in Sydney

Finally, if you are planning on a dual service that starts at the funeral home chapel and then moves on to the cemetery or crematorium, you should also consider where the funeral home is in relation to your selected final venue. You don’t want friends and family having to drive overly long distances to reach the cemetery or crematorium for the final committal ceremony.

The main cemeteries, memorial gardens and crematoria in Sydney are:

• Rookwood Cemetery & Crematorium
• Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park
• Forest Lawn Memorial Park
• Castlebrook Memorial Park
• Frenchs Forest Bushland Cemetery
• Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium
• Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens & Crematorium

You can read more about these cemeteries, including the burial and cremation memorial options they offer, and their on-site facilities, in our Complete Guide to Sydney Cemeteries.

Most of the time the decision is simple as there may be family plots or historical attachments to certain venues, but if you don’t have a set venue, it’s definitely worthwhile visiting a few locations to see the grounds and facilities. For further guidance, see our guide to Finding a Cemetery in Australia and our guide to Sydney Crematoriums and Cremation Services.

That’s it. We hope you’ve found this guide on finding and choosing a funeral director in Sydney helpful. If you’ve found a funeral director and would now like help finding a funeral celebrant, see our Sydney Funeral Celebrants Guide or go directly to our dedicated search page for Funeral Celebrants in Sydney.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to email us at support@gatheredhere.com.au or leave us a comment below.

See the full picture and make fully informed decisions. Move forward in the certainty that your loved one’s memory will be looked after. Funeral Homes are Gathered Here.

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