For nearly a century, Rome Monument in western Pennsylvania has crafted custom headstones and memorial markers, a trade passed down through generations of the Dioguardi family. But today, owner John Dioguardi is increasingly unsure how long the business can continue in its familiar form.

For more than ten years, Dioguardi has worked to adjust as cremation becomes the dominant end-of-life choice in the United States, steadily reducing demand for traditional burial markers. This year brought yet another challenge: steep, sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on granite imported from around the world. For businesses like his, which depend on high-quality stone mined in specific regions overseas, the levies have added significant financial strain.

“I hope things eventually balance out,” Dioguardi said. “But honestly, I don’t know what the future holds.”

Rome Monument is far from alone. Across the country, small family-run companies in the memorialization industry are facing pressure from multiple directions—shifting consumer preferences, unpredictable trade policies, and rising costs. Many longtime businesses now find themselves fighting to remain viable in an environment that is changing faster than they can adapt.

A Hit to the Bottom Line
In recent years, Dioguardi closely tracked every turn in the U.S.-China trade relationship. Anticipating higher import taxes, he rerouted two-thirds of his supply chain away from China. Much of it moved to India, where tariff rates had remained comparatively manageable for much of the year. Bringing production fully back to the United States, he noted, would be even costlier due to higher labor expenses—and in some cases, simply impossible. Certain types of granite, such as India’s aurora stone, are found only in specific regions abroad.

“Different parts of the world produce different treasures,” he said. “We just don’t have those natural materials here.”

The tariffs have reshaped financial calculations for nearly every part of the industry. Jim Milano of Cleveland-based Milano Monuments said the duties on a container of granite from China were about 29 percent in September 2024. By the next year, that number had climbed to nearly 60 percent.

Milano has discussed with fellow suppliers the possibility of adding clauses to large orders that would allow prices to be adjusted if tariffs change. For now, many memorial companies—his included—are absorbing the higher costs themselves. Milano has taken a personal pay cut to avoid passing additional expenses on to families already dealing with grief.

“There have been so many unexpected challenges in recent years,” he said. “But these tariffs have felt like a punch to the gut.”

Milano has even found himself rushing shipments when he sees news of another tariff increase, hoping to get containers onto ships before new rates take effect. Because most memorial products are custom-made, orders can take weeks or months to complete. A sudden shift in trade policy between the moment a family places an order and the moment the shipment leaves port can dramatically change a company’s cost structure.

“The uncertainty is the toughest part,” said Nathan Lange, president of Monument Builders of North America, which represents hundreds of long-standing businesses. “You can’t plan long-term when the rules can change overnight.”

Granite wholesalers face similar challenges. At PS Granite in Kentucky, operations chief Parthi Damo said the company has postponed printing new marketing and pricing materials for the year ahead. With tariff rates in flux, any printed document might become obsolete within weeks. Damo is considering switching to updated materials every 60 days to keep up with shifting costs.

Although the former president has insisted that foreign suppliers should shoulder the burden of tariffs, pricing data shows U.S. companies have largely absorbed the increases. But memorial businesses have thin margins and low volume, making it much harder to offset large, unexpected costs.

Milano said the emotional nature of the industry makes price increases especially delicate. “We can’t go back to a grieving family and say we need to add another thousand dollars to their loved one’s memorial,” he said.

An Industry in Transformation
Even before tariffs took center stage, monument builders were preparing for a different kind of transformation—one rooted in how Americans choose to handle their remains.

The U.S. cremation rate has climbed past 60 percent in 2024, up from under 40 percent fifteen years earlier, according to the Cremation Association of North America. Between 2025 and 2029, the organization expects more than two-thirds of Americans will choose cremation each year.

To address this shift, Dioguardi has explored expanding his geographic service area to reach more customers seeking traditional grave-site markers. He has also watched consolidation ripple across the industry as companies look for ways to stay afloat. Many businesses have begun to market alternative products, such as pedestal memorials for cremated remains.

Rome Monument has also taken on more unconventional projects. Recently, Dioguardi helped install a “rainbow bridge” memorial designed to hold the ashes of pets—an increasingly popular niche as more families seek personalized ways to remember animals.

“Cremation has completely reshaped our work,” he said. “It’s opened some new doors while closing others.”

But if monument makers are forced to raise prices to cover the cost of tariffs, Milano worries that consumers may be pushed even further toward cremation. In addition to granite, many of the materials used during production are also subject to levies, reducing profit margins even more.

The trend is even more pronounced in Canada, where the cremation rate is expected to surpass 80 percent. Dioguardi said the Canadian granite suppliers he works with have not raised prices despite tariffs, largely because domestic demand has fallen so sharply.

Looking Ahead
Dioguardi believes his family’s business, founded nearly 100 years ago, is stable enough to continue for at least another decade. But beyond that, he is uncertain whether it will survive in its current form. The bigger question, he said, is whether future generations will want any kind of physical memorial at all.

He often reflects on history—on monuments like the Egyptian pyramids, built to endure for thousands of years—and compares them to the modern preference for ashes scattered in an unmarked place.

“It’s hard to know what people will value going forward,” he said. “Forget building the pyramid. I don’t even know if they want a simple stone.”

As the monument industry stands at a crossroads, businesses like Rome Monument face critical decisions about how to adapt. Tariffs may rise or fall, and demand may continue to shift, but the deeper challenge is convincing future families that a memorial—no matter the form—is still worth having.