Should you import one yourself?
A mandir bought straight from a workshop in India costs less than one with freight inside the price. This is what sits between the two numbers.
It is a fair question, and for some people the answer is yes. A mandir bought directly from a workshop in India costs what the workshop charges, and that is plainly less than a price with freight inside it. What follows is what sits between the two numbers, so you can decide whether the gap is worth the work.
We are not a neutral party here. What we can do is describe the job honestly and say what our own price already covers.
What you would be taking on
Finding the workshop, and trusting it. This is the part nothing on a price list shows. You are commissioning an object you cannot see, from people you cannot visit, in a language you may not share, and paying a deposit before anything is cut.
Specifying it. Sizes in centimetres, the bay height your murti has to clear, the timber, the finish, the fittings. A misunderstanding here is not recoverable once the piece is carved.
Export packing. A carved piece crated for a container is not the same as a piece boxed for a courier. Spires and crests break where they stick out.
The freight itself. One mandir is not a container, so it travels as part of a shared load. You book it, or you pay a forwarder to.
Customs. An import declaration, plus duty and GST as they apply. Rates depend on the goods and the value, and we are not the right people to quote yours.
Biosecurity. Australia inspects timber arriving from overseas, and both the piece and its packing can be held, treated or refused. This is the step people do not plan for, and it is the one with the least room to argue.
The last leg. Port and terminal charges, then getting a heavy carved object from the wharf to the room it lives in, up whatever stairs are in the way.
What happens if it arrives damaged. This is the real difference. A claim against a workshop on the other side of the world, through a forwarder you hired once, is a different thing from telling the person who sold it to you.
What our price covers instead
The figure on a piece already includes the piece, export packing, the sea freight from Ahmedabad, customs clearance and every import charge, and two-person delivery and placement anywhere in Adelaide. Delivery elsewhere in Australia is quoted by postcode before any deposit is taken.
There is nothing waiting to be added at the door. The deposit is
30% and it is refundable in full until the day carving starts.
That is the trade. You are paying for the freight, the clearance, the risk and someone to answer the phone, and you are not paying for a middleman in India, because the workshop is the one we use and the piece is carved to your order.
When doing it yourself makes sense
If you are already importing, or you have family in Gujarat who can stand in the workshop and look at the piece, the calculation changes. You have solved the two hardest parts, which are trust and specification, and the rest is paperwork you may be willing to learn.
If you are buying one mandir, once, and you would not otherwise touch a customs form, the gap between the two numbers is smaller than it looks and it is carrying real work.
Either way, measure first
Whoever makes it, the piece has to clear your tallest murti and fit the wall. That is what size mandir fits your room, and a piece shipped across an ocean is the worst possible one to get wrong.
What we charge is listed per piece in both timbers, and the pieces show their outside dimensions and their bay.