By Thomas A. Parmalee
Michael Andersen still remembers the conversation that unexpectedly changed the direction of his life.
His mother was worried about a monument in a cemetery that honored her grandparents. Years of settling had left it leaning. She wanted to preserve the dignity of the grave but didn’t know how.
Andersen’s father, John (now 88 years old and still working when he can), who spent a lifetime in manufacturing, devised a simple clamping mechanism that allowed them to safely lift the monument, level the base and return it to its original position. The repair has held ever since.
A lot of people would have been happy with that result, but Andersen (pictured at top) saw a way to help others in the same situation.
Today, as founder and president of Tombstone Jack, Andersen estimates that the product he created has been used to level more than one million monuments since the company launched in 2011.
A Manufacturing Background Meets Cemetery Preservation
Long before entering the cemetery industry, Andersen spent decades designing products and managing a large manufacturing company in southeastern Idaho. When his brother bought him out of the family business, Andersen believed he was entering retirement.
Instead, the 62-year-old with six children and 19 grandchildren finds himself in the throes of a second career that he’s enjoying to the fullest.
“I essentially retired,” Andersen said. “Shortly after that my mother was concerned about her grandparents’ monument. She wanted it leveled because it was leaning.”
Andersen immediately saw opportunities to improve his father’s prototype, so he added lift feet, redesigned portions of the system and incorporated a heavy-duty safety strap that securely holds the monument during lifting. The result evolved into Tombstone Jack.
Unlike hydraulic systems, Tombstone Jack relies on four heavy-duty screw jacks that Andersen says provide exceptional lifting power while offering precise control.
“The power of a screw jack is tremendous,” he said. “Each one has a 7,000-pound capacity, but for safety reasons we teach customers not to lift monuments larger than 12,000 pounds.”
Solving an Expensive and Risky Problem
Anyone responsible for cemetery maintenance understands the challenge: Monuments settle, tilt and shift over time because of frost, drought, soil movement and decades of natural settling. Traditionally, correcting those problems has required cranes, skid steers or other heavy equipment.
Those methods can be effective, Andersen acknowledged, but they also introduce significant risks.
“A lot of times people take a tractor or skid steer,” he said. “The next thing you know, they bump into another monument or tip it over or chip it and create some damage.”
Tombstone Jack was designed to work within confined cemetery spaces without disturbing adjacent graves or monuments.
“We have the ability to lift and level small tablets and large monuments up to 12,000 pounds with the same system,” Andersen explained. “We wanted to do that in a way that is not intrusive to the environment or surrounding monuments or graves.”
The complete lifting system weighs only about 300 pounds. It allows one person —although Andersen says two people are faster — to safely raise a monument, add gravel beneath the base and lower it back into position.
Minimizing disruptions and providing a tool that gets the job done quick is important, he emphasized.
“Behind every repaired grave or monument stands a family,” he said. “A family that cares.”
A Diverse Customer Base
One of Andersen’s biggest surprises was discovering who actually buys the equipment.
“When we started, I thought just cemeteries would buy it,” he said.
Instead, only about one-third of his customers are cemeteries. The remainder includes monument companies, municipalities, veterans organizations, volunteer groups and independent monument-leveling contractors.
Perhaps most surprising is the emergence of an entirely new specialty business.
“Probably 15 to 20% are people making a really good living leveling monuments across North America,” Andersen said. “They may work a 300-mile radius — or even 1,000 miles if the job is big enough.”
That trend matters even for cemeteries that have no intention of purchasing the equipment themselves. As more independent restoration specialists enter the market, cemetery managers are increasingly likely to encounter contractors using Tombstone Jack when families or municipalities hire outside help to restore older sections.
The Business Case
For cemeteries considering purchasing the equipment, Andersen believes the economics are compelling.
A complete Tombstone Jack system sells for $6,800 delivered. Buyers who don’t need the company’s specialized organizing wagon can reduce that investment by roughly $2,000.
According to Andersen, many customers recover their investment surprisingly quickly.
“Lot of customers pay for the investment in a week or two — or even three days,” he said. “They level 20 to 50 monuments and have earned back the complete return on investment.”
For individuals and companies that buy the system as a moneymaking venture, pricing for monument leveling varies widely depending on travel, project size and monument complexity, Anderson said. He estimates contractors typically charge anywhere from about $125 to $800 per monument.
For cemeteries maintaining hundreds of aging monuments, those economics can shift the decision away from repeatedly hiring outside contractors.
“If a cemetery has a few hundred monuments that need to be reset, they can justify buying the equipment versus hiring someone to do it,” Andersen said.
Why Gravel Often Beats Concrete
One aspect of Andersen’s philosophy may surprise some cemetery professionals.
While many assume a permanent concrete foundation is the best long-term solution, Andersen often recommends compacted gravel instead.
His reasoning is practical.
Soils continue moving for decades because of moisture, drought and freeze-thaw cycles. “A concrete foundation doesn’t necessarily eliminate future movement. Gravel, however, allows monuments to be releveled relatively quickly years later, if necessary,” he said.
He noted that a cemetery can buy a 16-ton load of gravel for around $350 delivered, and a load that size will level 500 to 700 monuments.
If movement occurs years later, he added, workers simply lift the monument again, add more gravel and reset it — often in less than 30 minutes.
Training Before Lifting
Given the weight of the monuments involved, safety remains central to Andersen’s approach.
Every customer receives personal onboarding that includes instructional videos followed by a phone call to review every component of the system before the equipment is put into service. Andersen tailors that conversation to each customer’s mechanical experience and is happy to repeat the training whenever necessary.
He also points to the company’s track record.
“To my knowledge we’ve never had a customer ever have an issue” involving damage caused by the clamping system, he said, noting that each monument must still be evaluated individually because hidden cracks or unique conditions require professional judgment.
The company has even developed a certification program that encourages customers to document before-and-after projects while educating their communities about cemetery preservation.
A Market Largely of Its Own
Fifteen years after introducing the product, Andersen believes Tombstone Jack occupies a unique position.
His customer base is especially concentrated east of the Mississippi River, particularly throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, where cemetery ownership laws often place greater responsibility on cemetery operators for maintaining monuments.
While he notes he could have remained comfortably retired, he describes Tombstone Jack as something far more meaningful than another business venture.
“I feel like it’s a calling of life,” he said.
The greatest reward, he explained, isn’t selling equipment but receiving unsolicited text messages, emails and photographs showing restored cemeteries and hearing from customers who have made a visible difference in their communities.
“I get phone calls, emails and text messages with before, during and after pictures,” Andersen said. “It’s just a joy to hear from them.”
For Andersen, every straightened monument represents more than improved cemetery maintenance.
It represents preserving the memories of families who still care enough to notice when a loved one’s monument begins to lean.
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