Best Funeral Directors in Wellington

We assessed 18 funeral directors in Wellington and ranked the top 5 on public rating quality, review volume and how recent the reviews are. The businesses listed below hold 182 Google reviews between them. No business can pay for a place in these rankings. Last updated 7 November 2026. How we rank

Top 5 Funeral Directors in Wellington

The top 5 funeral directors in Wellington are #1 Guardian Funeral Home, #2 Gee & Hickton, #3 Harbour City Funeral Home, #4 Wellington City Funerals, and #5 Haven Falls, ranked by Top5 Score.

  • 1

    Guardian Funeral Home (Johnsonville)

    ★ 5.0 20 reviews Score 138
    Highest
    5★ 20

    Guardian Funeral Home works closely with families to shape services around what genuinely fits them, including non-traditional celebrations, customised caskets, and extended viewing arrangements.

    4 Moorefield Road, Johnsonville, Wellington

    Call 04 477 4025 Map Is this your business?
  • 2

    Gee & Hickton Funeral Directors Porirua

    ★ 4.7 22 reviews Score 133
    4.9 behind
    5★ 19 4★ 1 3★ 1 1★ 1

    Gee & Hickton coordinates funerals and celebrations of life with a noticeably personal approach, anticipating family needs before they are raised and attending to individual details that reflect the personality of the person who has passed.

    6 Norrie Street, North City, Porirua

    Call 04 237 5332 Map Is this your business?
  • 3

    Harbour City Funeral Home

    ★ 4.8 16 reviews Score 132
    5.5 behind
    5★ 15 2★ 1

    Harbour City Funeral Home covers the full scope of funeral work, from initial collection and cremation through to death certificates, tribute pages, and the return of ashes.

    56 Onepu Road, Kilbirnie, Wellington

    Call 04 387 8301 Map Is this your business?
  • 4

    Wellington City Funerals

    ★ 5.0 13 reviews Score 132
    5.9 behind
    5★ 13

    Wellington City Funerals is a small owner-led operation where Mary and Stu take on each family directly, handling everything from tangi logistics and celebrant coordination to viewing arrangements and paperwork.

    352 Tinakori Road, Thorndon, Wellington

    Call 04 399 1299 Map Is this your business?
  • 5

    Haven Falls Funeral Home Ki Wellington

    ★ 4.2 30 reviews Score 127
    10.9 behind
    5★ 20 4★ 3 3★ 3 2★ 2 1★ 2

    Haven Falls draws families through one of Wellington's more affordable price points, with multiple reviewers noting costs well below comparable local providers while still accommodating gatherings of 400 or more.

    42/50 Burden Avenue, Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt

    Call 0800 428 365 Map Is this your business?

More rankings

More services in Wellington 7 links
Funeral Directors elsewhere in New Zealand 3 links

Before you choose a funeral director in Wellington

No licence or register covers funeral directors in New Zealand. Membership of the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand is voluntary, and its members must give a signed, itemised written estimate before the funeral, so ask for one whoever you choose and check what it includes. A Funeral Grant from Work and Income can help with costs if you meet its income test, and you do not have to use a funeral director at all.

The questions below are drawn from 136 customer reviews collected for this page.

What does a funeral cost in NZ?

Cost turns mostly on whether you choose burial or cremation and on what the family adds. Direct cremation with no service starts from around $1,945 to $3,000 at direct-cremation providers, with Wellington-area prices published from $2,145. These are individual providers' published prices, not a survey.The Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand publishes indicative ranges: a funeral director's professional services fee of $3,000 to $6,500, a casket from $1,200 to $5,000, embalming $700 to $1,050, council cremation $600 to $1,100, and a burial plot with interment $1,000 to $8,000.

Do funeral directors need a licence in NZ?

No licence or statutory register covers funeral directors in New Zealand; the Law Commission describes the current system as self-regulation under the Burial and Cremation Act 1964. Membership of the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand (FDANZ) is voluntary, but member firms must give the family a signed, itemised written estimate when instructions are taken and must have a complaints process in place.

Financial help is available: Work and Income's Funeral Grant pays up to $2,697.43 (as at November 2026) subject to an income test, and ACC can contribute when a death resulted from an injury ACC covers. A family can also arrange a funeral without a director, provided legal requirements are met, including notifying the Registrar-General of the death within three working days after burial or cremation.

How do I choose a funeral director who suits our family?

Look for a director who explains every option clearly and without pressure, so your family can make decisions at its own pace rather than feeling steered toward a more expensive package. Check that the firm can meet your cultural or spiritual needs, whether that is a tangihanga, a Pacific, Chinese or Indian service, or a non-religious celebration of life, since reviews show that families value directors who adapt to those requirements without judgment. Ask to see the chapel and viewing rooms in advance, because having a comfortable, private space for extended visits matters greatly to many families, and confirm how the director will keep you informed at each stage of the process.

What are the warning signs of a funeral director you shouldn't use?
  • –No written, itemised quote provided at the time you give instructions, leaving you uncertain about what you will owe.
  • –Charges that appear on the final invoice that were never mentioned during planning.
  • –Mistakes with ashes, paperwork, names or timing, and a defensive or dismissive response when you raise those errors.
  • –Poor communication during the planning process, such as slow replies or information passed through multiple staff with no clear point of contact.
  • –Technical failures on the day, such as a sound system that cannot be heard clearly, or live-streaming that does not cover the service properly, with no contingency offered.
  • –Staff who seem rushed with the family during viewings or arrangements, rather than allowing the time needed to grieve and decide.
What should you ask a funeral director before you go ahead?
  • –Can you give me a full itemised written quote now, showing every product, service and facility fee separately?
  • –What is included in the base price and what will cost extra if we want it?
  • –When is payment due, is a deposit required, and what happens if costs change after we sign?
  • –Who registers the death with the Registrar-General, and is that included in your fee?
  • –Can the service be held somewhere other than your chapel, such as a marae, church or family property?
  • –If a funeral was prepaid, where is that money held and how is it protected if the firm closes or changes ownership?
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About this ranking

What the 10 funeral directors listed above hold, at the 7 November 2026 check.

20
reviews held by the #1 ranked business
30
reviews held by the #5 ranked business
4.2
lowest rating among the 10 listed
5.5%
of their 182 reviews are one-star
How are the top funeral directors in Wellington chosen?

We build this page from Google Maps results for funeral directors in Wellington. Each one is scored on its public rating and review record, using the same published method on every page. Businesses outside the area, or whose reviews describe a different line of work, are left out. Every category and city is rechecked on a rolling cycle, about every two to three months. See how we rank for how rankings are made and who is left out. On specialist pages like this one, a business's reviews count in proportion to how many of them are about funeral directors, so a business mostly reviewed for other work cannot win on review volume alone. See the words we look for.

Are you a funeral director in Wellington?

No business can pay for a place in these rankings. Claiming and verifying your listing is free: it adds a small trust bonus (+3 points) to your score, for confirming a real operator stands behind the listing, and gives you a dashboard showing how your score is made up. A paid subscription adds a website link, a profile page and your ranking history. Claim your listing or see what a subscription includes.

Not listed? The usual reasons are a Google Business category that does not match, too few reviews to score near the top, or an address outside the area we cover. Check where you rank first, and if you think we missed you, get in touch.

How far is each one from you?

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