Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory

What Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory does

Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory is a family-owned, fourth-generation funeral services provider founded in 1929 and headquartered in Urbandale, Iowa. The firm operates four chapel locations (Urbandale, Adel, Winterset, and Perry, the last acquired from Carris Funeral Home) and serves more than 25 communities across Central Iowa with a staff of approximately 10 employees. Core service lines include traditional funeral services, cremation, personalization, veteran services, pre-need planning, grief support, merchandise, and financing, with pricing structured around the FTC Funeral Rule and a publicly disclosed General Price List.

The business model is a multi-revenue-stream services operation. At-need families pay for professional services, facilities, vehicles, and merchandise (caskets, urns, vaultware) at the point of need; pre-need families fund trust or insurance products that will be drawn against future services; and financing income is generated through a partnership with ComChoice Credit Union. Ancillary revenue includes cemetery/monument referrals and grief-support programming. Customer acquisition is overwhelmingly local and referral-driven, augmented by community programs such as Talk of a Lifetime and Life Planning Seminars.

The technology stack is intentionally light. The company runs the Tukios platform for website, obituary, and funeral planning workflows, plus a new Online Payment Center. There is no indication of proprietary software development, AI/ML tooling, or data assets. Operating discipline is evidenced by sustained Best of Des Moines recognition from 2022 through 2026 and the 2025 Johnson Consulting Group Excellence in Customer Service Award, while strategic posture is best characterized as steady consolidation in a fragmented rural Midwestern market.

Name

Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory

Legal name

Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory

Website

https://caldwellparrish.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1929

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Caldwell Parrish is a family-owned Iowa funeral home and crematory, founded 1929, operating four chapel locations across Central Iowa and serving 25+ communities with traditional funeral, cremation, veteran, pre-planning, and grief support services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Urbandale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Funeral Services: Traditional funeral services including visitation, funeral service, and graveside ceremonies. Revenue generated through professional services fees, facility use charges, transportation, and merchandise.
2. Cremation Services: Cremation options including traditional funeral followed by cremation, memorial services, and direct cremation. Revenue includes cremation fees, urn selection, and memorial service coordination.
3. Merchandise Sales: Caskets, urns, burial vaults, memorial merchandise, and personalization items. Products available through online store at Cherished Memories Keepsakes.
4. Pre-planning and Prepayment Services: Advance funeral planning services allowing individuals to document wishes and prepay for arrangements. Funds typically held in trust or insurance products.
5. Payment Plans and Financing: Financing options through partnership with ComChoice Credit Union offering loans up to $25,000 with rates as low as 8.94% and terms up to 8 years.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory provides traditional funeral services (visitation, funeral service, and graveside ceremonies), cremation services (traditional funeral followed by cremation, memorial service, and direct cremation), merchandise (caskets, urns, burial vaults, keepsakes), and pre-planning/advance funeral arrangements funded through trust or insurance products. The company also offers veteran services with VA benefits coordination, personalization options (tribute videos, photo displays, music), and grief support resources, delivered across four chapel locations in Central Iowa.

Product overview

Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory is a family-owned funeral and cremation service provider offering a comprehensive suite of death care services. The core offerings include Traditional Funeral Services (visitation, funeral service, graveside service) and Cremation Services (traditional funeral followed by cremation, memorial service, and permanent memorialization options). Supporting services include Personalization Services (tribute videos, photo albums, music, readings), Veteran Services (VA burial benefits, military funeral honors), Pre-planning/Advance Funeral Planning, Life Planning Seminars, Grief Support Services, Merchandise (caskets, urns, keepsakes), Immediate Need Services (24/7 assistance), Online Payment Center, and Funeral Financing. The company also provides educational resources through its blog covering funeral costs, cremation processes, and grief support. The company operates four locations in Iowa (Urbandale, Adel, Winterset, and Perry) serving surrounding Central Iowa communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Traditional Funeral Services Traditional funeral services including visitation, funeral service, and graveside or committal service, available for families choosing burial or cremation. Intended for families in Central Iowa needing a full-service funeral arrangement.
• Cremation Services Affordable cremation services including traditional funeral followed by cremation, memorial service, and permanent memorialization options such as urn placement, columbarium, burial, or scattering. On-site crematory supports direct cremation for families and individuals in Central Iowa.
• Veteran Services Honoring military service with assistance obtaining VA burial benefits, military funeral honors including Taps, rifle detail, flag presentation, headstones, markers, and burial in national cemeteries. Designed for veterans and their families in Central Iowa.
• Pre-planning / Advance Funeral Planning Advance funeral planning services allowing individuals to document wishes, lock in costs, and reduce emotional and financial burden on loved ones. Includes flexible funding options through insurance or trust products. Targeted at individuals in Central Iowa planning their own arrangements.
• Grief Support Services Resources for grieving families including counseling referrals, local grief support groups, grief support publications (GriefSteps), Domani for Grief partnership, and grief resources for children. Available to families served by Caldwell Parrish and the broader Central Iowa community.
• Funeral Merchandise Funeral merchandise including caskets, urns, burial vaults, memorial folders, registry books, and keepsakes. Online store (Cherished Memories Keepsakes) provides additional shopping channel for families in Central Iowa.
• Immediate Need Services 24/7 assistance for families needing immediate funeral arrangements, available by phone at any time across all four chapel locations in Urbandale, Adel, Winterset, and Perry.
• Funeral Financing Low-cost financing solutions through partnership with ComChoice Credit Union, offering loans up to $25,000 with rates as low as 8.94%, terms up to 8 years, and no payments for 90 days. Helps families spread funeral and cemetery expenses over time.

Quantifiable outcome

• Johnson Consulting Group 2025 Excellence in Customer Service Award recipient
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Tukios, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationWebsite and technology platform provider. Operates the website and associated services. Provides online obituary management, preplanning forms, payment processing, and digital memorial services. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are governed by Tukios, Inc.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Carriage Services: Publicly traded death-care provider operating funeral homes and cemeteries nationwide. Operates in the same core category with similar multi-location regional operating model.
• Park Lawn Corporation: Toronto-based death-care provider with significant US footprint of funeral homes and cemeteries. Comparable multi-location regional death-care operator.
• Foundation Partners Group: Private equity-backed funeral home and cemetery consolidator actively acquiring independent operators. Direct strategic comparator for Caldwell Parrish as a potential acquirer or competitive consolidator in the independent segment.
• Service Corporation International: Houston-based, the largest funeral, cremation, and cemetery operator in North America (Dignity Memorial brand). Broad incumbent in the same death-care services category as Caldwell Parrish, with materially greater scale and capital.
• StoneMor Partners: Publicly traded operator of funeral homes and cemeteries, recently restructured. Competes in the same death-care services category from a multi-site regional model.

Direct peers

• Hamilton's Funeral Home: Iowa-based family funeral home serving the Des Moines metro with multiple locations. Closest like-for-like competitor in terms of scale, family ownership, and Central Iowa market overlap.
• Iles Funeral Homes: Long-established family-owned funeral home group serving the Greater Des Moines, Iowa area. Direct local competitor offering similar traditional funeral, cremation, and pre-planning services.

Others

• Batesville (Hillenbrand): Largest North American manufacturer of burial caskets and a key supplier to funeral homes. Adjacent supplier that influences merchandise margin and product mix for Caldwell Parrish's casket and merchandise revenue stream.
• Tukios, Inc. Website and funeral home technology platform provider that powers Caldwell Parrish's website, preplanning forms, obituaries, and payment center. Ecosystem partner whose strategic direction materially affects Caldwell Parrish's digital operations.

Emerging players

• Tulip Cremation: Tech-enabled direct cremation provider. Represents the digital/low-cost disruption vector that incumbents like Caldwell Parrish must defend against, particularly in the growing direct-cremation segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/caldwell-parrish-funeral-home-crematory

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory