Hunter bench-top suppliers say customers and the industry face a rocky transition away from engineered stone.
Australia will ban engineered stone from July 1 to protect stone workers from silicosis, the deadly lung condition caused by inhaling silica particles during the cutting process.
Business owner Kate Welsh, from Hunter Valley Granite and Marble, said more than half of her firm's work was in engineered stone.
She expected much of that product to be replaced by a zero-silica alternative due to arrive from overseas in February.
"We haven't seen it yet," she said.
"It's an all-new product, hence we're not promoting it at all, until it's tested, until I can see it, feel it.
"Other countries do use it. We haven't used it yet."
Ms Welsh said porcelain and natural stones such as marble and granite were other alternatives to engineered stone, but these were more expensive.
She said it was unclear how much the zero-silica product would cost.
"No one has released any pricing to us.
"We'll just have to test it and see if it's durable and go from there.
"As soon as the zero-silica lands in the country and we thinks it's fine, we won't be selling any more of the standard engineered stone."
State governments will decide in March if they will introduce a transition period for engineered stone products ordered before a meeting of state and federal ministers announced the ban last week.
The ministers have urged businesses and customers not to sign new engineered stone contracts.
Ms Welsh said the ban would not lead to job losses at her company, but it would create uncertainty.
"It's very grey at the moment the date for builders that have entered into contracts already with their clients," she said.
"They're probably not going to give us more detail until February.
"Most of our bigger clients are moving on to more of a natural product anyway."
She said her firm had tested its workers for lung diseases over the past 16 years.
"We have all the right equipment, everyone has respirators, every machine is wet cut," she said.
"We have permanent air monitoring in our factory 24 hours a day that tells us what the dust levels are.
"It's very expensive to make your factory as safe as possible, and there is a lot of companies out there that can't afford to do that."
Margaret Lukas, of Stone Obsessions, said the industry needed a support package to deal with the changes.
"We've got a lot of stock, full and partial slabs, and there is no way we can clear all our stock in six months," she said.
"There's been no mention whatsoever about a support package and very little information to help us.
"Most of the stonemasons in the region are small businesses ... it feels like we've been forgotten."
Ms Lukas said she agreed the industry needed to be safer but "six months is a very short timeframe.
"That's nowhere near enough time to put into place new business practices.
"Eighteen months to three years is more realistic for a total ban."
She said many fabricators would not have the right equipment for the alternative material.
"We really don't know what it's going to look like moving forward."
