To expect contractor to inspect materials before he uses them???

[Stouffer123]

So I purchased a lot of wood for a fence for my contractor to make. One of those slat fences that’s so popular right now. I left him to it, which probably was mistake number 1. He came to shout me when he was finished. When I’ve come out, it looks a complete MESS - all of the wood slats are crooked so that they look like waves! My mind boggles why he’s used these materials and not thought “hang on, these aren’t straight, let me go and tell the client” and instead he’s continued to use them and expect to be paid!

Am I being unreasonable to expect my contractor to check before using materials that they are fit for purpose and be annoyed he hasn’t told me that all the wood was crooked?

You bought them, you should've checked them. He's done the job with what you gave him. Had he bought them then he should've checked them. It's on you not him.

i think the problem is you supplied the materials
he done as he was instructed

he can only work with what he’s given

sounds like you were trying to cut costs if you wanted him to be responsible for everything then you should if let him source his own materials

I would imagine he presumed you had inspected the materials upon delivery. Ideally he would have checked with you, but as you supplied the materials, the onus was on you to ensure the quality of them.

maybe he thought you wanted it that way? if you supplied the materials you can hardly blame him
for the quality of said materials

Wood is a natural material, and does has some imperfections. Can we see a picture? Does it have more character than straight?

Pic?
Where did you buy the wood from? Couldn't you see it was warped? But yes I think he should have at least queried it if it's as bad as you say.

I’m disabled so the wood was purchased and left for him to sort, it was all packaged up. Will post a pic.

The wood was from Howarth

Pic posted

I’m disabled and all the wood was purchased and left for him to sort.

Is that the finished picture OP?

Because if it is, my god you must really hate your next door neighbour lol.

Is it finished?
It looks straight horizontally, but with quite a low of wood bowing outwards. If there’s battening behind, he should be able to screw the “bulges” back into place.

Yep there’s bowing outwards but also lots of crooked areas. It actually doesn’t look too bad on first glance but when you focus you can see each batten is crooked

Her 10 foot high fence has been there for years, I just matched it

Ooof, that's bad.

I'm not surprised you're unhappy. I can't belive he didn't see that it was so bad, early on, and come and talk to you.

How many posts has he attached to? Did he install the frame too?

You have to pay him.

You gave him wood and asked him to build a fence with it. He did so.

For all he knew you’d deliberately chosen this shape of wood for some sort of effect.

I think you misunderstand me. A batten isn’t each strip of wooden that you can see in your photo - it’s the framework of wood that will be behind those, to support them and hold them in place. So where it bulges out, you put a screw through the bulging part and “force” (gently!) it straight back in line by screwing it into the batten (frame) behind. That’s why I asked if it was finished - or whether that was still to be done.

Don’t be ridiculous, why would I want a bowed crooked fence

Exactly! I can’t believe the response here seems to be, not his problem, he’s not responsible for communicating to you AT ALL! Theres four posts but no frame because the battens are nailed directly to the posts.

I recently bought a new door from a company that ordered it from the manufacturer and installed it. I checked the colour was correct when they arrived to do the work but I didn’t check the actual design. By the time I realised it was the wrong design, they’d junked the old door. I got on the phone to their office who insisted they didn’t check that fittings they had ordered were what the customer specified. I couldn’t believe it.

The frame built behind the fence should have had vertical posts 60cm apart and each horizontal slat can then be attached every 60cm which would have prevented this. Wood is rarely straight, it's a natural product. You have to (gently) force the wood to comply with your desired effect, as @Testina has said.

I think he's fine and amazing job considering the materials he was supplied with

TBH I think this is down to you supplying the materials.
If he had inspected and advised you the wood was not straight, would you have been paying him for lost time while you ordered new materials?

The horrizontal battens look very close together?
Although I know this is currently very popular it is not my favourite but we did look into it a few years ago.
Back then there was definitely a wider gap but you could not see through as the vertical & horizontal battens were laid on top of a black membrane.

How long is each piece of wood? If you mean a post every 6ft (common spacing for your old panels) then that’s your problem. That style of fencing needs a framework. They’re not battens - battens are supports.