Before You Cut Their Stone: A Client-Material Sign-Off That Keeps Blame Where It Belongs

Client-supplied stone looks like easy money. No stock to fund, no supplier to chase, and the customer has already paid for the slabs. Then a fissure opens up under the saw, two paving slabs turn out to be a different batch, or the 'spare' piece was never spare. Suddenly it is your fault, your labour, and your reputation on the line. The answer is not to refuse every client-material job. It is to run them like a proper job, with a proper handover and a proper paper trail.

Start with a material receipt, not a quote

When stone turns up, treat it like a delivery to a professional workshop, not a favour from a mate. If you can inspect it before it comes off the wagon, do. If not, sign the delivery note as unchecked and inspect within 24 hours. Do not sign a clean receipt for stone you have not looked at.

Photograph everything with your phone. Use a tape or a coin for scale, and get a few wide shots showing the whole pallet or stack. Note the batch, finish, thickness, dimensions and quantity. Look for cracks, chips, delamination, rust staining, mortar residue, saw marks and obvious colour variation. A client's 'few spare slabs' are not a wastage allowance. They are a few spare slabs.

The inspection is a paid task

Do not do a free survey and call it customer service. Charge an inspection and setting-out fee. It covers checking the material, photographing it, dry-laying or laying out what can be laid out, and putting the findings in writing. On a small job, bundle it into the price. Either way, the client should see that this is work, not a chat.

That fee does two things. It pays you for the time, and it sets the tone. You are not the insurer of their bargain stone. You are the mason who is going to tell them what is actually in the pile.

Put the rules on one page

A client-supplied materials schedule does not need to be a legal epic. One page is enough if it is specific. List the material, the quantity supplied, the quantity required, the agreed wastage allowance, who stores it, who moves it, who pays for breakages, and who approves the layout before cutting. Add two hold points in bold: no cutting until written approval, and no fixing until the dry-lay or layout is signed off.

If the client wants to supply exact quantities, fine. But they carry the shortfall. If they want to supply reclaimed stone with unknown history, fine. But they carry the hidden defects. If they want you to 'just make it work', that is not a specification. That is a wish.

Agree wastage before the first cut

Natural stone is not sheet material. It has fissures, faults and colour movement. For cut slabs and dimensional work, ask for at least 10 per cent over the net requirement. For paving, rubble or heavily veined stone, go higher. If the client will not supply overage, note in writing that any additional material, replacement or delay caused by shortage is chargeable at your standard rates.

This is where a lot of jobs go sour. The client supplies exactly the area plus two slabs, then expects you to cut around every fault and still hit the programme. That is not craftsmanship. That is magic. Price it as magic or decline it.

Who owns damage and wastage

Keep the distinction simple. The client owns the stone. You own your workmanship. If a slab cracks because of a hidden fault, that is their material. If your grinder slips, that is your problem. If you stored it badly, that is your problem. If they delivered it wet, stacked on edge or left it in the rain for a fortnight, that is theirs. Write it down.

Risk in client-supplied materials should stay with the client except where damage is caused by your negligence. That is a fair line. It is also a line that needs to be agreed before the stone arrives, not after the first breakage.

Price the handling and the risk

Do not bury client-material admin in your day rate and hope for the best. Price it in separate lines: receipt and inspection, extra handling, storage, cutting trials, risk allowance and admin. If the client's stone arrives late, charge standing time. If it arrives in a pallet that blocks the van, charge for moving it. The cheapest-looking job is the one where you quoted cutting only and ended up project-managing a stone delivery.

Storage is a real cost. Natural stone can stain, freeze, chip and disappear. If it is staying in your yard, agree where it goes, how long it stays and what happens if it is still there in three weeks. A storage fee focuses the mind wonderfully.

Keep the conversation short and written

WhatsApp is fine for speed. It is not fine for terms. Send a short email or a one-page schedule and ask for a reply confirming agreement. If the client will not sign, will not supply overage, will not allow inspection, or wants you to work blind on unknown reclaimed stone, walk away. A job with no paper is a job where you are the insurer.

Client-supplied masonry can be good business. It can also be a slow argument with a saw in your hand. The difference is whether you inspect first, agree the rules, and price the risk. Their stone, your problem only happens when you let it.