What should I check when a timber or board delivery arrives?

Delivery is the point where responsibility transfers, and the driver is usually in a hurry. Ten minutes of checking at the kerb is worth far more than an argument two days later, and every reputable merchant expects you to do it.

What you'll need

• The order confirmation or quote, on paper or a phone
• A tape measure
• Somewhere prepared to put it — bearers, a level dry spot
• A helper for anything heavy

Step by step

1. Have the order confirmation in your hand before the lorry arrives.Not the quote from three weeks ago — the confirmation of what was actually ordered, with sections, lengths, grades and quantities. You cannot check a delivery against a memory.
2. Prepare the landing spot first.Level bearers off the ground, under cover if possible, with room to work round the stack. If timber is landed straight onto a wet drive it starts taking up water immediately, and if it is landed somewhere you then have to move it from, you will move it twice.
3. Count everything.Count the lengths per section, count the sheets, count the boards. Packs are made up by hand and short deliveries are common enough to be worth the two minutes.
4. Check the sections and lengths with a tape.Especially where you ordered a specific section. Getting 47 by 100 when you ordered 47 by 150 is easy to miss on a stack and impossible to fix once the lorry has gone.
5. Check the grade and the treatment.Look for the strength class stamp on structural timber, the use class on treated stock, and the type code on sheet materials. If you paid for C24 or for ground-contact treatment, this is the moment to confirm you got it.
6. Look at the top and the bottom of the pack.The top has been rained on and the bottom may have sat in water. Damage is concentrated at both. Pull the strapping and look at a few boards from within the pack rather than just the outer faces.
7. Check sheet materials for corner and edge damage.Sheets get damaged at the corners in handling and plasterboard is worst of all. A broken corner on a sheet of ply is a nuisance; a crushed edge on tapered-edge plasterboard makes that board useless for a visible joint.
8. Write any problem on the delivery note before you sign.Note the specific issue — "three boards split", "two sheets corner damaged", "not checked". A note on the driver's copy is the evidence. Take photographs at the same time.
9. Ring the merchant the same day if something is wrong.Not next week. Merchants deal with delivery problems constantly and will normally replace or credit without argument if you raise it immediately with photographs. The longer you leave it, the more it becomes your problem.
10. Get it under cover and stickered.As soon as the lorry has gone, stack it flat on level bearers with sticks between layers, out of the rain and out of direct sun. Timber left in a heap on the ground for a week arrives at the job twisted.

Tips

• Ask when you order whether the delivery is offloaded to a specific spot or simply tipped at the kerb. Lorries with a crane can place a pack; many deliveries are hand-balled to the nearest hard standing.
• Ask about access when you order. A long wagon cannot get down a narrow lane, and finding that out on the day means a failed delivery and a charge.
• If you cannot be there, do not have it delivered. A neighbour signing for it is a neighbour signing that it all arrived in good condition.
• Photograph the stack as it is offloaded. It takes ten seconds and settles most disputes.

Common mistakes

• Signing clean because the driver is waiting — Signing without qualification is an acceptance that it arrived complete and undamaged. Writing "unchecked" takes three seconds and preserves your position entirely.
• Leaving sheet materials leaning against a wall — They bow within days, and a bowed sheet is very difficult to use. Sheets go flat, on bearers, or truly vertical against a flat support — not leaning at an angle.
• Accepting delivery onto a wet drive and leaving it there — Timber draws water up from below, the bottom boards stain and the whole pack starts to move. Bearers cost nothing and are the difference.

Questions people ask