Tuck pointing question

graded usually means that it's been graded, or is run through a screen so it's all pretty much the same size grains. it doesn't mean it's grade X, where X is a number referring to it's quality.

re: "i read somewhere once that contractors have been using some inferior products."

It sure would be tough to make a statement that is more general than that one.

No, the contractor is not going to skimp on the cost of his sand. Sand is probably the least expensive of the materials he's going to be using, so it's not the place to look to save money.

What you'll find is that people that do a particular kind of work get to notice subtle differences in the materials and tools they use, and they soon adopt favourites because they prefer the subtle differences of one brand of pointing trowel over another or one company's sand over another. But, also, and as often as not, they buy the same materials from the same suppliers year after year because they've never felt that they could have done a better job or did it faster or easier had they used someone else's materials instead.

So, the contractor is going to use whatever materials he likes the most, or whatever he's always used regardless of whether he's doing your house or someone else's. It's simply because he's got reasons for liking some of the materials he uses, and doesn't have any reason NOT to keep using other products he uses.