He is ripping you off, and also sounds like he wasn't qualified to do the work. Since you paid for the tools, demand the receipts and claim ownership. Tools that he can keep and use on other jobs are not supplies or materials (generally, things that will be used up) for your job. Neither is the time he spent shopping for those tools up to you to pay for.

What does your contract say? Was he supposed to clean up & dispose of the old fence? Did it say anything more specific than "supplies/materials"? How was the labor charge calculated - should have been estimated in advance?

What contractor doesn't have tools? Pretty strange. I would totally run from this. I'd say if he's billing you for them, they are yours and should be left when the job is complete.

The only time I had a reputable contractor charge for a tool was when he needed to rent a highly specialized item that most contractors wouldn't normally have. Any contractor that has you buy him tools is simply a con artist. You don't buy wrenches for the mechanic when you take your car to the garage, and this is no different. If you paid for them, they're now your tools.

$1140 is WAY too cheap for the project as a whole. Did you verify that he was licensed and insured? What “tools” did he buy?

It was through HomeAdvisor. The project was 6 feet (fence door) on one side of the house and 14 feet on the other side oft he house. We did not fence the whole back yard. The saw, saw horse, and post hole digger was the tools. The contractor also left the old fence for us to deal with. Also is took him 3 hours on the clock to get the materials from Home Depot that was 10 mins from my house.

Actually you do pay for the tools a contractor owns, but that cost is "hidden" as overhead. Kind of gutsy to flat out ask a customer to pay for them. Maybe some specialized tool rental but even that I would just include in the estimate.

I think it's time to send this guy packing. Just keep your new tools.

Tools are a cost of doing business. If he can't afford to buy tools, he can't afford to be in business (and clearly shouldn't be). I'd find someone else. If you already paid, the tools now belong to you. Keep them, or sell them and recoup some of your losses.

Re leaving the old fence. In my experience, if site cleanup and debris removal is not in the contract, it is not included.

I have not had good luck with HomeAdvisor at all, having used the service twice (many years ago, before I knew better). Everyone seemed to be new businesses, and not very experienced.

The fencing contractor didn't own a saw or sawhorse. Hmmm...

I can't say anything about Home Advisor, but I haven't had much luck with internet reviews of contractors in a long, long time. Twenty years ago, you could get real reviews on the net, but then the contractors got on board. Today they're too easy to game, both positive and negative, and most or all of the sites will make negative reviews vanish for contractors that buy ads on the site.

I've had just as good results picking "services offered" ads at random from our local tabloid newspaper as I ever did in using people who were well-reviewed on the internet.

AFAIC, the only worthwhile reviews are ones from friends, coworkers, and family.

The saw, saw horse, and post hole digger was the tools.

LOL. Since you were buying the tools, you coulda' just done the job yourself & saved a bunch of $$$

@David 20 some years ago we didn't have reviews and contracts were done with a word and a simple handshake and it was quality work and word-a-mouth went a long way.

Nowadays since, the media, and Craig's lists, and a bunch of companies like Home Adviser, etc. surfaced and you have 100 guys chasing one job and trying out-bid one another by low-bidding the jobs to get a foot in the door, the whole industry took a left turn and more and more you hear horror stories of jobs going wrong.