Grave-dancers, for sure, all of them. But no diggers.

They were a clanny bunch who favored each other for jobs[…]

So! Even the provincials knew his humiliation. The eggwoman, next, would be offering him sympathy!

The clerk of works seldom intends that to be the case and, even if that was the case, those intentions would be irrelevant. Merely complying with a clerk of work's snagging list can never take the place of compliance with the contract.