Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - did my builder make a bad decision?

well i have been wondering about this since i got the motor back..... my first engine right when i started it up i had cam failure and drove it up the street and back maybe 2 miles and parked it and pulled the motor..... my engine builder was trying to save me money by reusing what i could and took the motor apart and cleaned but reused my head gaskets without even asking me..... he said they looked fine and i assume he knew if they didnt work he was gonna be redoing them again at his cost so i hope he knew what he was doing....

at the same time i wanted to reuse anything i could but i wouldnt have minded the $150 or less for new gaskets for my heads..... the car has been running fine with no issues at all with that and the oil is fresh everytime i look at it..... but for a motor that just started up and only had maybe 45 minutes on it before you pulled the motor again was resuing the head gaskets a very bad idea? or is it possible that he was just trying to save me money and made a decent decision especially if i have not had any problems having put almost 500 miles on the car at this time?

what kind of head gaskets were they?

they were good but i dont remember the brand..... i do know they were metal cause i had to cut an area to fit my lokar oil dipstick!

its probaly hard to see, but if they look like a multi layer like cometics, your fine. i reuse those at work on the engines i build. if it's a .015" steel shim gasket then that might not be good.

If it was copper, then you can re-use them until they turn into dust. Actually, you can even bake them in your oven at 350 degrees, and they will reform to their original shape. This is for copper header gaskets though, but im assuming it would be the same principle for head gaskets.