On 30-Jun-2005, HomeBrewer wrote:

In the middle of a $15,000 kitchen remodel my "self-proclaimed"
contractor was put in jail.

snip

This sounds like one of those situations that you learn your lesson and walk
away.
You were willing to pay a guy in the neighborhood of $80/hr w/o checking on
any kind of license etc?

I have since hired a new "professional"
contractor to bail me out (for $3000) and along with my 80+ hours of
labor and $1000 in materials.

why is "professional" in quotes? Is this new guy a hack you found somewhere
too?

Don't forget the other side of the coin should you go pursuing this legally.
You all had a contract for $15,000 and you basically reneged on $2,500 of
it by hiring the new guy to complete the work. I don't have a copy of this
contract in front of me but I doubt you had escape clauses in there should
the guy go to jail, and I don't know if you had a guaranteed completion date
in there.

You say you had to redo a lot of the work. Why? Did it not meet code? Was
it falling down? Or was it just not perfectly installed but would have been
ok? That becomes important why trying to assess any financial damages. If
it was the latter it sounds to me like you don't have any case at all,
unless there was wording in the contract specifying the level of quality.
I'm not sure about Florida law but it's possible that since this guy wasn't
licensed you are the one responsible for ensuring the work met code not him.
Somehow I doubt you pulled a permit.

at any rate just take a deep breath and let it slide, you'll be better off
overall.

ml