Hi! We recently remodeled an old-ish house that we purchased pretty much top to bottom. When we walked around the place with the contractor (recommended by our realtor who always works with him) and talked about what we wanted done, he gave us an estimate. After finding this initial estimate reasonable and the contractor pleasant/professional (though we couldn't find any reviews online), we agreed for him to do the job.

A couple months later, after he had been working on the house for over a month, he started sending us monthly projected costs as agreed, but which began becoming costlier by the month. We were living out-of-state at the time so we couldn't check his progress until we moved back several months later (although I doubt there was anything out of the ordinary going on).

In the end, however, the project ended up costing twice as much as the initial estimate, without us adding anything substantial or even high-end. On top of that, we had 4 agreed upon move-in dates pass us by before we were able to move in. We had to find an alternate place to stay (for roughly 3 months) when we returned as the house was not ready for us to move in, which incurred extra costs (rent, etc) and a lot of inconvenience. After we finally were able to move in, it took him another 2 months of working pretty much every day to complete the project, while we lived in the house. I understand that larger projects are rarely completed on time or on budget but this seems somewhat extreme. Are we out of line to feel frustrated and to be asking for some type of compensation?

Apart from the aforementioned -- being substantially over budget (x2 in fact), extra expenses ($2000 in rent, etc) and inconveniences not being able to move in on time -- we are pretty satisfied with *most* of the job the contractor and his subcontractors have done, bar a few: 1) paint job was sloppy/unfinished in a few areas (mostly staircase and corners) though majority of work was ok (*we found beer cans in trash several times after painter had come in, also smell of pot -- he worked late in the evening and night after contractor had gone home); 2) floor tiling not even with wall in shower (visible corner); 3) grout cracking along the whole length of bath tub and in corner of kitchen backsplash; 4) grout cracks on either side of bathroom vanity and wall; 5) small bump in floor tiling in bathroom (feels like top of a golf ball underneath the tiles); 6) cracks in trim corners; etc.

How should we address these issues with the contractor? We have paid him for everything except what was left over since last payment (not much is left to pay as final payment). Are we entitled to ask him for some type of compensation for the above? We'd be grateful for any advice on how to proceed. And thank you for reading such a long post!