A bath addition isn’t a small project. 40K is also pretty low budget for that. Sometimes budget proj vts like this this can slip through the cracks when contractors are very very busy. If he is doing good work, you’re much more fortunate than many.

Sit him down with a written out list of the remaining work, and a calendar. Have him develop a plan of attack to finish within a 2 week time frame.

Sophie – I think you are exactly right I’m terms of this being a small project amongst his other larger ones. He is a neighbor who typically handles larger projects in more affluent areas. I suspect he took our job because he thought it would be simple since it was nearby and possibly filled an opening on his schedule.
To clarify, it’s not an addition but a complete renovation. He is very hard to pin down in terms of deadlines – he avoids them like the plague! We except the blame for signing a contract without specific deadlines – we opted to trust him since he lives in our neighborhood. He essentially refused to commit to any due dates. I really regret trusting him now.

Groveraxle- my husband agrees with you. He would like nothing more than to simply fire him, cut our losses and hire somebody else to do the work. We essentially are about $4500 away from finishing the unfinished projects. We owe him about $3K. I do believe that he is feeling very very stressed due to other projects and our smaller project is being neglected.

Our current dilemma is that he finally installed the cabinets after many many many weeks of delay. When he sent us pictures while we were out of town this weekend, I was dismayed to see that they are white and not the espresso we ordered. I looked back at the contract and realized it doesn’t specify either color. We have discussed espresso numerous times but he constantly forgets the details are and never writes anything down. I have no idea if I have a leg to stand on but I am just so upset.

Who did the design work and documentation of the job? Did you not have a Kitchen and Bath Designer working with you for this?

No designer. It was simply –“go here & select from these choices.” I designed it myself-with the help of a lot of Houzz photos! The only documentation was done by me.