Talk to an attorney! Hopefully they are bonded and insured.

By the way, I am so sorry you had to experience this. What an awful thing to do to someone.

The contractor should have insurance to cover these costs and you should have made asure about that before you hired them. This is something you will need to hire lawyer for and the good thing is you filed a police report. The contractor as mentioned should be bonded which is what covers damage and theft etc .while working on your home. I never even hire a cleaning crew that is not bonded.

You aren't the only victim here. Your contractor got screwed too, worse than you. You're getting reimbursed for your stuff at his expense and no one's ever going to post a poor online review of you. Give him a break please.

I would let the contractor finish the job. Being robbed is terrible, you feel violated, your space was violated. But the contractor can't help or remedy those feelings. All he can do is correct the deficiencies and pay for the unrecovered losses.

Contractors need a license, which should include required bonding and insurance. Check with the licensing board to make sure they are in good standing before you sign a contract and have work started. Any time work is done, one needs to make sure the contractor is licensed. If and when issues such as yours arise, the contractors licensing board is your first point of contact if resolution is not reached with the contractor. If the contractor is not licensed, you are pretty much on your own, and would definitely need an attorney.

I appreciate everyone’s input here. I am grateful to the contractor that he’s willing to be make it whole but also still beyond upset he allowed this guy into my home to do this. So while yes it sucks for him too I also feel he did a beyond poor job managing this project and overseeing these guys - he was never on site when I came to open the house or close it or checked during the day. So I don’t feel that sorry for him. He is insured. I asked my question because I really didn’t know if anyone ever withholds some of the final amount because of something like this and if that was fair to do or not. I need perspective because I realize I am not impartial here. Thanks for the input!.

I agree with others that the contractor is working in good faith to make you "whole" with respect to any damages and theft and that he's likely to be paying for it all out of pocket. Ditto for correcting any substandard work. I don't see the need to hire a lawyer at this juncture except if it provides needed peace of mind.

Residential contracting work (other than fire/security system work) is generally not bonded. If you require bonding, be prepared to pay a higher cost to offset the cost of the bond.

Do you have photos of the items in place prior to the theft? It's always a good idea to have a photo record or a video walk-through of your house put in a safe place so that when disaster or thievery strikes, you have proof that you owned those items before making a claim.

First, I'd have a polite conversation with the contractor to see if he can talk to his crew about the missing items. If he's unwilling to do anything about it, then I'd (a) consult with a lawyer and (b) talk to your insurance broker about making a claim for replacement of the items.

The contractor isn’t the thief and it sounds like he’s stepped up. The violation and invasion of your home and psyche is real and long lasting. Do check on all financial and privacy based accounts. So sorry, but by all accounts you’ve done everything correctly So far.

I am confused by some of the responses. The original post states that the GC has offered to pay for stolen items as well as remedy the issues in terms of work not being up to OP's expectations.

Why are people posting as if the GC was not taking appropriate remedial measures and advising OP to consult with an attorney and check into his insurance, licenses and bonding.

If OP had posted the events occurred and GC took no responsibility, then the advice might be relevant but under the circumstances it is completely besides the point. In the event that GC argues about value of lost items or quality of work it's a different issue.

OP might also contact HER insurance company. That's a judgment call since some people don't want to contact insurance if they are being paid for the wrong doer since it can impact premiums or even coverage if a policy holder makes too many claims.

When you talk about this - and you will - be kind (when referring to the contractor).

"Tea and Sympathy"

Immediately call LifeLock. You need to file reports with all three credit reporting agencies and put a freeze on your credit. This is all a pain, but you must protect yourself.. LifeLock is not cheap, but it gives great piece of mind.

I understand the contractor is repaying for the lost items and also correcting mistakes in th job what else do you want from him.

Let the contractor do what he needs to do to finish the project and make good your losses. It will probably be better for your piece of mind if a family member is in the house while the workers are there. That said, the contractor didn't commit the theft and you need to keep that in mind.

I would certainly contact banks and other agencies: identity theft is much more lucrative than burglary these days.

Definitely have a thorough talk with the contractor about the flaws in the quality of the finished work and make sure that he is going to re-do it to your satisfaction. Try to get his agreement in writing about what he will fix, if you can, and take before and after pictures. This is in case the remediation is unsatisfactory and you end up in court over it - you want to prove that your claim is reasonable.

Also ask him if he is going to bring in a different crew, or if he will be present to supervise the work - because I am thinking that it wasn't just one employee (unless he was left in the house alone by the other workers for an extended period, or more than once, judging from the amount of thievery) and certainly it wasn't just one employee responsible for the shoddy work.

I can sympathize with not wanting the crew back, for that ^ reason.

You may also want to see if you have any friends or neighbors who can stay and watch the house for the time it takes to finish the job.

I agree with others - It does sound like the GC is doing what he has to in order to satisfy you as far as the problem work.

The theft side of things is difficult for everyone on both sides to swallow. You certainly can follow up with the police reports and update further missing items... I would do a very thorough search of all your financial items and valuables that were left in the home to see what else may be gone so the police have a complete report as well as the GC who is going to replace it all.

This is horrible but it will be ok in the end...

Good luck

1.Continue to update the police report.2. Inform your homeowner's insurance company; they will tell you what to do about the stuff. 3. let the contractor make good on the work, but install video cameras that you can check via smartphone.

Why are people posting as if the GC was not taking appropriate remedial measures and advising OP to consult with an attorney and check into his insurance, licenses and bonding.

Lack of reading comprehension? Maybe they went to poor schools?

Or, too busy to read but not too busy to type?

I would also get all the locks changed if you had any spare keys stored anywhere

ci_lantro, perhaps also having had experiences with contractors who promise whatever but only partly follow through, or not at all.

My own experience is that contractors who have crews (or subcontracted or hired day laborers) who perform like the OP"s weren't highly concerned about how well they would do the job. Perhaps they have found that most people will just accept less than stellar work.

It sounds as if your contractor is stepping up to the plate

I’m more interested in what has happened to the thief. Have the police gotten back to you?

Are you filing charges? There are some huge penalties awaiting.

Not a pro. Common sense applies.

My thinking is that since the contractor is trying to make it right (sounds as if he is trying) and since he has fired the individual involved, do get him to finish the work and fix any/all the problems with the work ... but get the work finished before you pay for any of it. I suspect your contractor may well 'go the extra mile' to avoid a bad review.

DO a complete an inventory of the possessions you now have so you can determine everything that is missing as well as have that information for the future. Update that record as you replace missing items and/or add to what you have.

Let the police know now that you're still realizing items are missing. When you have a complete list of items missing, update the police report and let your homeowner's insurance agent know what's going on as well. Depending upon your policy, you may well be required or at least expected to do so. It may be that an agent for your insurance company could work on your behalf to help resolve any part of the claim that isn't amicably resolved between you and the contractor as well as provide some information and advise about how to deal with missing electronics that could have contained sensitive information.

DO presume the thief was able to access your personal information and take all possible precautions as if he did -- such as changing financial account numbers and passwords, etc. Do check your credit score. First check of your credit score each year should be free and more may be free because there has been a theft of items and your personal information may have been accessed.

I find it unusual that the OP mentioned not yet paying any money. I don't know any solid contractor who would start a project of such size without a down payment. This indicates to me the contractor might be naive about the effects of cutting corners to keep costs down. Perhaps the contractor isn't charging market rates so getting more jobs than he has capacity to fulfill and trying to expand his workforce without adequate screening or supervision.

It is difficult to find workers willing to work hard and do a quality job for not much more than minimum wage. Customers don't want to pay the prices of high end companies that invest heavily in their workforce for a task like this which does not require a tremendous amount of skill and training.

My partner does this type of work and he only uses small crews and is onsite running the job most of the time. Customers want their job done quickly and it is a temptation to trust someone who seems to be honest and hardworking. As far as we know, we have never had anyone steal from a customer but we have had tools stolen from us. He has years of detecting dishonesty and drug use and we have drug tests on hand if we feel the need to confirm our suspicions. We recently had a situation where a customer asked us about directly hiring a person we knew who was recently out of rehab. I said that I think the person is clean now and would be honest and hardworking but due to her past antics while she was using, I don't trust her.

IF you install video cameras, remember to move/remove those later from any areas where you'd not want to risk hackers invading your privacy.

I am the OP and wanted to give an update. Thanks for the comments here. I've read them all. We never not considered paying the GC - just want the shoddy work fixed --the incredible mess they made not respecting our home, floors, carpet, etc. cleaned and want to be reimbursed for our things. I don't think I'm being unfair to our GC about wondering if more should be taken off the cost. I lost a day of work staying home to supervise Friday and my husband cancelled his first weekend of deer hunting to stay home and help clean out closets, drawers, etc. to make sure we aren't acccusing somebody of stealing things we misplaced. After spending the weekend combing our home trying to remember where we put things, we have found more stolen, of course. We did secure our important papers, passports etc. in a safe that they did not find. We were living out of the house so we had our laptops, cell phones, wedding rings, etc. I do not own or keep expensive jewelry or have expensive things lying around my home. What we are finding he stole were petty theft of electronics, old iphones like 6, 5c and 4's we still had in a drawer and first generation IPad no longer used. He even stole a bunch of DVDs we had in a travel sleeve that was my daughters. We haven't noticed anything else. This is the guy who registered our Amazon Alexa in his own name so not the brightest bulb. I am updating police report. GC says he will cover all loss - now over $1,000. What's more disturbing is finding out that of course he's not only one involved. We suspect the other young guy working with the thief were in it together, as we found his name and searched his facebook page and saw them in photos together. On Saturday the GC came with his crew to repair things and the repair work is still not great. I would say about 75% of the work is acceptable, the other 25% was amatuer hour, really bad. I have gone through the house Saturday the third time with GC to point out things I already asked to be fixed. The fix Saturday was still unacceptable. I feel he should know it's bad it's so obvious. I took him to the other room to show him the ceiling work that looks acceptable to us to say - "It should look like this" and then he agreed to fix it after first saying he'd knock $100! off the price and just be done with us. They are coming today to redo one 39 sq. ft. bathroom that they tried to fix Saturday that the entire bathroom still looks terrible, then I want them gone. I'm "living with" the other not so great. My husband is working from home today to supervise. We have consulted an attorney who said one option I have is not pay now because work still needs to be finished, then hire another contractor to fix the bad areas and tell GC we will subtract that and the stolen items cost from the balance due. He advised be prepared to meet in court in the meantime and take pictures of the shoddy work. We are tempted to do this because we do not ever want to see these guys again but also don't really want to - just want it done and move on with the rest of our project. We are going to see what happens today.

Good luck, you have two bad experiences rolled into one. It's too bad, remodeling should be a positive experience.

Do follow the advise of your attorney.

For myself, I'd subtract all actual costs ( including lost workday -- and attorney's fees as well) from the "final bill" and make sure I wrote "payment if full of balance due" on both the front and back of any check I ended up writing the GC.