Scammed By Contractor

Location: New Hampshire

I have had a handyman/contractor handle many home maintenance projects on my home over the last few years. He was referred by a friend who had him do a major renovation for her and also performed property maintenence for a few of her rental properties.

When it came time to do a major basement renovation in our home, I hired him for general contract work. The estimates state that the costs include labor, materials, insurance, and administrative fees.

We were about 90% finished with the project when his helper claims that he slipped and fell in the basement. The helper was off site for a few weeks subsequent and the tone of my communication with the contractor and his wife (who identifies herself as the owner of the company) shifted in a negative way. I had some questions about structural columns that were moved and they became belligerent and defensive and the owner stopped all work. After a bunch of back-and-forth, she agreed to recommence work but only if I broke the final payment of $15k into small installments. I did not feel comfortable with this initially and refused because drywall hadn't even been started at that poiny but, ultimately, in the interest of getting the project done, and in an act of good faith, I agreed to break the $15k final payment in to 3 payments.

I paid one $5k payment and about a week and a half later (on a (Thursday), she was asking for another check. I told her that I would have a check ready for her the following week. She was expecting that check on Monday and when I told her I wouldn't have it for her until Thursday, she pulled the workers off site again (by this point, the helper had returned to work) until Thursday. She came by, picked up the check, cashed it at my bank, and the next day, sent me a text advising that they were no longer going to be doing business with me.

Now the helper is suing me for his alleged slip and fall and it has recently come to light that the company identified on the estimates and on her emails was administratively dissolved in 2023 which says to me that they aren't insured (even though their estimates say they are). There's over $2k of materials that were never delivered and it's now costing me $15k to have another contractor complete the work.

I filed a complaint with the Consumer Protection Bureau as well as in small claims court but I don't anticipate there being any kind of monetary remedy for me to recoup any of the final payment I gave them but I'm hoping that there will be some sort of consequence for them though. I don't want them to do this to someone else. I paid them over $109k - they've really screwed me over in addition to now being stuck with the liability of their helper's suit against me. I'm afraid that my homeowners insurance won't cover his claim and that the attorney will place a lien on my house.

I already feel like a clout and like a complete idiot for allowing this to happen so please keep the negative comments to yourself. Any insight or commiseration would be helpful. I'm really struggling with the injustice of all of this.