On Friday December 22nd I walked the subcontractors to the door and said "Have a good Christmas weekend. See you next Tuesday". Tuesday comes, I drive to the house, turn on the furnaces, and ... wait. They normally arrive around 9 am. By 10:30 I sent the crew head a text asking when they were going to arrive. Several minutes later he replies, "Contractor is out of town, so if you want us to work YOU have to pay us." I write back "I pay the contractor and he pays you - that's the process. You can come out and bill him when he gets back into town." Time goes by and I get his text "No. You pay us or we don't work". I take a few minutes and answer him with "I do not pay you, the general contractor does. I'll see you in the new year". Shut down the furnaces and go back to the motel.

Tuesday January 2nd I go to the house, and wait for them to show up. They don't. I text the guy "Are you coming out today?" He replies that the general contractor is still out of town and returning Wednesday, so they'll come out if I pay them. I text back "We've already been through this. When he comes back into town he will pay you. I don't. Are you coming out tomorrow?" After about a half hour he answers with "We've been told to show up tomorrow."

Wednesday comes, they arrive around 9 and start cleaning; one guy is applying primer to our bathroom cabinets. He runs out so I tell the crew head to contact the general contractor to bring more paint. They go out for brunch, taking a good half hour, and when they come back they're acting strange and barely working. Crew head starts giving me the "You'll be paying us tomorrow, right?" speech and I lose my temper. I yelled at him that we've been over this several times in the past week and the matter is settled: I don't pay, the contractor does. So around 1:30 he goes, "there's nothing more we can do today" so they jumped into his truck and left.

Friday morning I get a text from the contractor telling me I have to pay these guys. We go back and frth with him saying that "since I AUTHORIZED those guys to come to my house, I was OBLIGATED to pay them". I reply with "In what world does asking a question be the equivalent to telling someone when and where to show up and work?" Never got an answer to that.

Around 11 AM the crew head gives me the same song and dance about how I owe them a week's worth of pay & they're not working until I promise to do so. Wife shows up around 1 PM, tries to talk to these guys and gets nowhere. We decide that I should run to the Daltile warehouse to get our order, since it was in the contractor's name and at this point we wouldn't put it past him to pick it up and keep it. We paid for it 2 weeks ago with our Visa card. I get half the order, bring it home, then go back for the rest. While I was dong that the subcontractor guy calls the contractor to say "This guy isn't paying us so we're leaving". Contractor calls wife, starts yelling at her and says "You obligated yourself to pay those guys. Do it or I'll put a mechanic's lien on your house". Crying, she does that - $1440 for 3 guys for them barely being onsite for 19 hours over 3 days.

The carpenter who is dong our kitchen cabinets - and was a referral from the general contractor - was "out with the flu" between New Year's and last Friday. Evangelina texted him to ask when he was coming out to continue work. He installed the cabinet doors on Tuesday the 26th, so now everything needs to be stained. On Thursday the 28th he met me at the house because he asked for a check to "cover supplies and stain". (He still needs to install molding on the sides and bottoms.) Last night at 6:30 he texts Wife and says "I'm sorry. I cannot complete the job. You need to get someone else". She's in tears. I said that asshole contractor is probably behind this. This morning I played dumb and texted him at 10:30, asking when he was showing up and pointing out that he told Evangelina he would be here today in his text to her last Friday. He replies with the song and dance of "I'm sorry. I'm so busy and my helper can't work with me anymore." I send a long text listing all that he needs to still do be be considered finished, which he never responded to.

So our contractor has 95% of the money for the job and has not been to my house since December 22nd. The cabinet maker has 83% of the quote and has not been to the house since December 28th. I fully expect both of them to give me the bird from now until the end of time. The odds of them returning any money to us or completing their work is pretty much zero. The master bathroom is still a disaster zone and unusable. The kitchen has no appliances, no counter tops, and the kitchen cabinets are raw plywood.

Called a lawyer yesterday for a free telephone consultation. Said he completely understands since his sister's house flooded and she has had a contractor walk out on her also. Says I can take the guy to Small Claims court, or I can hire him for a larger amount and we'll still win in court, but the odds of collecting are zilch. Seems Texas has laws that allow a person to shield their house, car, and some liquid assets from court findings, even when they commit breach of contract/fraud/theft.

I wish I had friends in the Chicago mob so I can ask for a very big favor, namely, breaking this guy's kneecaps for starters.