My aunt and uncle purchased a house in Lancaster, NH to renovate, with the intent to rent it out as an airbnb. They are new to the area, and had some bad luck with handiman type guys. So, they asked for my help. I live about an hour away in Vermont, but I am a kitchen and bath designer and I regularly manage full construction projects. I did not have any contractor contacts in that area, so I made the mistake of finding someone on Facebook. We signed a boilerplate contract that spelled out what the work load was, for $13k, approx 4 weeks or 160 hours of work for two men. I asked for his insurance, which he provided. Once the contract was signed, we assumed he would start right away, as he said he hadn't booked any work over the winter to be home with his kids who are remote schooling. But it was almost a week before he started. And then his appearances at the house were spotty at best. There have been other guys that showed up to do some work, but nothing consistent. He also asked for $3300 for materials, which I wrote a check for, and asked for the receipts. We also gave him an additional $1000 for a "change order" to rebuild the interior stairs. That was a verbal communication. After more than four weeks, we are not even halfway done, and I have had to postpone the flooring contractor, and a few other things as well. We made the decision to just cut ties with him. We made arrangements for him to meet at the house on Monday at 9am so that it could all be discussed civilly and he could gather his tools. Well, he showed up at 7:45 and saw that the house was locked, and the lock box was removed, and left. And since then he has been threatening to me that he will take us to court for breach of contract, etc. Yesterday he was allowed to come and take all of his tools. To date, we paid a $7000 deposit on the original Proposal of $13k. I have given him $3300, and $1000 for materials. He refuses to produce any receipts and says he is owed another $3000 for labor to date. And that he will take me to court, because I was the one that signed the proposal. I just want to get a sense of whether it is worth fighting this in court, as I have documentation of all conversations, etc, and I feel that I am in the right. Or should I just pay him and get it out of my life?