R&R Drywall

Rick gave us an original quote for $3200.  I called him and mentioned that since my budget was for only $2500, if he would agree to lowering his bid to $2700 I would give him the job.  He agreed and I was happy.  However, a couple of days later he called and spoke to my husband.  (He knew that I was handling this project myself, as my husband was busy running our business).  He told my husband that he could not make a profit with the job at only $2700 and that the original $3200 quote would have to stand.  Since we were on a tight timeline, I agreed to his original quoted price of $3200, and he was supposed to come the following Monday to begin work.  He didn't call or arrive at our home until the next day, Tuesday.  He got started and I thought everything would be okay, although we were now behind schedule and on a very tight timeline.  Several days into the job, Rick presented me with another quote, only this time it was for $3600.  I mentioned that I had already agreed to $3200.  He said that wasn't a firm price and that the job would really be $3600.  Needless to say, I told him I was going to pay him the amount of the original quote that I had SIGNED and returned to him.  Of course he wasn't happy.  He was so unhappy that he cursed at me, called me a liar and a cheater.  I should have fired him at that point, but we were so pressed for time, that I thought I would just have to put up with him until the job was completed.  For the rest of the job, he wouldn't speak to me but made sure to complain to his co-workers as well as to my job superintendent about how I changed the rules on him and was "cheating" him.  He made everyone's life miserable.  Then, of course, when he left for the day, he told my husband (not willing to face me again)  that he was done with the job.  That was on a Friday.  When my job superintendent came in on Monday morning, he told me that the drywaller had left a number of items uncompleted.  He called Rick and asked him to come over and finish the job.  Naturally, he gave my super a lot of grief, then got on the phone with me and cursed me out again.  Then, when my husband spoke with him, he also cursed at my husband, calling him a liar and finally said "Okay, I'll finish the job, but I want my f---ing check."   He said that he had done "a lot of extra things that weren't on the original proposal,(although I hadn't asked him to do those extras,) and that he would only be satisfied with $3350.  We (stupidly) agreed to that amount and paid him just to get him off the property.  Upon inspection, I found a number of items that he had listed on his proposal that he still had not completed.  When I asked why certain items were not completed he said that we had never discussed those items with me and that he didn't include them in his quote.  I had a SIGNED quote that had those uncompleted items listed.  However, he was so abusive, I did not want to deal with him again.  When I can eventually afford it, I will hire another drywaller to complete the work that R&R had originally agreed to and for which he was paid.   The bottom line is, this guy was a HUGE NIGHTMARE!!!!  I wouldn't recommend this guy to my worst enemy.  Totally unprofessional.