Jones Masonry

Alfred Jones started this project by showing us pictures of previous work he did.  He said he wanted to do us right and would take about 5 weeks of labor to complete.  He would protect our yard and plants while working on our project.
We agreed to providing some material money and half the labor money upfront.  He got started immediately on the stone veneer which looked very good.  He replaced the windows.  He typically had about two people helping him that appeared to have worked with him in the past on similiar projects.  The first part of the project took about 1/2 week.
He did some grinding of brick with got all over our screened porch and he promised to clean it at my wife's request but never did.
As he finished the stone veneer, we started the next phase of the project.  This is when the project begain to stretch into weeks.  He began by asking for advance material moneys to buy materials.  He said he could get us the best prices with his contractor discount.  He started to dig the foundation for the pillars and supports.  He started bringing one person out and only staying an hour at a time.  We had two inspections of the footing and each time they failed.  He blamed the failures on the inspector.
After complaining for over a month that he was taking too long to get the footings complete (roughly 60 feet of footings) they passed on the third inspection.  He brought in bagged concrete and filled the footing to half the level as required.  I could tell he had moved the marking placed in the holes to serve as a guide to the correct depth.  I had to dig holes in the cocrete to prove he had only filled the concrete to half way.  I asked him to come out and add in the remaining concrete to bring the height up to the code requirements.  He did but said it was unnecessary.
He continued to ask for more money for materials that he said we staged at the supply houses.  He said he was getting everything together so he could start immediately on the job.  He also started us for daily request for money to give him gas money and money to pay his help.  One time he even asked for for money to pay his auto insurance premiums.
He started on the block foundation and laid out 15 blocks then was gone not on the job again for a week.  He would bring out new bodies to help but you could tell they had never laid block before.
It took nearly 1-1/2 months to lay the foundation.  He then said he didn't have any more money.  He needed the rest of his money to continue.  We gave it too him but shouldn't have.  He put on the stone veneer on the outside of the block then didn't come back again for weeks.  I said the steel beams were out at the supply house and he had to order them.  Since he had used up all the advances for materials and had no extra money to buy the steel I ordered it and had it delivered.  I wasn't going to trust him to buy anymore materials.
I started going to the supply houses and seeing how much the materials actually cost and could see he had been turning in receipts for materials he had not provided to my project. 
After 3 1-2 months he wouldn't commit to finishing the job.  I had another contractor come out and look at the work.  They said he had only done about a weeks worth of actually work.  They said they couldn't figure out what he was doing and the concrete top would be half the needed depth.  The step height would not meet code requirements.  I would say Alfred Jones sounds like he has done many of these projects but is actually all talk and no truth behind his words.  I would never recommend him to anybody.  He says he has forty years doing this type of work but appears to really only know how to veneer.
He failed to finish the work agreed.  I should not have given him all the material money and labor money for the full job.  I took his word then I was taken.

'So far, it has been an AWFUL experience. I was so excited about getting an outdoor fireplace and kitchen. Now all I do is stress over it and want to get the extremely unprofessional mason out of our lives. We don't know if he is going to show up from day-to-day. The project is no where near complete, although we are 8 weeks into it.