Remodeling Done Right

We entered into a remodeling agreement with this company on January 24, 2013 for our master bathroom remodeling job. The contractor stated that the job would take approximately 8-10 days. We met the contractor to get the supplies/materials necessary to begin the job. Being the experienced carpenter, we allowed him to tell us the materials that we needed at each point, and we of course picked the colors of our choice. In one of the earliest purchases, we were with this contractor and showed him the finish and glass style that we wanted for our new WALK-IN shower (he was removing our fiberglass tub/enclosure and replacing it with a walk-in tiled shower). Since he lives where the nearest home/garden/lumber center was, he later got with their special order sales associate, and personally pre-ordered the Kohler glass sliding shower doors (special order of Brushed Nickel with Falling Lines glass combination). On our second trip to the store with the contractor, we picked up the special order form for the shower doors the contractor selected from the sales associate and included that order with our purchase (the order details by the contractor had already been entered into their computer and the sales associate had the form completely ready ? as she had to call the manufacturer to make sure those options were available together). The cost of the door was quoted at $433.99. It wasn't until AFTER the contractor built the walk-in shower, completely tiled it, CUT the TOP and BOTTOM door rails, and INSTALLED the doors that he realized he had ordered the TUB ENCLOSURE height instead of the WALK-IN SHOWER enclosure height. The ?tub height? doors were considerably too SHORT to walk under when installed on the ground!!! Since he made the shower with small wing walls on each end (for whatever reason) we had to turn around and SPECIAL ORDER a new set of doors to fit this odd size opening... additionally, it caused him extra time/work to extend those wing walls up to a standard height for a walk-in shower. So we were out the cost of TWO sets of shower doors instead of one. The one that he cut was now unusable and NONRETURNABLE since he altered them! Then, during this master bathroom remodeling job he built a closet on one end of our bathroom. We had gone TOGETHER to purchase the sliding mirror closet doors for the closet opening BEFORE the opening was even created. It wasn't until AFTER he cut the top and bottom rail that he realized he had ONCE AGAIN miss-measured something. The doors were TOO TALL for the opening that HE CREATED and which was now completely framed in and painted. We called a local glass company to see if this set could be altered and they said that it would cost more to alter them than to buy another set. So now we are out the cost of those doors as well. The contractor also did not adhere to his contractually arranged payment schedule and continually asked us for early payments to "pay his workers" or for gas money (which should have been factored into his contract payment schedule). We obliged and had all parties document those early payments on the contract. Now instead of finishing the job, long past the due date, he continually puts off returning. On several occasions he has sent a text message to cancel either the night before or the morning of his expected arrival. This past Saturday, he was due to come at 8:30am and we received a text at 7:30am stating that he would not be coming back until the new shower doors came in, even though there were several other things that have NOT BEEN FINISHED.