Had an early morning call with my attorney. Bottom line is he doesn't think there's much we can do, guys got a $10,000 bond. However, my attorney doesn't think we should drop it. His point is, what's to stop this guy from making similar mistakes (or greater) in the future. There are a couple of other things about him that I haven't shared on this board, e.g. at the completion of his project he didn't dig the footing holes on my plans. Unfortunately I was out of town and wife didn't push him on these. When I returned I called him on it and he told me he didn't have the right size equipment for it, I told him I paid him to do them so go rent the equipment. He then said that his bid was only for the pool; even though the excavation plans were clear what was involved in excavation and we had discussed these on no less than two occasions. At the time I was unaware of the issue at hand so I decided not to worry about it, I could get the decking guys to dig them, my pool was dug so I didn't sweat it. Then while I was traveling I found out he didn't dig one of the skimmers. Then when the steel guy was there I found out he didn't dig one of the lights. Last two are minor, plumber dug out the skimmer and steel guy the lights (btw both plumber and steel guy told me this happens all the time with various excavators). My attorney's point is he wants to make this sting a little so he thinks twice about doing this to someone else.
In terms of what kind of a case we have and what would come of it my attorney said he thinks we have a pretty good one, just won't get a lot of money (which I really don't care about). So what I told my attorney was to fire off the letter and see what happens. If he doesn't issue refund then we file a case. He'll have to retain legal counsel and that will cost probably equal or more to what I paid him. My legal fees with the exception of filing fees etc. are gratis so pursuing this won't cost me, however it will cost him. Once we figure he's paid out enough, we can reconsider pursing any further or dropping it.
I'm also contacting the contractors board this morning and making a report. This can create bigger issues for him in terms of licensing etc. I'll also be posting a review on Yelp, Google and Yellow pages so hopefully anyone who does research will see my review. After these steps I'm done with it and my attorney will handle all the negative energy associated with it.
PS What's sad is even after the early BS I still recommended this guy to two people who used him. I was however careful to point out the concerns and both people managed him correctly and he delivered on everything and didn't "forget" to dig anything. Both are very satisfied, however, the did have to manage him.
At least 10+ people have reached out to me through this forum, Nextdoor or City Data regarding my build and my subs, many who are planning on doing their builds during the slow season when these guys need work, I've reached out to every one and told them I can no longer recommend, and in-fact run! I'm sure as I post pictures of my final project more people will ask, who knows how many referrals I could have given the guy. Sad when you think about it.
