Surety Bond? Contractors Insurance?

[Mark-SC]

What is the name of your state? South Carolina

Hello,
I started a remodel project my retirement condo with a local contractor in November 1004(he said 4 months all together). It was a complete bathroom, kitchen, carpentry, flooring project so it was rather large- nearly a 6 digit bill.

Anyway, I had my neighbor monitoring the progress and it was extremely slow. Excuse after excuse kept rolling in. Sometimes they said he would only come once a week for 3-4 weeks at a time.

Just a couple of weeks ago he stopped showing up and I just let him go after myself and some others saw the type of craftmanship he and his laborers used. I still have about 12% of the total project cost which I am not giving to him and will use to pay another contractor to finish. I at least wanted my washer and dryer and he said he'b bring it by for $4500.00

The contractor I've hired is appalled at some of the things this guy has pulled. He sawed vanities nearly in half to make them fit, gaps in interior and exterior doors so big you can fit a pencil through them, leaking sinks, horribly uneven floor tile. uncentered light fixtures, lines of shower tiles with 1" wide grout lines. Also, I noticed the roof was leaking so I called the subcontractor he used and they informed me that he never even paid them for their work.

I gave this guy money for appliances which were never delivered. It goes on and on.

What the heck can I do to get this guy. He's taken my money and my retirement home from me for over a year. I have calculated that I've travelled 6,000 miles by car to check progress and that doesn't even include the money I had to pay to stay in a hotel.

Can I recoup any money from this guy through his insurance and/or surety bonds?
I'm not to sure how they work

[reallylight]

A construction surety bond should have been taken out prior to the start of the project. If this wasn't done by the contractor then the work was, well - illegal (assuming surety bonds laws are the same in your country as mine).

The bond, inparticular performance bonds, will guarantee that work is completed and in a timely fashion.

A Performance Bond guarantees the faithful performance of the contract and payment (payment bond) of materials and labor by the contractor to all subcontractors and material suppliers. The bond is submitted by the winning bidder upon award of the contract. The Performance & Payment Bond are typically issued together, as they are so closely related.

[answerdude]

it seems like you did not require the contractor to obtain a payment and performance bond but if there are register with the state they should have a contractor license bond I would state with that