Building Contractor Messed Up & Went over Budget

What is the name of your state? Oklahoma

I hired a contractor to remodel my home and add a small addition to my home. Part of the addition was to extend the 2nd floor. He did not make sure the house was supported underneath before he added it on, causing not only the new addition to fall, but also the bottom floor below it. He patched it up (or covered it up) and went on building. The addition turned out to be 500 more square foot than we asked him to build. When I questioned if this was going to make us go over budget he said that it was all included. The work just continued to get worse. The 2nd floor was one foot difference from one side of a room to the other. The door frames were slanted, the floors from the old part and the new were off half an inch. He put the new stairway out in the new garage - just nothing made sense. I tried on numerous occasions to talk to him about the issues and he kept saying that we wouldn't even notice when it was all finished. He said the differences in the floors would be covered by carpet and that once the trim was around the doors we wouldn't be able to tell the doorways were crooked. I have pictures and video of all of these things - there was no way they could be covered up. He flat refused to move the stairs to the place they were supposed to be on my plans. Then to top it off, after we had paid him up to his contract amount it was obvious that it was not even close to being finished so he said he needed $25,000 more to finish it. Our original signed contract with him was for $34,700.
He wouldn't fix the problems and wanted more money so I fired him. I had to hire someone else to come fix the broken beams under the house, jack it up and basically start all over. All the walls had to come down to jack it up, etc. The repairs cost $6000. We have had to spend all of our savings and max out 4 credit cards just to fix his mistakes and finish the project.
I have been told that these types of cases can take years to settle and they are very hard to prove. On top of that, I have no idea if he even has the money to pay if we did win. The entire job cost me $59,000.
Is there a law to help in cases like this where he underbid the job so much?
Would it be in my best interest to take him to small claims court for $5000 (or whatever the max is) instead of filing a lawsuit for the damages and the difference in his contract and the actual cost?
I don't have the money to pay for an attorney for a long period of time while this is fought in court. I just don't know what kind of recourse the law has for these types of things. Any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I am facing a similar issue in NY on some levels and here are some general thoughts from my experience.

What is your responsibility in this situation? Did you properly check qualifications and references? Did an engineer inspect your foundation prior to drawing your plans for the addition?

Do contractors require licenses in your area? If yes, start by filing a complaint with the proper agency.

Does the contractor have previous disputes with other customers? What are they doing?

Contractor fraud is common in many areas, see if there is local services to assist defrauded homeowners. Fly-by-night contractors are a problem every where, but fraud is also a crime and if he has a pattern, several victims might convince the DA to go after him.

Determine the statue of limitations for taking an Action. A free consultation with an attorney should be able to provide you with this and much more information. See several and gather more information with each consultation. It is unlikely that you will recover assets and only spend more good money after bad.

However... go to country clerk in the county where he lives and see if he owns property, judgments or mortgages. This is free. You will then begin to know if he has assets even worth chasing and who has been successful in chasing him and for what.

If he has no assets worth chasing and numerous unpaid judgments, the only satisfaction you may get from a lawsuit is getting another unpaid judgment against him. If you still desire to 'spank him' there may be other more effective legal methods already mentioned.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

Thank you for the useful information.
I talked to several people that he had done work for and they were satisfied. I live in a rural community and he is not required to carry any type of license for general carpentry/contract work. He does have substantial property so he is not just a deadbeat. He has lived in the same community as I have for a long time so I don't want this to be a huge, nasty mess. I just want him to pay up for his mistakes. I am afraid you are right that I would be chasing after money I might never see. After I had my problems with him I started doing more in depth research on this guy's history. He had previously been a carpenter/contractor under another contractor - and the jobs they did together were the ones that satisfied other people. There have been 4 other people come to me and tell me how he has done the same shotty work for them (and WAY underbid their jobs), but because this is a small town no one wants to go after him. It's a very frustrating situation.

I also live in a small town, so I understand your hesitation, but ultimately it comes down to either you take legal action or just accept it is a lesson learned to better check qualifications before you enter into an agreement with a contractor.

If the guy is a perpetual screw up when on his own, I doubt anyone in the town will really blame you for trying to recover your expenses. Just make sure to tell your side of the story to key town gossips first and never make it personal.