The floor was not leveled. Lots of high and low spots
.Ok, what type of floor structure are we talking about hee. It is impractical to try to level a wood floor on floor joists. Not only can the joists themselves be warped but the entore foundation may have settled. This makes it a major undertaking and is a totally different job.
The laminate floor was cut around the door casing and jams leaving 1/4_ or larger gaps.
Not unusual. As a matter of fact, most floating floor sysytems recommend a gap (I don't know the recommended specs) to allow for expansion without causing the floor to bulge. Floating flooring works best with a kick molding trim. What brand of flooring did you have installed?
He never used an undercut saw.
Usually no need to undercut. As I stated before, a gap is often recommended. An undercut would be senseless.
He nailed the floor down in certain areas.
Usually a big no-no is floating flooring. This is definately a concern.
He used the wrong wood color for the transition pieces
.At least this should be easily remedied if necessary.
On one transition from wood floor to carpet he left a 5_ gap between the tack strip and transition piece with no padding under the carpet. If you step hard enough on the carpet you can feel the tacks.
Acually what you feel is probably a "tackless" strip, but you still should not be a able to get punctures from it. I agree this is a poor workmanship situation.
I had given half the money up front without a contract. I was out of town at the time the floor was finished so I wrote up a contract that said I have the right to inspect the floor and it must be installed to the customer_s satisfaction. The only way he would sign it was if I gave him the rest of the money. I was worried he was going to run with the half of the money I had already given him.
I do understand the justification but it might have been better to only have to fight for 1/2 than the whole. Although you wanted it top be to your satisfaction, you should have done this to start with. As well, many of the things you mention are simply poor workmanship and you would have been able to sue for these anyway.
How can I contact the registry of contractors? I_m trying to get his license number.
Here a a few links. The first is for the license, the other two are some info that might help.
http://www.cis.state.mi.us/bcs_free/default.asp?profession=builder
http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-10557_12992_13953-41430--,00.html
http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-10557_12992_13953-41470--,00.html