Contractor abandoned job after receiving payment, Augusta GA

[Thien Nguyen]

Hi all, thank you taking the time to read this post.

I have a property undergoing complete remodel in Augusta, GA. However after my contractor received his 2nd draw at the end of Sept, 2019 he stopped showing up to the job. The situation has escalated and now my case is peculiar.  My construction manager and I are working to find the best avenues to move forward. The following are current issues.

1. The contractor has passed his deadline for project completion dated Sept 29th, 2019 and he has not even finished the roof replacement and wall reconstruction. He stopped showing up to the job site after getting 2nd payment around Sept 24th, never finished the roof and walls, and his incompetence on a replacing a flat roof recently led to water completely soaking one of the room and causing some damages.

2. When I first employed him, he advised me he was a general contractor with insurance and everything. I come to find a month later after we signed a contract when he was suppose to start that he did not pull any permits, (contract indicated contractor is responsible for the permits). He advised me that he had to get these permits pulled by another person with a general contractor licences as he now does not have one. (I understand this now to be an extreme red flag, and should have stopped the process however in hindsight he was offering extremely competitive pricing compared to other bids and some of his referrals stood true so I decided to move foreword). He charged me $2,000 as per the "other" general contractors condition to have the permits pulled. I find out now after speaking with the "other" GC my contractor shaded the "other GC" only gave him half. The contract I have with my contractor has no mention of the "other GC". Is this consider a "fraud" and I have a potential legal court approach to take?

At this point in time, I have already paid the contractor 2/3 of the payment however I no longer trust he is competent enough to finish the job and decided to fire him. I asked him for the 2nd draw back so I can continue on with another contractor to finish the job and take the loses as it is. He however advised he no longer has the money. I am having my construction manager go after his bond in efforts to recoup whatever loses we can. 

Does anyone have ideas on what options I have moving forward?