Contractor stole our money and abandoned project

[Kristy F.]

I hired a insured, licensed, bonded general contractor to remodel the bottom unit of our building. According to our contract, he was to be paid in phases until the completion of work. He kept collecting advance payments (saying he needs to buy materials and pay for subcontractors). In addition, he keeps request additional charges for "change orders" that are not signed by us. It appears that he has been making mistakes and is using "change orders" to get us to pay for his errors. Currently, we have already paid for the entire amount in the original bid, and about half of these "change order" additional charges. Only 50% of the project has been completed. The remodel was supposed to be done in 2 months, so far it has already been 5 months.

On Friday, he requested another "change order" additional charge, which we finally disagreed with. He then said he will not work until this gets paid and proceeded not to show up. I feel totally taken advantage of. I plan to file a complaint with the license board Monday and file a claim against his bond. Is there anything I should do? I'm worried he will say I fired him, also worried he will file a lien.