Small Claims Court for breach of contract with a contractor

[Justin K.]

Long story short.

Bought house, needed work, hired contractor with an agreement on price for work. Started work in first of November and told it would be end of the month before it was done. Now we are in the middle of January and I get an email from contractor and he told me he will not be coming back because he under bid and doesn't want to complete the project. We have a contract and he willingly is breaching it. Plus he has the full contract amount in his possession because ''he cut us a deal if we paid up front in full.''  Coincidently this is also the time manpower diminished and the project came to a crawl. This is my fault, lesson learned, not happening again.

The work performed is in better terms half assed and some of it will have to be removed and corrected. (Installing door with the EXISTING light switch behind the new door, paint peeling, paint spilled all over the floor) I have a two page punch list of things that need fixed or remedied. Pictures of everything...

I'm waiting on a bid from another contractor as part of the amount owed in small claims court and also will be factoring in lost rent due to by his own admission that he did not have man power on site or if he did it was insufficient for the tasks which is resulting in the job taking so long. 

With all that said, does it sound like I have a good case? Small claims in Texas is maximum $10,000 which what he has left I do not believe is in the full amount. He now also has two reviews on Facebook claiming the same thing against him but they have not really pursued legal action against him.