Made My First Rookie Mistake

[Stephanie Moran]

Hello All, 

Renovating my first property and I made a rookie mistake, a major one--I found out that my first contractor (who came recommended) is unlicensed in California!!!

I am two weeks into redoing several of the original contractor's mistakes with a LICENSED contractor, referred by several homeowners/businesses. I have surpassed my budget, but alas, things are moving in the right direction and all the wrongs are being rectified. 

I have spent a few hours perusing the CA State License Board website for FAQs or info on what to do when I've got the original unlicensed contractor pestering me via text for his final payment. Final payment for a job that was not fully completed, certainly not to my standard, no walk-through was ever done, and at this point, I am a bit scared that this person might physically confront me at the property seeking payment. 

The property locks have been changed. I have photo, text, and detailed documentation of everything done incorrectly and incompletely, which my attorney states is plenty. But this person will just not go away! 

When I crunch the numbers regarding what has to be/has been redone, the 20 days over the agreed-upon finish date this person went over--he actually owes me money! I'm just completely dodging his texts/calls at this point until I have all my photos printed and documentation completely in order. This person was paid 2/3 of the entire job, yes, I paid 1/3 cash up front rather than the 10% that I am seeing on the license board website. And I don't want anything from this person: not a dime, no repair, I just want to cut ties completely. I considered just paying him the final amount to get him out of my hair, but the only thing that stopped me is the fact that I am spending $12k to finish the entire job + clean up the original person's mess. 

I also read somewhere online that it would actually be illegal for me to pay the final installment to the original person now that I know he is unlicensed. 

I made a huge rookie costly mistake. Has anyone done anything this stupid? And what do you recommend I do? Get my attorney involved? File a formal complaint with the board (seems like this would even potentially implicate me for being so dumb in the first place)? Any websites of information recs? 

Thanks in advance!