Seeking Guidance after terminating general contractor

[Varun Patel]

we have a property under renovation in Delaware County in Pennsylvania.

we hired a general contractor to fix home with contracted duration of 90 days to finish the project. Started in March so suppose to finish by May.

He worked for a month and then stopped completely. we tried to reach him and get him to start work but he did not respond to our request. Finally, he did gave us promise start date in July but again did not start and we could not get hold of him.

So we informed him via email that he is in a breach of contract and do not enter the property without our presence.

We are looking to hire other General contractor and start work soon. 

Is there anything we have to do before we start with another general contractor?

we have made advanced payment for material and other stuff. how should we approach about getting that money back from him? via lawyer?