If you are correct in your biased assumption, then don't pay him a dime and call his bluff, then don't pay the subs, the subs will file a lien, and just prove it to your licensing board that he is at fault.

Often we're the bottleneck of own business, a one man show stops growing after the "man" (no preference to gender) is out of time.

I love Cleveland for cash flow I may be slightly biased since I was born and raised here but hey, it's working for some really big players in town.

Im just biased

Im a bit biased though.

Unless you konw of one that has a new build on it, its a futile effort.Also, with all respect to fire marshalls and city planners, they tend interpret code the way they want to see it and tend to introduce a bit of bias in their decision making...usually unintentionally but it happens. 

These people giving financial advice are heavily compensated to push these products, which means you are receiving biased advice.

Conversely,Out of state investors need to be sure to 1) have their financing lined up, 2) listen to and value the advice they are being provided, 3) erase any biases they carry from their home market, 4) pull the trigger when advised. 

But then again, I'm biased since I'm one of the board members :)  We have an event tonight at the Hyatt Lisle, right in your area.There are lots of other REIA's in the area too (Chicago REIA, CCIA, Chicago Connections Club, etc). 

I may be biased because I work in primarily commercial work, but if a GC asks for money up front its an automatic decline.