I have sued a contractor. Actually it was a swimming pool contractor and it was very difficult. He had a lot of money and brought a total of 18 lawyers to a scheduled mediation. Unfortunately we were jerked around for almost 2 years before his insurance companies (yes 2 different insurance companies) settled for much less than it cost to repair and some portions of our problem can never be resolved. A little info on what he did wrong -- 1. Installed a pool that was 8 feet longer than contracted ( I know sounds great but really messed up the plan for the entire yard, the difference in a 20 x 40 pool and a 20 x 48 pool is alot of money to heat, fill, and maintain and takes it out of standard sized into commercial sizes for everything). 2. Totally destroyed all existing vegetation in our yard - even trees and plants located many feet from the pool. We had to have a tree service remove 3 large old oaks he killed because of his carelessness. Had the pool been the proper size and his construction crews not placed debris and spilled concrete around some areas they would have lived. 3. Pool had a leak under the pavement from day 1 - he claimed it was ground water. 4. Stamped, stained BOMANITE concrete surround was not done to industry standard, no control joints, sawcuts or rebar. Not consistent in thickness, stamping not complete, color totally inconsistent. We did find out in court discovery that neither the contractor or his employees had ever had any training from Bomanite, Bomanite was supposed to be the best in the industry and only use trained professionals with licensed materials etc. -- Total lie. In short we spent 2 years and had to defend ourselves in a countersuit because we were holding back the 10% completion payment (he wouldn't complete the work) It cost us dearly in frustration and cash. We did recoup probably 20% but it will eventually cost us much more ( 3x what we recovered ). Part of our problem was that each of the insurance companies fought among themselves to see who owed who what. I think the only one happy in the end was the attorney. BTW, our contract guaranteed no leaks or mechanical problems for one year, he would have them repaired. We offered him the option to correct all these problems but he wouldn't, he said it would cost him too much money! My advice, get an attorney to write a harsh letter, but if he doesn't have insurance or lots of cash, you may have a hard time collecting money and no amount of money can compensate for the frustration.

Time and materials can work out, particular if you're not working from a formal set of plans, and are doing things "on the fly" (as we are). We got a budget from our contractor originally, and 2 months later, we are "on budget" -- the only things that have cost more are either those that we changed - floor refinishing, additional electrical work - or those incurred because the city required changes (we need a sprinkler head in every enclosed space, including every closet, and they made us replace every outlet in the apartment with a tamper-proof outlet). When we started, we didn't even know how many closets we'd end up with, so this isn't something the contractor could have estimated originally (when you live in a city apartment, you create storage whereever you can find an inch of space -- for example, we created storage behind the bed, under the closet (which is on a "mezzanine"). The space measures 14'L x 2-1/2'D x 2-1/2'H, and needed to be sprinklered! But it's a fabulous storage space, so it was well worth it!!

General contractor is a given..the rest-it largely depends on you-your funds, confidence what you can/cannot do, resilience, time and energy you can devote, etc. (And experience and passion of your contractor. He won't pick your finishes of course; but he might have an idea to put a window instead of a door for example or some other thing you didn't think of by yourself. Brainstorming is part of the process) we pulled off gut remodel plus addition plus reconfiguring stuff with the help of GC only but I'd say I longed to have a designer not once..would be easier. it's a very trying experience, long as well, you want more professional people by your side. It doesn't get done by itself-and it's a full time job, if nobody undertakes it, you do. So by all means either contact a designer, or maybe look at design-build firms. Just make sure you have a good chemistry with that person. Important with everybody of course, builder as well. You'll spend hours with these people..days..months..hopefully not years but can happen:) Minimize stuff that can go wrong by choosing right people. Some things will go wrong but the better your relationship is the more chance in overcoming obstacles. Architect, I'm not sure you need..your builder may advise with structural engineer if needed for that to be removed wall "Understand that if you are tearing out walls, finalization of the plan occurs AFTER the walls are out and you can see what is behind them"-agreed (we didn't tear down walls though, if anything we added some lol..but as we fully gutted the space-I know some stuff can't be predicted until you touch the wall and know what's there) So yes..the combo of general contractor and interior designer would be best. Whom to contact first? I'd start with a GC to get a feel of a general scope of the work, but I think both can be contacted simultaneously, or one can start with a designer too Whether people do double duty? Rarely. They might want to, but will not be best equipped for it even if passionate or simply won't have time. But you don't neccessarily need them to do double duty, in your particular case. Interior designers, for example, are trained to understand how the house works, so they are not architects but can have great vision and realize the mechanics that are required to achieve it.

"When our contractor called us last week to let us know he has pneumonia he told us that we could terminate the contract with him. We let our contractor know that we would like to keep the contract with him and have him complete the work." WHY? WHY WHY WHY??? This is a guy who has no clue how to schedule. At the point he was behind, he SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE YOUR DEMO. He should have given you the opt out, in FEBRUARY before the rip of the kitchen, and told YOU to delay your flooring, which could have been done after the kitchen with a simple shimming up of lower cabinetry install. Check your local area for good referrals, get your money back , and move on. In the meantime, a good contractor can give you a temporary counter space with a sink, you put the fridge somewhere with a microwave, and you have to find someone to finish the entire job.