What an awful mess  One suggestion that has proven helpful to me in sorting out certain disagreements in the past. Go ahead and sit down and write an account of what happened. Record your memory of conversations, the days / hours he worked, etc. Keep notes brief and clear. Even the posts here are evidence of your intentions to create a safe entrance that added value and beauty to your home. You may have other notes, e-mails, etc. that refer to your project and your intention in hiring a "pro". The point of this exercise is to leave your options open. You may decide to do nothing, learn from the experience, and, as my Dad used to say, "overwhelm the problem with money". But, should you decide to pursue a fair resolution, having things in writing  even after the fact  will help. Next, make a decision about legal advice. The funny thing here is that you would again be accepting assistance from a pro. Twice in recent years I've needed a lawyer's opinion. My upbringing schooled me to avoid litigation like an unseemly plague, so the need was only pursued with great reluctance. In the first instance, one involving a need to sort out an issue with a government agency, I lucked into a lawyer who was willing to "coach" me in what to research, letters to write, and keeping a careful record. I paid her absolutely nothing. That matter took about 12 months to resolve. Courts, litigation, almost always take much longer. If I were you, I think I'd be feeling like I'd been robbed. We hire a pro to do professional work. It's an assumption, but I don't know if it holds as a legal standard. I can tell you that in gathering quotes from three companies that do paving work for a project at my home, not one of them suggested anything less than a 8" to 12" inch base. The area we wanted paved had been a gravel bed (previous owners) and my spouse wanted to know if that material could be reused somehow. Looking back, I suppose that was an open opportunity for abuse, which none of the contracters we spoke to was willing to take. As one of the contracter's put it, "Even if this gravel were usable, I want to do the job right from base to finish  We'll clean it out, start from scratch, and get the grade corrected in the process." Since then, I've read quite a bit here at the LD forum, so I've heard chapter and verse a few times on installing paths and patios. With very rare exceptions, and even those are debated, the base is the thing. Without it, the beauty, function, and durability of the finished surface is compromised. As you stated  for your entry you wanted things done right. That should have included the standard base for a well-built and beautiful entrance pathway. Hope things work out well and soon  Wellspring

You could also do stained and leaded glass and get a fabulous design feature in addition to the more obscure character. Middlefield Glass makes some incredible door inserts and I was thrilled with both the quality and prices. They've got a fabulous website, but it takes a long time to load... One basic thing to consider - If you're really that concerned with hiding the contents, glass just may not be the right material. I mean, you're simply working against the nature of the material... What we did was to essentially divide my stuff into 'pretty' and 'ugly' -- and the 'pretty' stuff is stored neatly in the glass-front cabinet. The 'ugly' stuff is stored in the adjacent solid-door cabinet.

You need to draw the overhead dimensions out on graph paper to get an accurate idea of the space and what to do with it. Also draw the adjacent spaces out so that their relationship to the area can be seen. If this area was a porch, I would be concerned that it lacked the proper foundations and insulation to be an interior room, so you need to investigate that, as well as the roof joining to the main structure. Those are problem areas that give rise to structural damage that you may not see until you begin a project.

just off hand i would say to paint the bottom a different shade...i just saw a house like this on sale in nevada... except the entrance wasnt' the same..