[Porsche-O-Phile]

Another reason to have/use a contract. You can build in a liquidated damages clause if they're late precisely to avoid problems of that sort.

As I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't let anyone turn a screw in my place without a contract. If they gave me any crap about it ("har-har, we don't do that for little work like this") there's the door. Next please.

There's a reason they call them CONTRACTors now, not builders. The industry standard is meeting minimum contractual obligations and nothing more. Without a formal written contract, you'll get exactly what you have in writing, which it sounds like is what has happened here.