J's Independent Contracting LLC

Contractor did not complete the project by the agreed upon completion date. Contractor has not refunded us our money back as agreed upon. We signed a contract on August 3rd for J's Independent Contracting LLC (J) to complete an attic conversion project started by a previous contractor. We paid a $5,000.00 initial deposit that was asked for. Before signing there was a verbal agreement between both parties the contract would be completed by August 30th. Less than a week into the contract J informed us the project would cost significantly more than the original price. J stated the price of the project would not increase but asked we provide their standard 75% down payment originally waived due to our previous contractor mishap. J continued to state it would be completed by the end of August. We paid $8,100.00 to continue with the project so it could be completed by the end of August. An "inspection" was done (J has not provided documentation from this inspection to us) and J proposed an addendum with a new completion date and additional cost. J assured us the project would be completed by the new September 29th date. We signed the addendum contract after receiving an additional signed document. It states J would complete our attic conversion project by September 29th. It also lists items to be completed. We paid the required 75% as stated on the contract (an additional $10,000 transaction and $2,157.05 transaction). We received a signed detailed list of repair items as well. In mid August, J informed us our roof was probably totaled from a hail storm a couple of months earlier and we should file with our insurance company. J pushed to include a roofing contract as well with no "out-of-pocket" cost to us. J claimed it would be better to complete the skylight installation while replacing our roof. We were uncomfortable with the progress of the attic conversion at this point. We wanted J to focus on the attic before taking on another contract. J continued to claim it would be no out-of-pocket cost to us. At this time, the only contracted work J had done is the replacement of the framing for the second story stairway. J continued to push us towards the roofing contract and verbally told us J was waiting on it to complete additional work for the attic conversion. We agreed to give J a roofing contract and a project extension if they agreed to a full refund if the project was not completed by October 19th. Jaban Barchue verbally agreed to these terms multiple times. J also sent us an email with an attachment stating we would receive a full refund if the project, including the roofing replacement contract, was not completed by October 19th. At this time we had paid $25,157.05 and were understanding we would not have to pay any funds out-of-pocket for the roofing contract. This deadline was very important to us because we have a baby due on November 23rd. J continually assured us the project would be completed before this deadline. We signed the roofing contract after receiving the email and attachment confirming we would get a full refund if J was not complete by October 19th. After signing the roofing contract J stated we needed to pay 75% of their estimated contract price in order to start working and meet the agreed upon deadline of October 19th. We felt obligated to pay after signing the contract to not be in breach of contract under their terms (even though we hadn't deposited the check from our insurance company). Additional $6,000.00 and $9,000.00 transactions were paid. J never started work on the roof and has not completed any additional work on the house. The completion date has passed. We feel J is in breach of contract by not completing/starting the work agreed upon. Not only is the project not completed, but not a single item has been completed in any of our agreements/contracts. We asked for a full refund as stated in our final agreement/contract. J is not willing give us the refund. Instead he insists he still wants to complete the project but requires more time. It has been almost 3 months and no items for any contract have been completed.