More Than Disappointed

I've often read or heard about people who began renovations on their homes and then had the renovator run out on them, but now I feel as though I'm in the same boat.

Last September my neighbor's son, whom I'd known most of his life, began a renovation job for me. He was supposed to replace one wall in a basement sewing room, paint the ceilings in 2 rooms and lay laminate floors. Before I knew it he'd removed the existing carpet and vinyl flooring, most of the walls and all of the ceilings (replaced one), moved one wall out 18", installed pot lights, rerouted some ductwork, and undercoated the walls remaining. Then he stopped.

This sounds good until you realize that 8 months later I have an unlivable basement and he's not showing up to finish the job.

Before he started I was capable of doing the bit of repainting needed and maybe even replacing the damaged wall with new drywall...might have needed help from my buddy, Carole, who can do anything! I could even have lived with the old carpeting if I had to and I would still have had a usable basement. Right now it's a nightmare down there and I'm worried I may have to hire someone to finish it.

This handyman, my old friend, has caused a rift in our friendship because he chose to do extra renovations in the basement instead of the few things I asked of him. Now he's bogged down, has added unnecessary expense to the flat fee I paid him, and I'm worse off than I started. Where do I go from here?

This is basically a good guy and I feel confident he'll at least come close to finishing the job...in time. The shame of it is that he's ruined a long time friendship not only with me but with my daughters. All because of a promise unkept.