A local contractor, over twenty years in business, signed on to do some work for me. He had a crew, but he only showed up a few times, mostly to ask for money for things that weren’t specifically in the original contract. I had to micromanage his crew because they would often get the simplest requests wrong, or they’d try to pull a shortcut that looked terrible. Just under 80% into the project, he quits via text, demanding he get paid his 90% “under the terms of the contract” or else he’d “put a lien” on my property. In short, there was a clause stating I could only withhold 10% of the funds while awaiting the assessment of an inspector. Having been forced to micromanage and nickel and dime my way through the project, I quickly pulled my copy of the contract, and discovered a condition that the contract could only be terminated in writing by both parties. Legally, texts qualify as “in writing.” I dashed off an email with screenshots of his message, accepting his resignation and termination of the contract. Never heard back after that. No lien. Nothing. For the same project I hired a second contractor to finish it up. Same problem. Had to micromanage. Didn’t show up. Dragged on. Quit after finishing his 80%. Nobody cares anymore.