u/CodyFishes

I was contracted to build a deck for a customer and after completing most of it he hired another contractor out of the blue. The deck is a 34’x12’ drop beam type and since it was to be decked with Trex, I put the joists 12” oc. I poured concrete footers, bracketed the posts to them, installed the beams with brackets, installed all the joists with hurricane straps and got the joists squared before setting them. What percentage would y’all say I had completed? The bid was for $9,800 of which he paid $5,000. On a separate $15,000 bid he made a down payment of $1,000. He has since messaged me requesting the $1,000 to be returned. Am I wrong for thinking that I had completed at least 60% of the job and should just keep the money? The guy didn’t even have the nuts to call and tell me that someone else was going to finish it up. I just showed up to the job site one day to his son and another guy working on it. For context the customers son had just moved in from another state and he told me 10 times that if I needed help to hire him which I didn’t do since I didn’t need additional help. The new contractor did hire him and I assume that’s why the customer flaked out on me. Thanks for the help.