Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Contractor

We had a contractor do our backyard. We signed a contract that specified when he would be done with the project and the cost. He never completed the job. He contacted me asking what else needed to be done a few months after it was suppposed to be done. I called him with a list of items needing to be finished. He said he would come by to finish it -that was a year and a half ago. Someone did come by about a year later claiming they were sent by him to finish the job. I told him that we had it completed. The contractor calls me out of the blue a year and a half later asking for his final payment. I explained to him he left the job unfinished, breaching the contract. He told me he would have no problem taking me to court to get his money. He said he will get his money no matter what. Is this true? Do I have the right not to give him the last payment? If he did not fulfill what was on the contract, doesn't that void the contract? If he takes me to court, what are his chances he will win? Our balance is 10% of the original contract. The amount of work that he had left was probably 3%. Do I owe him 7% or is the time and trouble he put us through going to offset the final payment?

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