Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: verbal contract

Your message contains a number of facts, but I don't see the question. If you are asking whether your oral contract is valid and enforceable, the answer is that as a licensed contractor, you presumably know that home improvement contracts are supposed (by law) to be memorialized in a writing signed by the home owner. See Business & Professions Code section 7159.

Nevertheless, you may have a chance of winning. Oral contracts have been upheld in certain circumstances where the possibility of fraud, which the statute is intended to prevent, is slight. Work done for relatives might fit the exceptions.

I suggest you visit your local county law library and look at "California Construction Contracts and Disputes" by James Acret for Continuing Education for the Bar. Note the cases listed in section 2.108. Then look up and read the cases (with the law librarian's assistance if necessary) and take notes including case names and citations to quote to the judge at your small claims hearing.

Can't guarantee you'll win; in fact, your chances may be less than 50-50, but careful preparation will maximize your chances. Be sure to have your time records and materials receipts with you, well organized and summarized, when you go to court.