Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Georgia

The answer depends in large part on the language of your written contract which none of us have seen. You need to bring it to a lawyer.

Since everything is in Georgia, that is probably where you would want to sue, but the starting point is the contract between you and the contractor. Does it have a forum selection clause? Does it require that any disputes go to arbitration? Does it direct that any notices are to be sent to a particular address?

I don't know how it came about that you fired him. It would have been better if you made a mutual decision to terminate the contract. If his work was not done correctly or completed timely (and you would have to read the contract to see what it says about that; if it does not specify, then the courts will infer that any work must be done reasonably promptly) then he has the opportunity to fix any problems once you notify him of the problems. Since you fired him, you did not give him the chance to cure any defects.

What I would do, if you didn't do it already, was to get the work done by another contractor. Have the second contractor take pictures of the shoddy work and write a detailed report as to what was done by the first guy or not completed. If it cost you more for the second guy, you generally can recover the difference between the price you paid the second contractor and the price you paid thus far to the first contractor.

Depending on what the contract says about arbitration/forum selection, I would try to resolve the dispute. The first contractor is entitled to be paid for the work that he did correctly. If you fired him, he can always argue that he was willing to do the rest of the work and would be entitled to lost profits. I don't know the circumstances and if he can prove it or not - I am just trying to give you an inkling of what the contractor might argue. Depending on what it cost to complete the work, you will decide if you owe him or he owes you. Hopefull, your respective claims will cancel each other out. If he owes money to you, then I would tell him that he breached the contract by failing to do the work correctly, that you had no choice but to fire him and get the work done y someone else and that you are holding him liable for the difference if he is going to argue you owe him. Make a demand for what he would owe you (minus whatever you would owe him). If you owe him, then you need to work something out with him but point out all the things he did wrong, incorrectly etc. and offer to settle for a lesser amount than he is demanding just to make this go away. If he agrees, get him to sign a release.

If you cannot resolve this, then you are going to have to get a lawyer and work this out in court or arbitration.