john in Toronto

I've known the owner "D" since high school, so I gladly hired him for the job. He "guaranteed" to have the work completed in 1-2 days. I paid the total amount upfront which is what he required. This was on February 17th, 2020. He arrived on the first day of the project to complete the foundation which was to build a wooden frame around a wall using common 2x4 wood. He told me that that part of the project alone cost $500. A very costly price for a basic wooden frame around a wall. On the 2nd day of the project, the rest of the material was purchased and the work was started. However, it was left incomplete. I was never given a timeframe as to when the rest of the project was to be completed. After countless phone calls that were left unreturned by him, he finally called back to say he was having money trouble and it would take some time to get back to finish the project. But, no timeframe was given. Now, April 17th, two months have passed and we settled on paying me back some of the deposit. We agreed on a repayment of $500. That was never given back. When ask why, he yells back "what about my labor." I asked to provide final confirmation for his personal labor cost, but he continued to argue. To avoid continuing an argument, I offered to pay that $500 to him as payment for his labor costs. But, now I still have an unfinished project. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS PERSON! HE IS UNTRUSTWORTHY, UNRELIBLE, AND DOES NOT HONOR HIS GUARANTEE!