I have a beach property which needed some fascia wood to be replaced and also the roof over the porch along with a few other minor items. The porch is about 18' by 10'. I was referred a contractor so I was definitely not as careful as I should have been. The contractor stated he does not quote jobs in total because he does not know what may come up once they get into the job. He did say he charges $40 per man hour, which I ok'd. On day 1 there were 3 guys on site, but not particularly productive. They got some work done, but no where near what I thought should be done. On day 2, my wife and I went out and when we got back, there was now 6 people on site, 2 appeared to be working and the other 4 were either sitting around or milling about. So I talked to the on site guy regarding his thoughts on finishing after day 2, but he said they would need to come back on Monday to finish. Later, I received a text from the owner saying his guys would not be able to come back and finish the job as they were on another very important job. But, he calculated 76 man hours of work times the $40 for basically replacing fascia and roofing 180' sq ft of porch roof. There is other work left not completed, such as some siding left off the house, and painting not completed.

My question is, am I screwed because I never received an overall estimate? He can simply say he had guys on site and that was the agreed upon rate, whether or not they were actually working. And, if this were going to court, would they consider the overall work done and reasonable compensation for work completed (even though some of the work was lefft not finished) or would they side with the contractor and say the agreed upon rate was $40 and his men were on site?