But my friend's "friend" referred him!

Have you ever gotten excited when a friend of a friend of a friend offers you their "expert" plumbing skills at a reduced cost? Who can pass up a "skilled" tradesman at half the cost? And besides, he's a friend right?

So you verbally agree on the work to be done (put a new pipe here & there, hook up the new sink, and turn on the water), and then a start date and time is given. You just need to give him his up-front payment to cover his expenses. The day finally arrives and you can't wait for the work to begin. The start time has come and gone by a half hour and a little disappointment has settled in. But he's a "friend" so you cut him a little slack. When he finally arrives, he seems a bit unprepared, but gets right to work. An hour or so later it appears he needs to run to the store for more parts. Hours later he returns, but shortly after it's quitten' time and states he will be back tomorrow.

A little more disappointment settles in because not much was completed on day 1 and you don't see the end of construction in sight. Meanwhile, you are using other rooms in the house to prepare meals and wash dishes. But hey, this is a "friend" and friends don't let us down. Several more days pass and you are still waiting for that shiny new sink to be installed, but your "friend" promises to return tomorrow. That verbal agreement didn't outline every aspect of the job and there was no completion date so when he gets to it, it will be done.

Wow- a month later your sink is finally installed, it looks amazing and works great. You have paid your "skilled" tradesman the balance of the reduced -cost payment and he has cleared out of your space. WAIT!!! Where's this water on the floor coming from? Why is this pipe leaking? It was just installed and why is the drywall wet???

What could/should you have done differently?