Q: contractor is 5 months over scheduled date States he doesn’t have money to finish given 375,000 refuses to communicate

A: You do not want a "bull dog" lawyer, but a lawyer who knows construction law and how to litigate a case if necessary. Right now you are understandable angry and emotional about the mess this contractor has put you in (as well as your own failure to have the "vague" contract reviewed by a lawyer before you signed it). If you hire a "gun" to vindicate your anger and desire for revenge against this unprincipled contractor who took your money, is holding your materials and project hostage, and -- to add insult to injury -- is being a rude jerk, then more than likely you will add tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills to the money you've lost to this contractor. Your predicament is not unique, nor was it unpredictable. Project performance, materials and draw schedule management is not what non-professionals are trained to do, and now you realize you gave far too much power and discretion to the contractor under your construction contract. The first thing you need to do is assess what percentage of the contract has been completed in terms of materials and labor to reasonable construction and industry quality standards, and what percentage of the money you have already paid the contractor covers that completed work. As part of that assessment, you need to determine whether any of the work is below standard and needs to be redone or corrected. Then you will know how far behind you are in terms of money paid for value received. Once you know that number and where you are at performance-wise, you can then decide how best to proceed. Options include coaxing a contractor who performs quality work --and who is ahead on payments but behind on performance-- into coming back to complete more of the work that has already been paid for, with an eye on "catching you up" as much as possible to lessen you out-of-pocket loss to this guy. If that is not desirable (his work quality is poor) or possible (he refuses), then you need to turn to another contractor to complete the project, and carefully lay the groundwork to terminate and discharge the first contractor while minimizing the contractor's ability to claim breach of contract as well as raise defenses against future claims by you to recoup overpayments to him. A good lawyer familiar with construction disputes, construction law, and litigation if necessary, is what you need, not a bull dog.