NOTE: I did use chatgpt to rewrite all my sloppiness into this nicely laid out format, but this post is very real and I am genuinely looking for legal advice. Apologies if that is somehow offensive. Thanks

Hi all,
I’m a licensed general contractor (LLC,) Location: Washington State, and I’m trying to figure out if I have any legal options to recover losses caused by a subcontractor team (a separate S-corp) I’ve worked with over the past 6 months.

The situation:

I brought on two guys—let’s call them Bob (who holds the contractor license) and Steve—who run their own S-corp. I started working with them on a $30K roof job back in February. Client refused to pay the full balance, the only Payments made went to Bob, who promised to take care of everything. He didn’t and still hasn’t. I haven’t received any monetary compensation and the client is threatening legal action due to shoddy work and delays done by Bob and Steve. Part of my compensation was a dump trailer worth $3k, but the client still has the title and has threaten to report it stolen.

After that, I brought them into two more sizable jobs (both for family friends), each worth upwards of $300K+ in total scope. In both cases:

• They took over the bidding and job scoping.
• I helped with permits and planning.
• They dragged their feet for months and never submitted the permit paperwork that I gave them to submit. Or if it was returned and needed revision, they attempted to hire out the permit paperwork work to someone else.
• They’ve avoided contact with the clients, family and friends of mine, especially around monetary conversations.
• Both clients eventually dropped the jobs entirely and went elsewhere.

They’ve also:

• Rented equipment under our group and returned it broken—or it was stolen under their watch.
• Used my $2K/year Contractor Foreman account to run bids, but I haven’t seen any revenue from those jobs.
• Tried to cut me out of jobs I brought them in on by outsourcing my portion of the work without telling me.

Where I stand:

• We never had formal subcontractor agreements, but there are tons of texts, emails, bids, and scopes laying out what each party was responsible for.
• I’ve got proof of receipts, equipment rentals, payments made, and client comms.
• The failed roof job had and still has measurable damage and cost me my client relationship.
• I’ve now lost 5 strong client leads due to their incompetence—each one could’ve sustained my company with work for a year.
• Permits were submitted either by me or the client—not under Bob’s license.

The big question:

Can I go after them for:

• Breach of oral/implied contract?
• Tortious interference with business expectancy?
• Unjust enrichment for using my software and client access?
• Or anything else?

And more importantly—would an attorney actually take this case? I know there’s no formal written subcontractor agreement, but the damages are real and documented.

Appreciate any insight from folks familiar with WA contractor law or similar business disputes.