I'm an amateur here, but I do have a building permit myself right now for a shop building. I would think that no matter who does the work, the permitting authority expects you to follow the same rules. They need to be able to inspect the work and approve it at the appropriate times. Mine requires an inspection a minimum of every 6 months, for example. Whether they care if you fire your contractor is something you'll have to ask them, but I suspect it is not the first time it's happened. Keep in mind that any work done to date that has not yet passed inspection, and later has problems or requires re-doing when it's inspected, will have to be fixed by someone.

I'd call your permit office and ask them about it.

"We ower very little money as an incentive to finish. "

How did the money paid get so far ahead of the work?

brickeyee,
Good question. Stupidity on our part. The contract called for the majority to be paid and we paid it. Now we only about $4,000.

I talk to a lawyer on this matter! Have him/her write a letter to the contractor about being off course and concerns.

Probably time to lawyer up.

Just a note for the future--paying ahead is an incentive NOT to finish the job. If he's already got (most of) the cash, and most likely already spent it.... why would he want to bother finishing up?