Is he liable for our ignorance

Is HE liable for YOUR ignorance
I think not
You need to fire the guy and hire a responsible contractor

He is responsible for the toilet lid.

However, if he were a responsible contractor, you would not be having these problems. Period.

I once vacuumed a clients front yard to pick up the leavings from sawing composite decking material. She thought that was over doing things. I told her part of my business service was to leave a work site better than I found it.

And, yes, I used a shop vac. ;-)

I'm sorry, but you couldn't drive to a box store and buy a second $29 shop vac?

Call the manufacturer about replacing the tank lid and make sure you've paid this guy off so he doesn't put a lien on your home. It's worth the hassle of replacing the tank lid yourself to remind yourself that you're getting a relatively inexpensive education about what NOT to do next time. You do not want this guy back!

Of course I could have purchased a shop vac. The contractor informed me he even had one in my garage. I just never realized that one shouldn't use a house vacuum on contractor dust. I would have hoped that he would have told me, as it was his profession, to not use my vacuum and to use the one in my garage.

Thank you for your feedback. As I was doing a total remodel, I had a list of things I was going to ask him to do. I have decided to stop the entire project at our contract and not add a thing extra. Luckily, I have a designer / architect involved who recommended him and he came by tonight and was very upset. He prepared a punch list and has called a meeting with him and has told him if he doesn't finish everything perfectly he'll make sure he will not get could recommendations in the community. So far, what has been done, has been done correctly. It is just messy and haphazard and he has bullied me when I want something that he doesn't wish to do.

If you vac has a removable HEPA filter (like a Dyson) then you just need to replace that and clean the rest of the vac (disassemble the hose sections and really clean the inside of the canister well). I've done this more than once, it's not impossible, just time consuming. Plan to spend 2-4 hours depending on how much Sheetrock dust there is in the thing.

We are master electricians who mainly work on our own accounts. However, we do on occasion work as subs for two different general contractors. GC #1, Andy, insists that the job site is thoroughly cleaned up daily. GC #2, David, leaves the job site in a constant state of trashiness. There are times when we have to clean areas of the job site in order to do our work. Guess who we like to work for?

Thanks. It was a Miele. The estimate of the repair is 350. We are having all sorts of issues all of a sudden with this contractor. My designer has created a punch list with us and called a meeting. We can't seem to get him to get the plumber back on the job and we are not pleased with the plumber's work that has been done. Moving the subs along is a real issue. The contractor states he hasn't enough work to keeo his guys busy and keeps trying to add more work and we have said no...just complete what you have...which is weeks of work .... we have been paying in installments, thank goodness, He came with superb references.