I'm a first time home owner, my wife and I decided to purchase a Victorian home that hadn't been lived in in 25 years. We weren't overly committed and thought checked all of our bases to make sure we were covered, but Im realizing we've been completely screwed over and are in way over our heads. The house looked good in the inspection, no structural damage, just needed new insulation to be up to code, plumbing and electrical updates since neither system was functional after sitting off and without maintenance for so long. We got quotes from several contractors to make sure it would be within budget on the construction loan our lender was requiring. When we closed we got the house well under asking (and the appraisal) at a price we felt comfortable with and would have us under budget on the construction loan. All in all it seemed like a great option up front and we'd be able to move into our dream home within a year. Well, it turned out none of the contractors my agent recommended were licensed and the one we ended up going with had great referrals but hasn't fully completed anything, went well over his estimate, everything he did do was done wrong, and then he tried to blame us for the additional costs saying we're having him do work that wasn't in the original plan. We haven't changed the plan at all and everything is in writing in his original quote. I also have all of the materials receipts which amount to ~5% of what we've been charged. I finally realized we were being screwed over after the bank came through for an inspection and threw a fit. I have a friend who's an attorney in the area who agreed to take our case on a contingency and thinks it's a guaranteed win, but had me get some additional documentation including new quotes to complete the project from a licensed contractor. I got the new quotes today and I just want to cry. Because of everything that's been messed up we'd be more than double over the original budget, and pushing the year deadline on the construction loan if we could start immediately. I have absolutely no idea what to do at this point. Does anyone here have any advice? Any way I try to look at it I don't see a way out.

TLDR: I bought an old house that needed an overhaul and an unlicensed contractor lied and messed up everything he touched. We'd be finishing at more than double the budget from our construction loan with a new contractor. I have an attorney to sue the original contractor, but what do I do about the rest of it?