Honestly this hits so close to home. Tbh it wasnt even a client for me, it was one bad review that sent me down a similar rabbit hole. I spent three weeks redoing stuff that was already fine, losing sleep, and nearly quit the whole thing. My roommate finally pointed out I was treating a stranger's opinion like a court verdict. The funny thing is I started saying no to extra requests after that and somehow ended up with better projects and clients. That spiral you described is real, but sometimes it takes losing one person to see how much power you were handing them.

Man, I gotta say, you’re looking at this all wrong! You got paid in full, no drama, no lawyer fees, and the dad didn’t even flinch. That’s basically a win in this business. Three weeks of silence from a college kid is practically normal, they forget to eat breakfast half the time, let alone reply to texts. Plus, you already had the framing done, so you were kinda committed anyway, right? If you’d walked, you’d be eating that $900 and staring at a half-built basement. Honestly, the only real problem here is you’re complaining about a job that ended with a check in your hand.