How long does a contractor have to file a lawsuit for non payment in RI ? We hired a contractor and in my view there was a breach of contract on his part. He didn't finish the job and we didn't pay the last two installments since he didn't finish. (We had already paid him about 3/4 of the total amount owed.) He thinks we owe him the money since he had his lawyer write a letter saying that we owed him the total amount. We responded to the lawyer and haven't heard from neither of them since. We would like to hire someone else to finish the job. So we are wondering if one option is to wait it out until he cannot file a civil lawsuit and what the statute of limitations are. We obviously don't want to run the risk of being sued and not being able to prove that the contractor didn't finish.