Can I call myself STUPID now!

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I think I am stupid for easily trusting on others without going through background checks. Sometime in May I appointed a contractor to do some renovations on my new house. This contractor was recommended to me by the contractor doing my grills so I thought he must be a trustworthy contractor who has great experiences behind him. He did blind me with his know all talks about construction. Initially, I refused to advance him cash as it is a common practice here to see some results and paying on stages of jobs completed. But somehow he had his way of convincing me that he needed advance to get the materials. I stupidly handed him half of the contracted price he was asking. What a shock I got, when he got the money he took a week to kick start the project not after burning my credits calling him everyday. He bought few bags of cements, steels and little of everything. So that made me happy to see that he was finally starting to do the job. Another hiccup happened when the laborers were asking for their pay and he was avoiding them failing to turn up to answer their needs. When he finally came he only gave them little money much to the annoyance of the workers and they left without further demand. So the work again stopped for a week before a new batch of workers came in. He kept pestering me for further payment and because I did not want to delay the completion, I paid him again. But it did not improve on the speed of works of my house. I kept calling him but he refused to answer my calls. I got fed up and with some retention money left I continued where he stopped. I should have realized that he wasn't a good contractor and kicked him out much earlier before he conned me causing a serious damage to my finance. Now I am my own contractor doing the final touch ups and I should have done it as it is not too difficult in arranging the skilled workers to do the works. It is only giving instructions and purchasing materials. The bitter experience have really made me wiser and awoken the giant in me. Have you ever experienced being in such a dismay and messy situations?