No, not even close. Homeowners are in my experience very weak when it comes to under the table deals, at least with contractors. When a homeowner hires someone under the table, he commits an illegal act, by withholding tax money trough unreported employment.

You're basically committing an illegal act, then you go to the court to get them, to fine your partner in crime, because he failed to perform his part of the crime sufficiently. Yeah. No way in hell that will work.

Besides, he can only get sued for very high damages, breaking a $2000 statue is hardly going to get him sued, that's pretty much 5 hours of a lawyer's time in some states. He would only get sued for the serious stuff ranging into the tens of thousand of dollar, in which case it makes no fucking difference, whether he is doing it on the table under the table or next to the table.

Note: reddit is not a good place for legal advice