Remodeling nightmares

Where to start? I guess at the beginning. So, back in February we decided it was time to remodel our main bathroom upstairs. Our house is more than 100 years old and our bathroom had not been updated for probably 30 years. It was not done well at that time either. Someone told us that our house was split into apartments in the 60s and from what we can tell converted back sometime in the 80s. No one seems to be able to tell exactly how it was split up, but when we moved in we found lots of left over fixtures from a kitchen(s). Anyway, our bathroom still had the old clawfoot tub (not in good condition at all). The bathroom had carpeting, which is just gross. We got a great recommendation for a contractor/architect from some friends and we went ahead and called him. He came out and measured and we talked about what we wanted and everything seemed great. We should have gotten a clue when he said he'd get back in touch in a day or two and we didn't hear from him for 2 weeks. From that point on it was a struggle to get him to our house. For a job that should have started (according to him) sometime in March it didn't start until the first week of May. We had to fight him to even start then. We were leaving for a trip to Disneyland and thought it would be easier if the demolition was while we were gone. He told us back then that it would all take about a month. We came back after a week and everything was destroyed including the bathroom on the main floor which is just below the one upstairs. They had to tear out the entire flooring which included the ceiling of the bathroom below. There were 4 layers of vinyl underneath the carpet and 6 layers of wallpaper between layers of paint on the walls. Everything had to be removed. It was just a bare bones shell.Now I understand that this added to their timeline, but we are now the middle of July (our third month) with no end in sight. Every day becomes a question of whether anyone showed up. Each day we are promised that the tile guy will be there, or the painter or the electrician and almost every day no one shows up. We call him practically every day and he makes so many promises, but very little results. I am just so frustrated. When we are told that they'll be there at 8 am (I don't start work until 10 am) and you make plans to be out of the house and then find out that no one ever showed up, you get a little pissy. We feel like we have no privacy anymore. They are always there when you don't want them to be, but you don't want to complain because you are just so happy work is being done.
Today was on of those days. Monday is my day of and naturally I like to sleep in. We were told the electrician would be there and probably the tile guy, so I was out of there at 8:30. Came home tonight and low and behold no one had been here. I know big surprise, but you hope that you'll be wrong. The bathroom is looking really good, which gets us really excited, but it's just taking soooo long! How do these people stay in business? You hear about how bad contractors are all of the time. If there was a guy that did what he said he would do and showed up when he said he would he would be soooooo busy. If I ran my business like these people I'd be out of business. I don't know how they get away with it.