What are my chances of winning an appeal in small claims court?

My husband and I lost a small claims case with the contractor we hired to do some renovations on our house. I received an estimate from him and we a verbal contract, not a written one. I gave him 2 $2500 deposits, along with purchasing majority of the large expensive items on the estimate myself. He did not finish at the deadline. Wrong items were installed. There are many items done poorly and needs to be done all over again. I never paid or excepted any of his invoices. We disputed it from the beginning. We kept telling him there were discrepancies. He stopped work at that point. He proceeded to file a small claims against us. I made several attempts requesting receipts from him and to communicate with his lawyer. At court, the judge awarded him money even though I had all my receipts, pictures of unfinished and poor work and an estimate from another contractor of how much it would cause to finish and repair his work.