How To Go About Filing Ch 93a Claim Against A Contractor In Small Claims. What Happens If Courts Disagree That The Case Falls Under 93a Violation?

This is for MA btw. Hired a contractor and paid a deposit along with both of us signing a contract and he refused to come start the work citing excuse after excuse to be outright unresponsive. I demanded my deposit back within two weeks but I was obligated for one month to give him a chance to do the work as long as he finished by x time and he continued saying he’d get it done and that he already paid people to do the work so he couldn’t give me my deposit back, basically bs excuses. It’s way past the contract date now and even though he says he’s going to pay me back, it’s been two months after that of him ducking my calls and texts with excuse after excuse. That’s a very TLDR.

My question is do I have to file under 93a or do I just state that he violated that when I go to court and ask for 2-3x the amount I’m asking for? Or do I straight up put in that I’m suing for that 3x amount. The deposit was $3500 but I have other damages that bring the total of the suit to $7500 easily and since $7500 is the maximum but can be exceeded under 93a, I’m confused how I go about this. The other thing is does the court make adjustments or outright accept/reject the suit as is? If I sue in small claims under 93a and the court doesn’t think it falls under 93a violation, will they still provide judgement on the initial amount or the initial amount of $7500 I’m asking for, or at the very least the $3500 deposit? Or by going for 93a, do I automatically lose everything because they don’t rule in my favor on the case exactly as it’s filed.

I want this guy to pay but I don’t want to lose even the chance to get my initial deposit back because I decided to try to file 93a and the court’s judgement is almost always final for small claims.