The Renovation Stopped Halfway Through. How a Hawaii Homeowner Resolved the Contractor Dispute

HONOLULU, Hawaii — A Honolulu homeowner has recovered $96,000 from a contractor who walked off a kitchen and bathroom renovation after collecting most of the contract price.

The contractor had been paid 80 percent of the $140,000 job. About half the work was done when the crew stopped showing up.

The family was living in a house without a working kitchen and needed money to hire someone else to finish.

Linmarrow Law matched each payment against the contract's schedule and had an independent contractor document what was finished and what remained. The firm also made a claim against the contractor's license bond.

The contractor and its bond together paid $96,000.

The recovery did not cover the full cost of finishing the work, which ran higher than the original contract.

Payment schedules tied to finished stages of work, rather than dates, make it easier to show overpayment if a job stops.