I hired Kalani to remove popcorn ceiling, re-mud, and paint the ceiling of a single family home. We came to an agreement on price for labor (1/2 payment upfront, and 1/2 after job completion) and materials. I met Kalani to buy some materials, and placed all materials in the house. I also bought a dustpan for my own personal use, and placed it outside in the closet. The outside closet uses the same key as my front door, and I kept all my hand tools, power tools, ladder etc. (worth thousands of dollars) in the closet as I was planning on doing work on the house immediately after the ceiling work was complete. I did not give anyone permission to go into the closet period. Kalani said he and his crew was going to start work the next day so I locked everything up, and placed a lockbox on the front door. I texted Kalani, and told him all materials staged in the house, and gave him lock box combo. Now at this point only he, and I knew the combination to the lock box, and the only other key was in my pocket the whole time. Five days after starting I went to take a look at the house, and check on progress. I open the front door and I find the job around 2/3 done, with the dustpan I bought for the house in use inside the house. This bothered me a little, as no one asked to use the dustpan before grabbing it. I went to the garage to find the closet door locked, with no damage to the door or lock. I opened the closet outside to find someone had taken all my hand tools, power tools, and ladder. I filed a police report and asked Kalani about it, but he said he has his own tools, and so does his guys. Then he asked me if he could get another partial payment. I reminded him that the original agreement was 1/2 upfront, and 1/2 upon completion. He gave me some material receipts, which I agreed to pay, and they continued working. Once the job was completed, we did the final walkthrough and I have to say they did an awesome job on the ceiling and paint. Kalani said we were square with materials, I asked did you have to buy any more paint or anything and he said "no". So we shook hands, and I went on my way. We were going to meet in two days to square the final payment when Kalani texts me with a picture of a receipt for a gallon of paint. When we met, I refused to pay it, trying to explain that we were already square with materials, and I already asked you if you were sure. He then proceeded to swear at me, and call me things I can't type here. I paid him the balance for the labor, and we went our separate ways. In the end I am very happy with the way the ceiling came out, Kalani and his crew was always on time when we agreed to meet, they finished the job on time, did some extra upper wall painting, and labor costs were all within budget, no complaints there. I'm just posting facts hoping that this same overall outcome doesn't happen to someone else. read more