This article is spot on and I wish I had seen it before we purchased a vacation home in Hawaii late last year. We are Haole, and we cannot get anyone to service us to do repairs or upgrades in our home. We demo’ed the interior of the place. We have called, and called, and followed up, and people have come by in April, and we are still waiting for our quotes – more than 2 months later. You call to follow up on the quote and they tell you they will call you back, that never happens. You call them back and they pretend like its the first conversation you are having with them even though you asked and spoke to them 6 times before in the past two months. They give you the runaround, and pretty much laugh in your face. We have called other providers, and same thing. Can’t get anyone to call us back. As Haoles, it’s almost as if you are blacklisted. We are at a point that we are considering paying and bringing our own licensed crew from the mainland to finish the work. The reason is, if we continue at this rate, we will never get to enjoy our investment and it will take 10 years to finish the work – and maybe longer. And who know if by then we will still be around, We are not spring chickens. My wife is in tears nearly every day in despair because we have worked hard all of our lives to try and make this small bucket list, dream come true. It’s turned into a nightmare. Thank you for your article, it comes to late for us but hopefully it will head warning for others because Hawaii is definitely not the paradise that everyone thinks it is.
Everything you describe Peter is true
While I’m glad to get validation, I’m sorry to hear about your poor experience. It’s not a haole or racial thing – it’s a “you’re not here thing” and that automatically means you’re lower on the totem pole. Your situation is exactly what I teach people to avoid and is what my Islander Ohana program is all about for others considering making such a big move.
To me that is not the spirit of Aloha at all but extremely bad Karma
Roberto, Peter is correct: if you’re not physically here, your priority gets pushed to the bottom of the list because there are people here whose needs come first. You are right about one thing, though: Hawai’i is not the paradise you experience while visiting on vacation. It’s a real world place with real world problems. If you’re looking for paradise, this ain’t it. But if you can accept the flaws, and get into the flow of life here (Hawai’i time, for example, is a real thing), you will be surprised at the humanity and warmth that exists here.
Aloha! Thank you for this article, it gave me a lot to think about! My husband and I are 25, no kids, I work remote and my husband is a young contractor. My husband is not Hawaiian but Korean and he grew up visiting family and friends in Oahu. It’s our dream to move to the North Shore in the next 1-2 years. I know they say their isn’t much opportunity for starting a small business but is that true for Construction/ home remodel?? We were under the impression that the Housing market is expensive but vibrant? Is this true? or would it be unwise to try to move his skills to Ohau and try to start up a business?