How out of town investors can be protected with Contractor?

[Itay Heled]

Hello fellow investors! 

I  live in Toronto and I am investing In Cleveland in the past few years . 

flipping houses, that are  mainly sold as turnkey. I did about 8 flips so for. so  not a ton of experience but not a newbie...

I establish over time a nice  local team as we all know is needed.

few month ago, my main   local partner/contractor  failed me. 

18,000$ first draw of renovation was taken and job was not done.

he was very fair with money before, so I  can only guess , he got into trouble with other deals and tried to solve it using my funds. 

the next contractor I hired ,was recommended by my local relator.  he did few projects for her before.  he was honest and professional with her. that makes me feel much better.

when he heard the story , learn the amount I  paid, and saw what was done in the house, he seems to take it almost personally : "I am so  sick of local contractors that do that! it paint us all in a bad light!  how can someone do such a thing that and hurt their integrity and reputation??"

few weeks later, he did the same thing. I lost close to 30k on both contractors on that single house. 

my two cents here: 

A Clearly the fact you worked with a contractor for a while, and all was good does not mean your next project is "safe"

B  often out of state investors are seen as "easy prey" and great relationship they had with a local does not mean an out of state  will get the same treatment..

I am asking you, the experienced out of town  investors that works with a local contractors:

What Am I missing ? How do you do that? 

since most serious busy contractors ask for money upfront , how do you reduce the risk? 

Thanks so much!