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Longtime HGTV personality Mina Starsiak Hawk just learned she’s being sued and told fans she isn’t sure how she’s going to fight this latest battle. The “Good Bones” star revealed she was served papers for a new lawsuit against her and her company, admitting to fans she’s “broke” and needs help fighting this latest complaint against her. Here are the details so far…
Host Says ‘Risky Business’ General Contractor is Suing Her
HGTV/YouTube“Good Bones” host Mina Starsiak Hawk
With seven seasons of “Good Bones” under her belt, Starsiak Hawk is well-known on HGTV for flying by the seat of her pants. Her spontaneous, risk-taking spirit is on full display in her new spinoff series, “Good Bones: Risky Business,” which chronicles her adventures transforming an old Indianapolis mansion and carriage house into a rental space for events and group stays.
The HGTV host has been very open about the fact the process didn’t go as smoothly, quickly, or cost-efficiently as she’d hoped, given that the project took 14 months and $1.2 million to complete. The property, named Charlotte Hall after her two-year-old daughter, is available for rental via Airbnb.
Since the six-episode series’ premiered on September 6, 2022, one of the early frustrations viewers have expressed about the show was the behavior of the general contractor (GC) that took on the project. Starsiak Hawk, along with many fans watching at home, have complained that the GC, named Thomas, was belittling, condescending and misogynistic in his dealings with her. Thomas eventually walked off the job in the first episode.
During a live appearance on Indianapolis’ WISH-TV on September 1, Starsiak Hawk explained the reason she opted to hire an outside contractor to serve as site superintendent instead of using her own staff.
“The idea was kind of church and state. Like, this house cannot bleed into the regular business because the regular business is, you know, hard enough to manage every day. So we got a different general contractor,” she explained. “And as you’ll see pretty quickly, I think, in the six episodes, it didn’t go as planned, church and state did not stay separate, the GC…I won’t go into that here. I had to pull a lot of resources from my go-to’s. Everything was very challenging for a while.”
Late in the day on Friday, September 23, Starsiak Hawk got word that she and her company, Two Chicks and a Hammer, were being sued by the general contractor over the project featured in “Good Bones: Risky Business.” It’s not clear if the plaintiff is Thomas, or if it’s the firm that his replacement, Martin, worked for.
Having just uploaded fun videos about new merchandise on her site, Starsiak Hawk posted a photo of herself on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “On a more serious note…Just got served by the GC from Risky Business, suing us for payment…Any attorney fans out there licensed in Indiana willing to fight this for us? Cuz we broke. Serious offers only please.”
She then shared a quick video of herself looking deflated as she slowly said, “What a way to bring down a Friday. That’s all I got.”
A couple of hours later, she posted another video of herself driving and talking to the camera. She added a graphic that showed someone had replied to her earlier Story by saying, “Y’all ain’t broke lol.”
“I just love when people think, ’cause they’ve watched the show, they know everything about me and my business and my finances,” she said. “And you really don’t know anything because it’s just a little snippet.”
Later, the mom of two shared that someone had responded to her post saying “For you I’d do it for free,” to which Starsiak Hawk replied, “I can pay in stays at Charlotte Hall!”
Starsiak Hawk Has Also Been Fighting Other Lawsuits in 2022
This lawsuit from the general contractor on “Good Bones: Risky Business” is not the first one Starsiak Hawk and her company have faced in 2022. In April, they reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, which claimed she and her mom — and now-retired co-host Karen E. Laine — didn’t follow government regulations for the demolition of old houses, particularly around potential lead contamination.
According to WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, they agreed to pay a $40,000 fine and film warnings for their fans about lead contamination.
Meanwhile, according to court documents obtained by Heavy, Starsiak Hawk has been fighting a lawsuit from Turnkey Design and Build LLC, filed in July, over work they provided for her on multiple properties. The company claims they’re owed payment for services, labor, materials, leins, and contractor fees, stating that none of their invoices were paid.
Turnkey also accused the HGTV host of breach of contract and “tortious interference with contractual relationships,” claiming that Starsiak Hawk went around the company by hiring their subcontractors to work directly for her. The company wants the suit to be brought to trial with a jury.
On September 19, Starsiak Hawk filed a formal response, denying most allegations or stating that not enough information had been provided to even respond to certain claims. Her company gave examples of work not completed at multiple properties by Turnkey. She also filed a counterclaim for “breach of contract, slander of title and damages,” claiming that Turkey’s public allegations were slanderous and could hurt the value of their projects.
Starsiak Hawk has legal representation for the lawsuit with Turnkey, but turned to Instagram to find affordable or bartered legal assistance for the separate dispute she learned of on September 23.