re: "I understand there's a dispute process and I have to fight to get my funds back in escrow. What's the best way to go about this? Is this something normal that I should be expecting from Upwork hires?"
My opinion:
Refund thinking hurts clients.
You would be better off simply closing the contract and forgetting about this freelancer.
But:
If you really want to try to get money back from this freelancer, you can close the contract. This will present you with a field where you specify the amount of money you want to release. You can change this value to anything you want. Pay more if you want. Or pay less. Or pay zero.
If you edit the amount of money to be released so that it is an amount less than is in escrow, this will trigger an automated refund request. If the freelancer agrees to the request, you get your money back on your credit card within five business days.
If the freelancer doesn't agree to the refund request, then the money doesn't go back to you. The case moves into the dispute/mediation phase. This means that an Upwork mediator will encourage you and the freelancer to come to an agreement about the escrow money.
So... if you want to get some money back, you should send a short message to the freelancer asking for a refund. Tell him:
"Liam, thank you for your work on this project. Unfortunately, I will not be able to use your work. You may stop working on it completely. I would like to ask you to agree to a refund of half the money in escrow. If you agree to that, I will release the other half to you immediately, and I will close the contract with my appreciation."
If you come to an agreement about the money before you trigger a refund request, you will maximize your chances at getting money back without needing to go to dispute or arbitration steps.
Those are some of the mechanics of how the system works.
However, from a business expense, I think it would be a waste of your time and effort to do this. A more expedient option is to forget about this freelancer. Don't elevate his importance. Close the contract. Release all money in escrow.
Then:
Hire other freelancers, using an hourly contract. Hire four people. Once you have what you need, close all the contracts. You will get work done sooner. If more than one turns in work, that gives you more options to choose from.
Alternatively, you can hire a single higher-paid freelancer, using an hourly contract, to work on this project. You could hire someone as high-end as you think you can afford. But if your project doesn't require that level of quality, then you will be better off hiring multiple entry-level or intermediate-level freelancers.
Or you could even hire a single entry-level or intermediate-level freelancer. But if you hire only a single individual, you need to understand that the freelancer's work may not meet you standards, so you may need to hire another freelancer to do the work. Also: Hiring only one person decreases your chances of getting the work done by the deadline.
I have hired over 120 freelancers on Upwork. Most have been great. But not all. I plan for not all of them to be equally great. That is why I often hire more than one freelancer for the same task. I usually don't do that with more technical tasks. But I like to do that with creative work. The end result of my projects are better when I have more creative options to consider.
