Max hired a house renovation contractor to refurbish the living room within a time span of a month in his single family home

The contractor started work immediately and and has almost finished renovating the living room in 3 weeks. He went to Max's house during the last week for finishing touches but found that Max was not home during the last week as he had gone for a trip without informing the contractor. The contractor was unable to complete his work and demanded to be paid for the work he had already done.

Question: How to explain a situation like this using Prevention of Performance in full and are there any similar legal authorities to be used to explain?