What is a “sniper”?

Okay, ever heard of a sniper? You know, those who hide behind a protected embankment, often from a high point of view, and shoot down on disadvantaged people down below. Well… we see this in contracting too. It just looks a little different. Usually it’s someone with a really beautiful property to begin with. Already looks amazing. And they just want it to look even better. They call us up, throw a bunch of money in our face (not literally, just with their words) and practically challenge us to handle their project. It’s really scary actually, as a Contractor who has experienced this before multiple times… seeing someone so convinced they can get their way with you by simply paying you a little more than you are asking or expecting. But here’s the point where it goes wrong… it always comes with a catch: either, start right away, work for a month without pay while I’m traveling, or help me manage this other work going on at my property simultaneously with your team working. There are other variations on this same theme, but usually all these roads lead to the same place: contention. Not sure why people feel they have to “punish” good Contractors for poor experiences they’ve had with people they have worked with previously… but it really sucks being on the receiving end of that. Even the most unprofessional of tradesmen deep down mostly mean well. They are not out to get you. They just don’t know how to do what they do any better. Or they lack the disciple and experience it takes to be better. Or one of a hundred other factors. Bottom line though, if we we come across someone who seems to actually enjoy playing these sorts of working people against one another… you can for sure count us out of the game. We have seen enough attempts to derail the reputation of other specific Contractors in this town to know, it’s a dirty game, and we want no part in it. For any other Contractors reading this, we challenge you to uphold your end of this line too. We are either in this trade together or we are not. And together we can stand tall and be respectful. Divided we fall. And the only people who win are those playing for the other side. So… no matter if you are another Contractor or a homeowner, if you come to us and try to negotiate terms on our work from a place of desired cost savings or statements of having “done your homework” or some other choice of words that lead us to believe you think you know better than us how to do your project… please… just kindly move along and torment someone else. We are not going to stand for bullying and have way too many great people to work with to waste time of our own trying to please people who deep down really do not want to be pleased.