[mswen]

Some great points AlDante2. There is also the issue of how open-ended the engagement is versus clear confined specification.

I work with clients on an hourly basis because of the open-ended nature of the work I generally do. It is almost impossible to write a decent spec ahead of time. I do a weekly check-in with demos and discussion so they know what I am working on, how much progress is being made and with weekly check-ins they don't have any surprises at the end of the month when I bill them.

Recently, I added a new client where I was much faster than the estimated hours for the initial scope of work. If I had been fixed bid with them I would have made a lot more per hour. As it is they are using the remainder of the hours in the original estimate for some other work and it sounds like there will likely be more in the pipeline. Truthfully, I would rather have them turn into a longer-term client in a high trust relationship than to have maximized profit on the first project.