I recently ran across Clients from Hell! and have to say that there truly are many of them. And they are, indeed, miserable cork-soakers. So far, the most consistent indication that I’m dealing with a miserable cork-soaker turns out to be an overwhelming concern with money, early on. There is no way to absolutely estimate the time it will take for a given project, so I give a “not less than $X and not more than $Y” quotation. When the prospective client says something like “well it can’ be $Y because I can’t afford that”, walk away! When they say “I can’t understand why it takes you so much time. That drag and drop plugin let me make a web page in 5 minutes”, walk away!
I recommend, now, to never accept a client that has less then 25% more budgeted than I think I’m going to maximally charge them.
