One should always hold back un-constructive jabs, but some patterns of suck (ex: c&p vs looping) can be detected and undone even without understanding the entir

One should always hold back un-constructive jabs, but some patterns of suck (ex: c&p vs looping) can be detected and undone even without understanding the entire project. That said, I sympathize with anyone who is doing iterative client work on an hourly basis, and is called out on re factoring. Explaining the cost and benefit of refactoring work to clients can be a hard upsell, and IMHO helps separate great clients from not-so-great.