I tried that, and it was almost (but not quite) invariably held to be the lowest of the range, and still construed as a deadline. "3-5 months" becomes "3 months

I tried that, and it was almost (but not quite) invariably held to be the lowest of the range, and still construed as a deadline. "3-5 months" becomes "3 months or we have to reschedule other stuff".