>While I hate doing estimates, mostly because customer can’t tell estimates from promises, you’re right that they are needed for consulting. It’s unreasonable t

>While I hate doing estimates, mostly because customer can’t tell estimates from promises, you’re right that they are needed for consulting. It’s unreasonable to expect a customer to sign off on some potentially endless number of hours. At the same time, customers also need to understand that tasks which have not been clearly defined, or cannot be clearly defined, can mean that the entire project might result in wasted efford that they will be require to pay for. Estimates exists as an emergency break for run away projects, they should not and cannot be used as deadlines. You are absolutely right. The caveat there is that a SOW (which includes an estimate) is the meat of the contract between the client and the consultant. Assuming that the SOW clearly defines the scope and functionality, if the consultants can't meet the terms of the contract, they screwed up. Alternatively, if the client changes the requirements or doesn't provide clear guidance as to what exactly it is they want/need, then it's the client's fault. That said, it's the consultants' responsibility to makes sure everything is clearly defined (they are, or are at least supposed to be, the experts). There are certainly circumstances where, even with clearly defined tasks/goals, the project can't be completed within the strictures of the contract. At which point the contract needs to be renegotiated. Which is generally bad for everyone.