Speaking loosely, I would say that there are two kinds of people: those that optimize within a framework of rules and those that optimize the framework so they

Speaking loosely, I would say that there are two kinds of people: those that optimize within a framework of rules and those that optimize the framework so they can relax inside it. My experience is a lot of web agency people are the second kind. They have a cozy business where a happy client is worth more than a bilked one. They can be (occasionally) generous on the margins because the overall structure is good for them. I would never look at someone coming to me with a $7k contract thinking "maybe I could stretch this out to several months and $40k." It's not worth the heart burn. I've only ever seen that scenario when a client couldn't be talked out of scope creep. Unfortunately this agency was the other type. They're bad for the whole industry because trust is such an important factor and it's a challenge for clients to know who is happy to make a bunch of money for an honest hour's work versus who wants to cheat the already generous system.