My experience over the last couple decades working for myself (or running my own company) that the worst customers are the ones who want it cheapest. They sta

My experience over the last couple decades working for myself (or running my own company) that the worst customers are the ones who want it cheapest. They start out by spending extra time negotiating lower prices...often with a story about how "getting your name out there will help your company" or "We plan on working with you a ton in the future so you should discount us now". During the job they will have you do extra work to which you are supposed to "keep track of and we will pay you whatever it takes". I cannot think of one time where this did not end up where I end up eating even more of the already discounted profit. After the job is done they tend to also be the ones who are hypercritical. Often requiring extra rework or doing the work over all together. Then they will use how they "paid you extra during the job" as a reason why you owe them. All of that being said. The companies who are honest and understanding tend to make up for the trouble that the others cause. Throughout the years I have become able to spot the problem customers in the first meeting (sometimes phone calls are enough) to where I just say "no" before ever negotiating the job. In my case this has mostly led to me not working with the "local" people at all and mostly focusing on the remote customers.