Which I think is the point we're making here. Programmer should be paid more, and one of the ways to be paid more is to be more consistent in quality and price.

Which I think is the point we're making here. Programmer should be paid more, and one of the ways to be paid more is to be more consistent in quality and price. But it's very hard for a potential client to gauge how good someone is. As opposed to accountants, who you can tell are good by school, company they work/worked for, etc. With programmers, at least today, you really don't have anything near that level of credibility - at most, you can work with firms that have a proven track record, but like you said, they cost a lot more in the long run.