I always ask clients if they would go with a $5 plumber, or a $5 bus driver for their kids. Always the response is, "No!" So it's a matter of them not being a

I always ask clients if they would go with a $5 plumber, or a $5 bus driver for their kids. Always the response is, "No!" So it's a matter of them not being able to judge quality of tech / design work... not just them being cheap. Any small business is going to want to pinch pennies, but if you know they make irrational decisions you should just walk away. The cure, I think, is for our industry to develop non-subjective ways of saying, "I'm a level 60 Developer spec'd for RoR," or, "Designer with .333 Batting Average stepping up to the plate." So customers can compare apples to apples when looking at the billable rate. If you think $5 logos are the only ones who plagiarize; I've seen this from people who charge $150 / hour too. It's still very much the wild wild west and the likelihood of someone getting ripped off doesn't seem to change no matter how much the service provider charges.