Reno:
You did a great service by summing up all the tricks & excuses. And Scott elaborated on great items in his 'rant'.
When I closed shop, I presented what I thought was a 'in the bag' job to the EC who bought my equipment, tools, etc. Job was budgeted around $380K with some 'wiggle' if required. Modifications & changes over about 6 months resulted in =$10 to 14K. They continued on with the 'preferred' EC for another 6 months with more changes, etc. End result was $385K number. All said & done, it went to someone else with a number that was $1500 LESS. Not even a phone call from the client saying...."the other guy is $XXX cheaper, can you do something"???? That was a 14 month ordeal with many hours by both of us with the client, POCO, etc.; so much for courtesy!!
