[jlg23]

Wasn't the time spent to write this post worth more than 1.5k the OP is whining about?

While I agree that doing work for free can be a trap, I still believe that the one metric the OP dismisses (time spent adjusting the bill vs time spent just implementing the feature) is the most important: It might feel "good" to bill for every second but overall the benefit of being known as the "good guy" always outweighed the cost for me. I even once made the incredibly stupid mistake of billing (in the sum) for one more hour than I worked for them. I pointed that out and the response was: don't worry, just deduct it from the next bill - and even if you don't, you saved us so much money that we'll find a way to make up for the difference by creative book-keeping.