[JohnBooty]

Yeah.

There are obviously times when you can truly "write yourself out of a job." That truly happens.

I think that there are far more times where a transparent and earnest approach to managing technical debt and keeping things maintainable for your clients leads to more work in the long run. Possibly even permanent employment if that's what's desired.

(Of course, this depends entirely upon your communication skills and the client's savvy and receptiveness to such an approach)

Because the usual reality is that any client who needs consulting work in the first place is certainly going to need more of it in the future - maintenance, iterations, new projects, etc.