[mgkimsal]

> as you can just bill them more

I've done a bit of municipal work, and had the opposite experience - there's almost always a fixed budget, and while people may ask for loads of changes, no one ever had authority to authorize a single dollar more for the project.

It probably depends on the project and more likely the people involved, but "you can bill them more" isn't a given in all situations.

[throwawayboise]

Depends on the municipality. Small ones don't have a lot of flexibility. Big ones (Chicago, etc.) have lots of wiggle room especially if you're willing to kick back some of it to an aldermans's preferred subcontractors, etc.