[neuronflux]

> is there an angle for me to pitch myself as "The guy who will clean up your code base"?

You sort of answer your own question unfortunately.

> managers keep pushing us to limit our time and move on to things that are visible to customers.

So if a manager only values things visible to a customer, why would they hire an expensive consultant work on things that aren't valuable to them?

[orblivion]

They don't stop it they just limit it. It's very difficult for them to know the right amount but unless they're totally ignorant they know it's not zero. If the code is a mess it may become apparent to them that they need to increase that threshold for a spurt.