[maratd]

I'll just quote myself: "Personally, I figure out the worst-case scenario and price it for that."

Experience helps with the above. Obviously you can never know precisely how much effort something will take. Stuff comes up. Even if the work itself is stupid easy, it might take you 2 hours to find the exact line of code that needs to be changed and sometimes it takes 5 minutes. And you never know which is which. So charge for 2 hours.

> the client will provide the vaguest of specifications and providing them with a set-in-stone price raises unrealistic expectations.

Clearly define the parameters of the project. Clearly define what you will do. Don't do any more or any less than that.

If the client needs something extra done, and this happens, simply price that out separately.

> The requirements are simply too fuzzy at the outset of a project to be able to price it accurately.

Example?

[codecool]

I agree. Experience and clearly defined parameters and contract goes a long way in project based billing. If requirements are fuzzy then we developers need to help the client to make them clear by asking the right questions.