>I would add don't take fixed price work. I've done it a few times and its consistently worked out badly.
>
>I also work for time and materials only. But I do give my clients a reasonale idea for how long things will take so they can make an informed decision about the features that they want.

With government contracts, everything has to be laid out in features, time, documentation, etc. It is always 'fixed price' work. Probably why the govt has so many problems with their contracted work. I've witnessed numerous 'low bid' wins which didn't produce or the product was unacceptable when 'completed.'