Maybe things are different in your neck of the woods ("protectionism" ?).

One has to be a lot more reactive and imaginative these days (IMO).

While you're counting paper clips and winding red tape, some other outfit (off-shore or otherwise) will make the sale.

"Throwing figures off the top of one's head" is easier with experience ... I don't recommend it for amateurs.

Ever heard of RAD ? Prototyping ? "Plug and Play" ? Not everything is conceived only in paper.

>Even today - it still takes an hour to do an hours worth of work. I am confused about what you mean. How else would/could you come up with a figure? I'm not saying you tell the client how you came up with the number, just use that as a basis of figuring the amount of effort it will take.
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>Throwing out a figure off the top-of-your-head will end up biting you in the end.
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>I am also an advocate of getting paid to make a specification for the project... and our firm does just that. We break projects into design and construction. And we get paid for both - we won't take a project without a detailed spec.