There are more ways to waste money needlessly than there are to save. I say that based on my years of experience seeing clients do things that I could not have made up. Truth IS stranger than fiction!!If I had a nickel for every time I turned to a co-worker and said "No, really. I didn't make it up!" ....Let me tell you a story:I once spent many hours developing a planting plan for a large, historic tudor home owned by a couple who's only comment on the firm's written questionnaire was that the wife didn't like the color orange or roses. I left messages and sent several e-mails asking for a quick phone call to try to narrow down what she did like so that I had some direction from them on the design. I presented the drawings in a few meetings with the husband having never heard back from the wife. Finally, after a couple of months, she attended a design meeting. She came into the room and plunked down a stack of magazine clippings of images that she liked, plants she was drawn to, etc. She had heard all my messages, and wanted to respond, but didn't let me know that she was doing anything at all on her end. As it turned out, she had a strong preference for white flowers and chartreuse foliage. In fact, she didn't like much that wasn't chartreuse or white. Never mind that the quality of the light at their home was too harsh for white and chartreuse without something else to set it off (like a nice deep green). She also noted that she likes shrub roses, but not hybrid teas. Had this client spoken up sooner, they would have saved thousands of dollars in design fees and I would've saved a lot of time.The one thing they did right in this story was to speak up before we were under construction. It is far less costly to change directions on paper than it is in the field.