Would that it could be that way, but it isn't. *sigh*

However, I do get to make decisions about how it's being worked the 'long way'. And if they come back in a week or so and say "we want to make this change", I get to tell them, "Well, I could do that, but you see, I had to do this to accomodate the last thing you changed. This will push the timeframe back (2*x)²", where "x" is the time it will acutally take me to do it, and the expression is the "estimated" cost to the timeline in double "x" in the next increment in time. Therefore, if it would take me 2 hours, I would "estimate" the impact on the work schedule at 4 days.

Feel free to use this formula anywhere useful. Yes, it's a "ShareWare Contractor Estimator". :)