I don't pretend to understand the exact situation, there just aren't enough details. But I, too, am a consultant, and I fully understand the problems of a client mis-match. I dealt with a client back in the fall who wanted me to do all this work, which was great, but they didn't want to provide me with any of the information or resources I needed to do the work. They kept saying wasn't what they had on their website enough, and I kept telling them that their website had very limited information and it did not answer any of the questions I needed them to answer for me to be able to write the requested documents. They ended up pausing their contract indefinitely. I would love to continue working with them if they can actually do the "homework" I assigned them, but if they can't be bothered to spend some time thinking about the answers to a few questions, then there is literally nothing I can do. If they ever ask to restart the contract, I may just fire them as clients, unless they agree to the understanding that they have to provide information, I can't make it up. And referring to limited information on a website is not providing the information. (Aside from the fact that the website is in Chinese and I had to use Google translator to even understand it, and that's an imperfect translation due to the nature of automatic translation.)

I just recently almost took on another mis-match client because the size of the contract was so enticing, but it ended up not happening, and ultimately I was thankful for that. And thank goodness I did, because I recently found a much better fitting RFP and if I had taken that other contract I wouldn't have the capacity to take on this RFP.

How long is the contract you have with them? Can you see it through to fruition and then decline any further contracts with them? Is it possible to end the contract? I'm assuming by checkwriter you mean the person who contracted you, so the person you have to make happy? My contracts always specific approach and outcomes, is this person deviating from the approach and outcomes or just always requiring further clarity when something has been fully clarified?

I had a boss like that once who could never accept an explanation and always wanted more detail...like if you told someone to pour a glass of water, he would want instruction down to how to turn the faucet on and how to open the cupboard to remove a glass to use.

I have a client right now that I'm grateful to have but the contract itself is a bit of a pain in the ***. I will keep working with them because they are great to work with, but servicing their contract is not my favorite thing to do at times.

I guess that's the nature of consulting, but also the great thing is that the job is limited, so it's not forever.

Seesaw