u/AdventurousNorth175 — reddlx

I recently had a client conversation that made me rethink things.

Scope: update a customer app, build a driver app from scratch, Need to create the Delivery module, Need to create Android + IOS different app, plus backend and QA. I quoted around 4–5K, which I felt was already reasonable.

Client response:

“AI tools can do this in a week”
“We can’t charge what we used to”
“This should be 1–2K max”
And finally today he told me 500 only we can charge.

I understand AI has made development faster. It helps with boilerplate, quick MVPs, and speeding up certain tasks.

But in real projects:

Requirements are often unclear
Clients change things mid-way
Testing, bugs, and edge cases still take time
Deployment, scaling, and stability need real effort

The biggest issue: development might be fast, but the client process is not.

It feels like some clients now assume AI = instant + cheap, which doesn’t reflect the actual work involved.

How are others handling this?

Are you reducing prices?
Doubling down on value and explaining the process?
Or avoiding such clients altogether?

Trying to figure out the right approach going forward.