I've been learning this lesson myself over several years. I used to work for a contractor so I would do free consultations and offer design ideas and sketches to clients, but that was a part of the sales process for the whole design+build project. In the contractors' world, they usually always offer free consultations and the design won them the jobs often. But I was an employee of theirs and so I got paid for my work. Now as independent designers, we have to operate differently. I know it's hard to withhold when a potential client asks for ideas because you want to please them and show them your value... BUT in the end this really lowers your value in their eyes if they see that you can just whip up some ideas quickly for free. Then they wonder: why pay her X amount for just a "little" more design work? Believe it or not, these clients and contractors don't often have any shame in taking your ideas and running with them on their own. I have finally started charging for my consultations and I try my best to leave out any design ideas during that meeting. I will sometimes offer a tiny hint of an idea, or even say something like "I will need to sketch out and mull over some ideas that I have to figure out the best solution" to make it known that the wheels are turning and their project is important to me, but that it will take my paid time to execute and deliver it to them. And if they push on why they are paying you for the consultation, you can tell them that that fee pays for your time to come out to them, weeds out the tire-kickers, and starts a mutual investment in each other. You can also give them the example of how we all pay our HVAC companies $300 just for them to visit us and that does not include the repair work... we also pay ours a yearly additional fee just so we can get priority visits 😅

@Denise Rockstroh You're so welcome! And to be clear, quick on-the-spot designs ARE valuable and a true talent, it's just that clients (I think) view it as less valuable when it's done before their eyes and given for free.