[AccessD] Contract Work - Time Sensitive Question : x-posted dba-OT

If anyone has 5-10 minutes to spare, I'd appreciate your thoughts on the
following scenario.  A co-worker has just given my name/number to a small
medical office that is looking for some custom work. The 2 second
description was "create a report based on data from several databases".

Now many of you, I'm sure, have been approached by clients who have received
several quotes of hourly rates and were put off at the high prices and no
estimation as to time of completion.  First question, how do you address the
customer's concern knowing full well that without a fairly accurate scope of
work, you would most likely have answered similarly to everyone else?

At face value, the project seems like a cake walk;)  However, the unknown
variables have me concerned.  I'm sure many of you, when you first began,
may have started out this way, without the structure of business licenses,
contracts, insurance, etc.  What I'm politely asking is, what is an
acceptable way for me to approach this?  At the moment, this is a one-off
situation that I would like to handle in the simplest manner possible.
Again, politely, what I'm not asking for is suggestions to hire an attorney,
an accountant, set up an LLC, etc.  In the short term, many people have
worked this way in the past successfully...I'm just hoping to get some idea
of best practices.

Thank you,


Mark