Most AI automation quotes look profitable on paper. The problem usually appears during delivery, when rework, API costs, payment fees, and unplanned review cycles begin to compound. One of the most common mistakes is treating markup and margin as the same number.
Source: [Dev.to](https://dev.to/noiseproofai/markup-is-not-margin-a-safer-way-to-quote-ai-automation-work-1f9m)