A dark blue example.
You must ask the right questions. How many times at work has someone asked you a question, even here on pprune, and you feel that they really want the answer to something else or they have asked the wrong question? You probe and prompt.
A contractor OTOH will quote for exactly what you ask for else he might not be competitive with another contractor. Now the story.
Years ago the Navy had a temporary range control room at Raasay. In the control room was an ICL PDP 11/40 state of the art computer operating in a clean room environment.
Funding was eventually found for a new building (another story of waste) and they decided that they should have two computers to ensure capability was maintained. They specified a new PDP 11/40 and the transfer of the old PDP to the new build. The work duly went ahead and on time and to budget.
When all was done and dusted, well pleased with the saving they had made, they congratulated ICL on a job well done.
"You know you could have had two new, more modern and more powerful computers for less than the cost of the special build PDP 11/40."