It's better to put forth the effort to create new project estimates earlier than later in the process for three main reasons:

1. Estimates provide a price to the client. Often, the main barrier to signing the contract is that there is no clear budget. The estimate makes tangible a concept that has so far been vague - whether or not the project is worth it for both the client and agency to engage in.
2. Estimates provide clarity to an intangible process, and therefore guide the approach. Once it's clear how much the budget will be, it's possible to start tweaking the three knobs (scope, time, budget) to make the project a possibility.
3. Estimates dictate the amount of resources. Most of the money in your budget you have goes directly to the development team in the form of wages. To maintain a profitable margin, your development team is limited to the amount you can pay them.

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