> I think this is a classic business model problem with consultative services: 60-80% of the work is, in fact, cookie-cutter stuff that can be executed by any barely-competant practioner...
The "cookie cutter nature" depends on whether the client thinks s/he knows what s/he wants already.
A real, good design consultant will come up with awesome, non-cookie-cutter shit taht the client would never think of. That's why the client is not a designer.
A "barely competent" designer will implement the client's mediocre, pedestrian request in a barely competent way.
And when you hire somebody "barely competent," even for something "cookie cutter," you get things such as a brochureware cafe site that talks about its beautiful gardens but does not list an address, hours, or a contact number.
The problem, for clients, for hiring based on spec work, is the fact that the designer "wins" by shiny, not with careful consideration of the "problem."
And if design is any part of your strategy (and it ought to be), you're undercutting your own success.
EDIT: This is not to say that anybody calling themselves a design consultant is any good. There are very few truly excellent people out there -- in any field.