How do I manage a demanding client's vision and budget?

You can design, but standing between a demanding client's dream and their budget feels like a job you were never trained for. It is. Design school teaches buildings, not the delicate work of holding someone's vision while telling them what it costs. The intimidation is just you meeting a new skill, not proof you lack one. The core of it is honesty early and often. Most client conflict comes from the gap between what they imagine and what the money allows, discovered too late. If you tie vision to numbers from the start, gently and clearly, you become the trusted guide instead of the bearer of bad news. Say what things cost while the dream is still forming, not after they have fallen in love with the impossible version. In your next meeting, put a rough number next to each big wish as it comes up. Not to crush it, to shape it together in the open. Managing vision and budget is really just keeping both true in the same conversation. That is a skill, and you can build it.