Environmental Due Diligence & Risk Management

A co-worker recently handed me an article about quality, timing, and price as it applies to projects and proposals.  Apparently there is an old saying (I say 'apparently' because this is the first I am hearing of it) that goes "You want quality, you want it cheap and you want it fast.  Well, in the real world you can only pick two."  So I figure this applies to most involved in the bidding process, but in my world it's about bidding Phase 1 Environmental Assessments, Phase II subsurface investigations, or remediation projects.  The latter two of which are far more difficult and time consuming to prepare due to the involvement of subcontractors.  So it got me to thinking...which two would my clients choose from the project triangle?