Do you guys ever have a tough time pricing a project? I wouldn't really say pricing the project, but understanding what your client wants? If so how do you guys approach pricing?
you should have a clear understanding of the client request then write down every steps, You can price each step based on the amount of time spent to achieve them and make the total plus few more $$. And the price depends on your experience, abilities... how much / hour are you willing to work for? ...
why do you work for a web dev company? most generally if the client don't make it clear on what he wants well just bill them hourly
You can't build something if you don't know how it's supposed to operate. Get stuff down on paper and have the client sign off on it. If they change their mind or if they didn't explain it properly you have documentation.
I would say thats the best way right there is to detail the specs out in the best way the programmer can produce it and then have them sign off on it something that both parties come upon agreement on.
I agree if you want to do things right bill by the hour. Get an idea of what the client is looking for. From there estimate the number of hours of development time it will take and tell them based on x hours it's going to cost this much. Make it clear to them that this is based on current specification and it is an estimate. Make sure to have contracts written up about it so there is no disputing anything in the future. I am of course assuming this is a large project and not some 5 hours digital point programming project.