Robert,
I agree in some cases and especially where the indications are that the client is taking the easy searches for themselves or outsourcing them online. For me, it often depends on the client. If I have a good relationship with the client then and this type of search is unusuall for them, I do the search as a courtesy.

Another determining factor for me is what they are already paying for a current owner. I charge up to $160 for some of the counties because of the length of time it takes me to reach them. Once there, the searches are not usually that bad even though they are hand searches of several indexes. The counties are so small that it doesn't take long to go through 40 years of data.