In reply to Rick Gregory.

@ Rick Gregory - Yes, I've got clients. No, it's not always a free service. None are using Canvas anymore. Many are using Storefront though and the rest are custom by me. As far as who pays for the time can depend on who made the final decision to use Canvas in the first place. The site builder or the client? Many times clients are don't want to deal with what theme to use so I suggest one instead to make it easier (for me and them) and that's that.

For those on maintenance, this sort of thing would be covered anyhow because it's like insurance (to me) and get to determine what's covered or not covered. If you can't do this then perhaps you're not charging enough to cover such things or not selling (enough) clients on maintenance?

If using Canvas was a choice I made on the behalf of a client then that client probably trusted me to know what was best for them even if they are not paying maintenance. To go to them and tell them that a choice I made likely several years ago that didn't work out as well as I hoped was going to cost them, is out of the question for me.

Why? It reflects badly on me and makes them less likely to continue to call on me for work. Things like this don't happen all the time but when they do, often they'll remember who'll go the extra mile and who won't.

Who do you think should pay for the upgrades that Gutenberg may require? Automattic may have removed some of the choice here but those on maintenance are covered in my view while those that aren't still can opt in before it's too late. Those who don't can go it alone, hire someone else or ultimately do without.