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I strongly feel that the "hours of work" involved in doing a color study, whether it's for myself to work out issues, or to show the client for approval, are well worthwhile. Color studies also sometimes take days. Still well worth the time, to me at least, and to many other professional portrait artists. Saves me weeks of time on the actual painting later.
Doing studies prevents me from having to do tons of rework on the actual painting, working out problem areas, piling up layers of paint that can compromise the archival integrity of the piece. More often than not, most parts of my final painting will have only one layer of paint because I know exactly what color, size, shape etc. everything will be before I paint it. I use the color study to work out variations of background, overall color temperature, which areas I want to lose into the shadows, etc. rather than testing out those ideas on the actual painting.
My studies are typically 11 x 14" or smaller. Many are 4 x 6". A very important painting or complex work might require a larger study. For the Governor of Washinton State I've done no fewer than four study paintings. I did three head studies, one of which was fully detailed and actual size, for his approval. The fourth study was an overall composition, about 11 x 14".
Folks at the very top of this profession do much more elaborate work in terms of studies than I do. Tom Nash, one of the very best in the business, does complete, fully developed, actual size "study paintings" of every part of the image before starting on the final canvas. Simmie Knox, who did the official portraits of the Clintons, actually paints the final portrait often two or three times, on separate canvases, to work out different issues.
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