The real work does come in with driving around like you mentioned, maybe being creative and showing properties they may not have thought of, and articulating different ways to offer on a property, just to name a few items.

I would mention yappers, but they typically don't cause problems in single-family homes. 

The description kept mentioning a fool proof system, and then the pricing for it was exorbitant.

This approach supports the "slow and steady" philosophy you mentioned, while still allowing for considerable progress and learning.

That is for people trained to buy property the correct way, but most people aren't trained so they resort to the aforementioned options. 

@kimberly S. mentioned negotiating the price, because it's like buying a car.  

I would suggest taking a look at Columbus Ohio because it has everything mentioned above and there's so many companies moving/developing here.

@Bill B. like Bill mentions we go through the house twice before we close with our sheet rock and painters to make sure its perfect .. 

So if I understand you correctly, if Person A enters into a contract with Person B to perform Job Z for $100 per hour and B billed A for 10 hours, but later A finds out that B only worked for 1 hour, that is legal. 

He then mentioned that he had a contracting company that could fix each issue for xx amount.