I do not buy liens in war zones or if the house is burned out and I certainly don't want an empty lot.

My quick read on this is that you need to ratchet up your sense of control.Alternatively to eating the cost and moving on, and depending on how much you want to burn the bridge with Contractor A, you could ask them if they can issue a full/partial refund based on the pictures and Ditra install requirements, and if they refuse, ask how much do they think a negative review will cost them in lost business - especially since you'll mention Contractor B fixed A's mistakes.  

Ideally you have the cash to back you up so you aren't a tight situation and you refinance before the promotional periods expire.

The very first paragraph of Article 1 of the National Association of Realtor's 2020 Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice: "When representing a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant, or other client as an agent, REALTORS® pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their client.

House burns down, same.

Also the amount of time it takes for all the showings makes it likely that I may burn out another agent. 

By taking on this mindset you will skip the "why" part of your journey and either burn out or start to find it uninteresting.Good luck on your journey looking forward to seeing you post your successful property purchases here on BP in the future!

I'm old enough to remember the auto manufacturers claiming adding seat belts to cars and engineering cars to burn unleaded gas would lead to out of control price increases to the consumer costs and the end of the auto industry. 

Does anyone go beyond social media and pay to promote their (personal?)

Yes this does help @Cassidy Burns.