This comes up pretty often. Here's a sentiment that is often present:

    I heard that to get excellent results I should do X,
    but I don't see a really painless and trivial way to
    do X. X doesn't seem practical.

When I work with non-coders to help them with their scripts or whatever, I commonly see all kinds of things that should be done better: simplify this, refactor that, etc. I have learned the payoffs for doing things the right way, and I try to pass some of these things on. Usually the response is "I understand. That would be a better approach." but then they go back to their old ways. They just want to get the immediate thing working and move on.

It's not at all surprising that advice from smart people with a lot of experience seems like a lot of work to those of us just trying to get today's problem solved. But take a step back and look at anyone working at the top of their field and you'll find them doing lots of things that are hard, involving doing things right rather than just getting a task crossed off the list.

"Wow, that chef keeps everything spotless and sharpens his knife a lot, and only uses the best ingredients."

"That master carpenter sure spends a lot of time caring for tools and doing a lot of other things that aren't cutting wood."

Why should hiring coders be any different, unless you believe that coders are a commodity?