I saw this first hand while working for a high-end landscaping company. The first team sent out to a job site would be the A-Team and they would do about 50% of the work, whether they were done for the day or off to do another job. The next day (most jobs took 2 days ATL, some took more) another crew of less experienced workers would work the site until finished, then the owner would come inspect. The owner was on the "A-Team" and his work was amazing; I was on the "B-Team" and though I always put 110% into my work when I physically could, I constantly worked with slackers and corner-cutters who also came and went. It made sense the way it was explained to me, which was that the people working odd jobs who don't really care will get bummed out by the B-Team labour and pay, and if they don't they're added to the A-Team after a few months of good work and some more training.

I noticed that the contractors who sell projects tend to be good looking guys. The ones who finish it tend to be not so good looking.

Especially when the customers are female.

A different flavor of this (in home re-modeling, hardscape etc.), is that the people who come to do the estimate are different than the people who come do the job. They are typically younger and pretty much clueless as to how the work would have to be done. So you can't ask them any detailed questions. All they can do is run the spreadsheet on their laptop and show you pictures of other work their company has done. They were trained on how to make a sale, that's it.

Had to go with someone who I had a little trouble communicating with, but at least I could verify he knew what they were doing and understood my concerns about how the work got done.

absolutely; with house builders. Next time around, I'm inclined to manage the build myself.

Talk to someone you trust who did the same thing. Managing anything related to construction can ruin marriages, and lives, the whole ordeal could last for years.