Tim,
Nice post. I agree that very few, if any, of us got in the biz for money first and art second.
For perspective, when my enthusiasm for site visits (and even some plans) dropped from my typical 110-120% to "only" 98-99% (at least for the renovation projects that are prevalent now), I figured it was time to let the next generation take over. It takes 110% effort to be good and maybe 120% to be outstanding. Most architects have that energy and passion for their projects.
I still remember a few occasions when the bunker edging crew would never understand what we were going for......or didn't care. There were a few where they took off with just limited instructions and did a great job. They probably had outlined more bunkers with different architects than I ever had and once they got my basic style, probably applied all those lessons learned to mine, to great effect.