Responsibility

As a customer, how much responsibility do you take to make sure your home project turns out correctly?

Do you try colors on the wall before painting the whole room?
Do you check to see if your painter is licensed, bonded, insured AND has a good reputation? Would you hire then, even if you didn't communicate well? What if they are fine people, but you just don't "connect"?
Do you take advice blindly, even for your own home? Do you filter it through your own set of values?
Who is responsible if you don't like something? Let's say it performs well but you just don't like it? Is it the paint stores fault for selling it to you?

These things drive me nuts sometimes.