Then you've been fortunate to work at places that respect engineering.

Yes, I have. I have also worked at placed which do not. And the difference is night and day. The places which respect engineering are more fun to work at, deliver better features for less cost and the code is better. Only places which can deliver faster are crazy startups which constantly crunch time (I have worked at those too) but those are hell and the code is a mess.

The main cost I have seen at places which respect engineering is lower predictability. It is harder to budget and plan even if the end result in average is usually cheaper and always better.