There are so many sides to sound engineering from a full on Front of house engineer position at a festival, mixing a variety of bands for 3 days and assisting all the visting band engineers to just a simple solo performance on a small stage, likewise it can vary from multiple radio mics and audio inputs for a Conference or Awards event to a single but important keynote speech. The common factor in all these variations is the Sound Engineer and the way he executes his responsibilty to ensure a great result using the right equipment for each style of event.
For me having the right tools to do the job is really important, as is having a good knowledge of many different aspects of sound engineering which apart from being able to choose the best mic for an application also includes knowing about the RF issues that can happen with multiple radio mics and how to set them up correctly along with understanding digital multicore systems.
Even with the best and most expensive systems things can fall over but having that level of quality at the start is always a good insurance for reliability so I never compromise, a budget fee will always mean a budget set of equipment so I use only the kit I feel is right rather than work to a price and this for my customers is always a welcome formula.