Did you try shooting in RGB rather than mono? I found the real game changer was splitting color channels before stacking. On my last Saturn run the red channel stacked so clean that the Cassini division just popped, while the blue channel was mush no matter how many frames I threw at it. That tells me we are not just fighting seeing, we are fighting atmospheric dispersion that hits each color differently, and nobody talks about that part of the workflow.

Pull the breaker labels off the panel and check if they match reality, most of them are lying. I had a site where the label said "server room line A" but it actually fed the break room fridge and a space heater. Also check the panel schedule against the actual amps with a clamp meter if you can, that's the only way to catch the ghost loads nobody wrote down.

That "just pass it on someday" line hit me right in the gut... I read something recently about how the whole pay it forward thing is basically dying out because people don't even know their neighbors anymore. I've seen it happen in my own area, everyone just stays inside and orders stuff online now. But your guy sounds like the real deal, showing you the gravel trick and all that. I think there's still a few of those old school folks left who just get it done, but they're getting harder to find for sure.