Isn't it common knowledge though, that the setup is a really big chunk of the work? And the problems encountered are probably not all too exotic, so you'll be

Isn't it common knowledge though, that the setup is a really big chunk of the work? And the problems encountered are probably not all too exotic, so you'll be much better after doing it a few times. However this is not a task you do often (at most once or twice per project). It's no surprise to me that years of practice work wonders on reducing the setup time. If you add research of suitable tools it becomes probably even more dramatic (finding, installing, testing, uninstalling, repeat until you think you might have the best or a suitable solution)