Uh... Hobbes, spirits aren't stupid, or automatically pissed off they've been summoned. I mean, there's an entire index as to where you fall on the spirit social ladder, there's qualities that make some actively like you, etc. There's also spirits wrapped around human concepts like tasks, guardians, etc... So saying they're stupid, or only enforce the letter of the order, isn't all that accurate. There may be situations or circumstances that cause it, but not all the time.
You also don't need reagents twice a day to bind them. Once bound, they're bound until their services are up. If you give them the right kind of order, you can have some long-term service from them that they won't mind. If you have a mage on hand just summoning spirits every 12 hours to maintain a watch, there's no inherent cost besides the mage (who may already be on your payroll, you just add a duty to his roster).
Really, spirits can be summoned for relatively cheap costs as compared to acquiring, training and maintaining paracritters. I mean, as of Running Wild your average security grade paracritter (Hellhounds, Barghests, Fenrir Wolves) all go for above 10,000 nuyen untrained. Specialty critters like basilisks, chimeras, etc. are no less than 37,000 nuyen apiece. Licensing adds 20% to the base cost (if you want to legally have them and all). Increase the cost by 50% if you want them un-sterilized. Then 200 to 500 nuyen a month for food and their specialized needs. That doesn't cover training, or the chances of the paracritter doing something wrong (fire-proofing your Hellhound's kennel and wherever they're patrolling is a wise idea, no?). Awakened Critters should be rarer than spirits; all you need for that is a sack of reagents and a mage to do the work before going to their next task. That said, paracritters are much more dangerous if used properly (unless we're talking overly high-Force spirits, of course).
