Painstaking, albeit lacking in refinement (8)
I believe the answer is:
thorough
'painstaking' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'albeit lacking in refinement' is the wordplay.
'albeit' becomes 'tho''.
'lacking in refinement' becomes 'rough'.
'tho'+'rough'='THOROUGH'
(Other definitions for thorough that I've seen before include "Passage" , "Out-and-out, utter" , "Complete - painstaking - unqualified" , "Miticulous or exhaustive" , "Total - painstaking - in-depth" .)