Hi Everyone,

Some background on this. I've had my Evo VIII since it was new in 2005. I ended up garaging it back in 2012 but am now bringing it back into service and am doing a full build on it. The car already had cams, TBE, FMIC and pipes, Big parts of the work to be down below:

2.2l Stroker
Fully redone Head (Cams, valves, port, polish, etc etc.)
FP Red
1650cc injectors
dual fuel pumps
rebuilding the two rear Ohlins R&T Shocks (leaking)
refinishing the stock faded brembo's


Anyways, I'd been going to the same shop since I moved to SoCal in 2008, They were always very nice and I thought they did a great job, and were very reputable back in the day so I decided to take the car back to them to smog it before the mods began, and then for the work. They completed taking the car back to stock and smogging it, but some weird things started happening. First, they quoted me 8-10 weeks for the FP Red, then they said MAP stopped making the External O2 Dump. I didn't think much of it, so I called MAP to confirm, and they said that was not the case, and that they could get me the turbo in 4 weeks, and gave me a nice 10% discount on all the parts so I ordered through MAP. That seemed to irritate the shop a bit as they said they wouldn't be getting a profit on it, but it ended up being about $1500 in savings for the engine components and everything else.

Things got a bit weirder, I was originally just going to do a service (replacing timing belt and stuff) but I emailed them saying not to do the work since we were going to do a full build, the shop replied that they had already done the work and sent me pics to confirm, also to show the tires needed replacing, but the tire pics they sent me were 235/45's when my car had 245/40's on it. Once again I just thought it was an error or something and proceeded along assuming they already had done the work.

Anyways, I got the quote from the shop on the whole engine build and was a bit blown away by the pricing and the amount of time they were charging me for specific work. to list a few things:

30 hours of labor to remove, tear down, inspect, clean, and reassemble the block and head ($3,600)
$2650 to machine and build the block
$2625 to machine and build the head
3 hours of labor ($360) to assemble the turbo, exhaust manifold, O2 dump, and oil feed line kit
3.5 hours of labor ($420) to remove the stock fuel system and install a new twin pump system, injectors and injector resistor delete harness
3.5 hours of labor ($420) to install new intercooler and piping
5 hours labor ($600) to remove the 4 calipers to send them off to be refinished
4 hours labor ($480) to remove the two rear shocks, ship them in to be rebuilt, and reinstall them
2.5 hours labor ($300) to install a wideband / ethonol content gauge

Anyways, it added up to $14k even though I was supplying all of the parts which felt really high for this. I ended up reaching out to another shop my cousin recommended, and they quoted me the following:

14 hours labor to remove and install the engine ($1750)
$3400 for all the block and head work
$250 for the fuel system install
Total of about $7200 for all the work

Now I will not name any names here as I am most likely overreacting and I still do really like the people at the original shop. Just trying to get a feel on if this seems fair, and also to get some recs on where you all would take your car for an extensive build like this.

Thanks for your help!