I went on
www.napaonline.com and added up the pieces to do a rebuild with new pistons, bearings, gaskets, oil pump, lifters, timing set and soft plugs and the total reached 536+ with no cam, valves, valve springs or other extras.
the only performance piece was the hi per oil pump. No performance cam and no trick valve train gear. You could get quite a bit of money in the head just with parts if you replaced all the valves, put in performance springs and retaining pieces.
Those prices are about what I would expect a machine shop to charge for the parts.
As far as labor costs you might get a better deal in Seattle or Tacoma but you would have to do the driving back and forth and that adds up in a hurry. The main thing in picking an automotive machinist is pick the guy who is going to do it right the first time.
I think I would want more exact labor costs (itemized) up front. they should be able to give you a breakdown on the labor before they start.
They should be able to tell you exactly what the parts for the short block will cost you and unless the head needs a lot of extras they should be able to come pretty close on that.
I went back through your posts from day one and I cannot find what year/ model of vehicle you are working on. The 250 I would assume is in a mid 70s GM something. Most if not all 250 Chevs should have hardened valve seats from the factory so that shouldn't be an issue.
