It also depends where you live. Here in Billings I could bring my 182
to the Cessna dealer on the field. They get about $70 an hour for
labor. I bring in a pristine plane I cannot get out of there for less
than $2000. I have had them do a few things to my plane, but damn few.
I'm not going to pay that labor rate when I can pay $40 per hour for
arguably better work at a field 30 miles SW of here. His flat rate on a
182 annual is $450, which except for the Cessna dealer, is the going
rate around here. I have built up a relationship with this guy over the
last 5 years. My annuals have been between $1000 and $2500. The only
things I defer is the stuff I can do myself, like tires, brakes, etc.
Simply saying a $5000 annual is better than a $500 annual is silly.
There are a few IA's around here that do annuals out of their pickups in
their spare time. They do damn good jobs for very little money,
although I have no interest anymore in opening/closing up the inspection
panels to save a few hundred dollars.

Ron Natalie wrote:
"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message link.net...

Great story. It is amazing how many people expect an annual to cost $1000
when the inspection portion alone is $900. They must think that the
airplane is better than new a year after the last annual.


Of course the converse is that shops will quote "$700" annuals when they know
there is no way the plane will leave the shop for that amount.