Calling all gunsmiths! I have never had any professional gunsmithing work done on my firearms until today. I was shocked at the costs, almost all of which was labor. I dropped off the rifle at 2PM, picked it up at 5PM, so were looking at a max of 3 HRs. Below are all the work and new parts I needed to buy from them. All other parts were supplied by me. I was prepared to pay extra to expedite servicing and even that I didnt purchase much from them direct.

Trigger - removed standard trigger and had new 2S installed (trigger group supplied by me)
Feed ramps - polished, smoothed feed ramps
Handguard install - Removed old standard handguard, front sight, and gas block (bought a low pro gas block) and was installed - new gas tube (purchased from them) and installed
Muzzle break - removed old A1 style, installed new one supplied by me

Before I reveal my total paid, tell me your estimate on all of this work. As far as the market, I was in northern MD. Feel free to take into account I asked for same day turnaround, and only purchased the gas block and gas tube from them....

Probably 1.5-2hrs shop time at $60/hr, so $120 in case they bill hourly only. Parts with markup and sales tax: $65. I guess $185

$175.00

I guess $120 total.

I live in MD. I'm estimating $225 all in.

JPK

$325. My skills come at a price.

:)

Wild guess before reading all replies,

$120 plus parts

From what I have read and was told by referrals, these guys are good, but I paid more than even this.

I'm not going to disclose total...the tail between my legs is way too proud.

Wow - wish I could have run my business in your neck of the woods...

$150-175, before reading replies.

I can build a complete rifle in about an hour, but that ability isn't cheap.

I have never been patient enough to shop around. Might be time to start doing so...

by

I paid $250.00 to have a Hibben Model UH extractor fixed and it took the gunship a year to get around to fixing it.

you got robbed.

Is your ass sore? You dun got raped.

Not trying to kick a man while he's down, but you couldn't do this work yourself? I could maybe see someones hesitation to not want to polish the feed ramps, but everything else is done with common hand tools. Hammer, wrench, punch and maybe a screwdriver and/or Allen key.

I know, I know. From what I watched online, I didn't feel uncomfortable about any of it. I should have just done it myself and "break glass in case of"....

What I'd charge, excluding cost of parts:
Swap trigger, cust. provided parts: $20
Polish/uniform M4 feed ramps: $30
Swap handguard & A2 gasblock w/ low-pro (incl. dimple barrel if needed) & new handguard: $45 ($60 if installing a free-float handguard)
Swap muzzle device: Free if just crush washer, $10 if using spacers to time new device.

Total I'd charge: $95-$130.
Time wise I'd have about 30min of actual work into it, though would need an hour due to being interrupted with retail clerk/phone questions 3-5 times while working on it.

I would have done the work for a couple beers.  Your choice of neighbors is severely lacking. 

I am a car-smith and a gun-plumber.  

$150 to $225 with the first being a $50 hourly rate and the latter a $75 hourly rate.  The "smith" may have a flat rate shop fee per item and may have gone that route.

I'm in line with the $120-$150 range. Question out of curiosity, what was going on with the feed ramps that required polishing or re-profiling?

Its an anti state $350

Why on earth did you not agree to a price before leaving your gun with them? That is the real lesson here.

That stuff should be discussed and agreed upon before work starts.

You paid the price for expediency and a little milking, that is all. Lesson learned and next time you will be the wiser for it.

If I was a licensed gunsmith I would say $120-150 would likely be about right.

I do it as a hobby and learning experience though so it would likely have been some beer or friendly help.

However, as a guy who is involved with a family business in a service industry, when the customer wants it done "right now, ASAP" you charge way more for the inconvenience.

In the case of same day turnaround service I would expect to pay 3 to 5 times the normal rate.

As an example look at shipping costs, what's the difference between next day and standard.

You didn't pay for the complexity of the job, you paid for it being expedited.

Perfect

This is how I was billed. Each "job" had its own fee. Low pro gas block, basic no frills, was almost $40, which I thought was high. I did not plan on having my feed ramps buffed and polished as I never really had any feed issues with my rifle. He charged me $40 for this. The only item we did not discuss was the fee to have it expedited, which was $75. I honestly thought that they way the conversation was going, he wasn't going to charge me at all.

For those asking...yes...yes, my butt hurts, but lesson learned and next time I am calling wildearp from this forum and bringing a 30 pack of his favorite brew....

Did you request “expedited” service...or “same day” service that started at 2PM?

$120-150 plus parts would be about right in my area in the normal turn time. For a “get it done quick" request ...that generally comes at an added cost.

I do agree that you should have been informed of the total price (plus parts) before the job started.

Less than $200 in this area I would guess.

For reference, I took 3 rifle to a gunsmith in VT last year. One was a model 55 that I wanted taken apart and cleaned. The other was a model 100 that I needed the safety switched around and he also did the firing pin recall and ordered me a magazine for it. The big deal was a model 24 that needed some fixing. The locking bolt was broken(I bought that), it needed the rimfire firing pin replaced, and he did machine a shim for the internals of the break action as well as some other internal cleaning/work. Total for all of that was $360 including a magazine that was $80 just for that. So figure $280 for the rest. I felt like that was reasonable.

If you requested the "drop everything until my work is done" service, many places would double your bill to make it worth their while. Three-hour exclusive service can be expensive.

Yeah,  that wanting it right then is what kicked your wallet.

That said I still feel like you got taken a bit.  AR work is pretty easy...

Thats 1 hour shop time on a bad day, $50 should have been it.

Couple days late to this party, but I wanted to put a guess out there before reading on.

Now, I have a very good gunsmith I've gotten in with and will pretty much let only his shop work on my firearms. He's an absolute expert, and a standup guy. On more than one occasion he's done work for free, or damn near close to free. Part of that is probably having built a rapport. Part of that has been that I've bought some of the parts from him that he installed for free. But I feel like he does the same for a lot of people. It keeps them coming back. Take care of someone on the small things and they'll come back when something big is needed. So, pricing I'm used to is probably below the normal market.

What I have learned from the interactions is that it's not like other hourly work. More important than the time spent is what my smith calls, "the PITA factor".  An hour spent honing and polishing isn't the same as an hour dropping a LPK into a stripped lower. One, it takes a more seasoned professional to do right. Two, it requires a great deal more of concentration and attention to detail. So, based upon the PITA factor, here's my guess.

Labor
FCG install: $20-$30
Feed Ramps: $50-$75
Handguard and GB: $50-$75
Muzzle Device: $10-$15

Parts
GB & GT: $50

So I'll just guess right in the middle and say you were OTD for $210 + tax.

The feed ramps require some attention to detail. The HG and GB, depending on what you went with, aren't always a walk in the park. I may have gone a little on the high end given the inferred sticker shock. At that price, I wouldn't be ecstatic. But, I wouldn't go as far as to say I was taken for a ride.

Now to find out if I was close...

Ken must have no overhead, no FFL to pay for, or just no real need for a paying job. I wish I could be so independently wealthy

That would be less than $200 by me