Prices?!?!?!

[PoorMan]

New guy again...having been out of the scene for a while I'm very much out of touch with today's pricing. I just called a guy about an LS1/LS2 install in a 66-67 Nova and he said he did one that ran about 20k?!?!?! This confuses me when I see things like the 350 Ram Jet for $4,900 (minus installation)...big price difference. I've had similar experiences with other calls. Are these guys blowing me off or what? Granted...I don't have the car yet and, yes, I feel bad that I am taking their time (I try to be brief and to the point), but I'm also not about to get myself into a project that ends up 50K over budget. I'm trying to be smart here and know what I'm getting myself into.

I understand cost is a sensitive subject. If I spent a ton of cabbage building my dream car I probably wouldn't want to tell people off the street what I paid either.

I can install and/or assemble the engine myself. I've done it before but these days I just don't have time. (I guess I could drop the Ram Jet in easily enough.) But this is frustrating. HELP!