One shop will say $700.00 for the anual another $1000.00 and
the third at 1400.00. I am sure that inspection tome should be the same. Shop
rates can vary, but how much??

In the New England area shop rates vary from $50 an hour to $80 an hour on
averag. My shop is $67 an hour. Lots of shops give away annual labor in order
to gain money on parts sales and follow on business. Other shops have decided
to bill accurately and completely for every job from the start. I always
stress that the fixed price is for the inspection and the labor to gain access
but does not include service items and repairs. We record time in tenths of an
hour increments.

Again why do shops give an estimate to do the annual, then add for additional
parts and labor.

Because I generally know how long the actual inspection will take. That is one
fixed cost in the entire annual process that I can guarrantee. Our shop
decided some time ago that the fixed rates established by the manufacturers
seem to low and addded 5 to 10 hours to most of them based on our own time
reports provided by our mechanics.

The cost of parts and additional labor to correct discrepancies cannot really
be known unless you see the aircraft regularly between annuals and sometimes
not even then.

John Dupre'