RE: Fair price to pay for building an ARF
I used to assemble ARFs for club members, $125.00 for a trainer and I maidened the plane and had it in trim before I handed over the owners TX to them. I was in shock because almost every person I assembled for was retired and stated they didn't have the time to assemble there own planes. If you don't have the time then your going to be paying someone like me to assemble it for you. If the plane was something more then a trainer then I charged more depending on what it was.
I also teach my own students how to assemble ARFs and set them up, these people are friends and not charged for the lessons. I even teach friends/students how to build kits, again, it's free and takes a big bunch of my time.
I have one friend I taught to fly and he bought the Pulse 60 and for the most part all I had to do was answer a few questions over the phone and talk him through a few things. I did go over and help him set up his controls, no big deal and the beer was cold.
The Pulse is an outstanding ARF with good hardware, goes together very easy and fly's great. There are no surprises in a good ARF like that but some of the cheap ARFs like CMP can be full of surprises and missing hardware of just junk, not a first time assemblers best choice.
If you can't do it yourself expect to pay someone to do it for you unless you have a friend to help. Just being a club member does not make you a friend.