Apology accepted. I don't know where your concerns (re: $150.00 being too high) come from. In other words, I don't know if you just object to the fee period, or are unhappy with other aspects of your programmers work and therefore are objecting to the fees as a secondary reaction.
Either way, some things to note: 1. Unless you are really unhappy with your installer/programmer, I would be very careful about changing to someone else. There is usually a cost associated with the new person figuring out what the previous person did. Programming is like traveling from one side of the country to the other. There are a hell of a lot of different ways to make the trip. The new person will also have to figure out how EVERYTHING is connected and hooked up which can also involve a LOT of work, DEPENDING on the system. 2. Hourly rates can mean next to nothing depending on the efficiency of your programmer. A programmer that charges $150.00 per hour might cost less in the long run if they are highly skilled and efficient programmer that charges $75.00 per hour. Of course, I’m not saying that someone that charges $150.00 is always going to be good and efficient, just pointing out that someone might appear to charge less, but end up being just as much if not more. 3. FYI, most people who are good are not going to want to even consider taking over someone else’s project on a bid basis, so you are probably going to be paying time and material (by your question it look like you already know that). 4. Another issue is that if you hire a new programmer, you really need someone that will take full responsibility for servicing your entire system, PHAST and all. If you hire a new programmer, who do you call when you have a problem? You need one person to rely on. 5. Do you possess the programming for your system? If not, unless your programmer is willing to provide it, you will have to start over from scratch. Also, does your system run on a PC (if not there is no way for the programming to be extracted from your current system)? And if it does run on a PC, is the PHAST program password protected with a unique password? Again, if you don’t have the password, you may have to start over from scratch.
I'm not trying to talk you out of changing installers/programmers, just trying to warn you of what you may run into. We recently advised a client to change electricians in the middle of the job. It involved a huge cost to bring a new person on board, BUT it was the right decision in the long run. If that is the path for you need to follow, only you can decide. But if you are otherwise relatively satisfied with your installation, I wouldn’t jump boat.
