I have always done my own binding. I actually enjoy the hand part. I have never mastered making a machine sewn binding look nice on front and back. That being said my hands and especially my eyes are starting to cause me Real problems, to the point I may have to give up hand sewing eventually. so if I had a special quilt I would think about paying someone to do it.
I have a question. I see you talking about inches, linear inches and running inches. What is the difference?