Someday I will take one to a LAQ...I'm not that good of a piecer yet in my opinion. I do love to do the quilting myself on my little domestic machine. I have spent more time on the quilting than on the piecing...so I can see where a LAQ has to charge enough to make a profit.
Since I am not a LAQ, I haven't had the experience myself, but I would think that taking someone else's work (that they believe to be wonderful and perfect) and having it wave, rumple, and otherwise misbehave and then turning it into the "treasure" that the maker believes it to be...well...I think LAQers are just MAGIC! Whatever the cost is...they probably don't charge enough in most cases.