AVR-Chat

Hi Folks,

Is there a rule of thumb for estimating the cost of getting circuit
boards assembled?  I have a board that is about 1" x 1" with 25
surface mount parts - most of these are standard 0603 resistors and
caps.  Does anybody know what a per part cost I might be able to use
for estimating the cost if I'm going to get 500 to 1000 of these made?
Any guesses? 

I got one official quote for $19.50 each which almost made me fall off
my chair.  The 500 piece cost for the electonic parts from Digi-key is
about $4.20 so asking for $15.30/ea $500 qty) to put the parts on the
boards seems excessive.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Richard Cooke
Lake Forest, CA USA