All great information.
I was lucky to have other builders near that used the same DAR and with that came an established game plan. He charged $800 ( 6 hrs. travel time split with an aircraft 1 hr away). First phone call (of 5) to introduce myself lasted 20 mins as he explained the process, no inspection date would be scheduled until he had copies of all the required paperwork (phone photos emailed) for his review. He provided a detailed checklist of paperwork and aircraft prep. He knew and spoke with my ?mentors? regarding workmanship. All this took time on his part to make inspection day successful and exciting. It was.
FAA inspectors are free, but do it on their available time. In S Fla. they do it so seldom, they do it in groups of threes. One to do it, one to watch that he does it right, and one to get checked off on how to do it.
Finally, with FAA Oklahoma, the people are great but saturated, 30+ days behind to register....and I am terrible at paperwork....I hired a local company for $90 to handle the registration in 2 days. Good thing.....Vans forgot to place in my kit an official ?Bill of Sale?. Only the original is accepted by OK and they FEDEX it overnight to OK. I thought Vans invoice stamped PAID would work.
The DAR is paid not for an event but for the entire enchilada.
The FAA, by design, is a bump and grind, unpredictable.
The FAA wants you to use a DAR.
They are stretched thin.
Finally part 2..... insurance companies have their rules too....get that duck
quacking now to avoid surprises. T?s and I?s.
Cheers
R