I am looking at getting a custom ring made for my girlfriend, but I am starting to get sick of jewellers quoting me $2000+ just for the band plus labor. On top of that, they are saying another $1-2k for the stones I want. Why the hell is the band and labor so god damn expensive? Is it normally like this, or am I just getting ripped off?

Any recommendations for the Sydney area?

Gold is priced according to purity - ie 9ct, 18ct ect. Less pure gold is stronger but dull. A nice band of 18k say as wide as a pencil should cost around $1000.
Diamonds are priced due to their weight, colour, imperfections ect. A good diamond will always look better than a cheap one. I recomend D colour with a max of 2 inclusions. Then it's up to how much you want to spend - 0.5ct weight of that quality will set you back about $2,000+. You can get a 1ct weight from Zamels for a grand or so though.
As for setting and labour - I would think if you buy both the metal and the stones from the same place it should not be expensive - depending on difficulty.

Thinking about it, I pretty much agree with Pitbull. My mrs could be wearing all cheap jewellery from a chain store and she wouldn't know the difference. I got her earrings from Tiffany & Co for Christmas that would have been about $200 at a chain store. The other $900 as for the box...might be a market there actually....

cisco said...
If you know jewelery pawn shops can be a good place to shop.

Until the person it was stolen from sees it on you.

davidparums.com/

this guy does a little female jewellery