It depends on what's all done.
I brought my head into a shop, and it cost me a bit over $900. I do think that this was a bit high, but there was a lot to do. I brought it in with the cams and valves still in, so they:
Disassembled the head
Cleaned and surfaced the casting.
Cleaned the valves
5 angle grind on the seats and valves
Replace all valve stem seals
Check cam bearings (All were okay, but now I'm SURE.)
Assemble head
re-shim all valves to tolerance.
All in all, that wasn't a bad deal, to me.
So it depends on what's included. If I'd just brough in a bare, clean head casting, I'd have been severely annoyed to pay that much just to have it surfaced.