No point soliciting general public and amateur mechanics about their opinion of professional tuners mate. Sheeple on forums typically don't have the same mods, driving requirement or even the same car as you, and many self-professed experts are self aggrandising backyard boofheads out of the loop: On LS1 for eg. there is one loud mouth who (thinks he) runs the show, drives around Wagga Wagga with "V8 Tuner" number plates, bitches and bags professionals nationally because he is one of the few in his town with a laptop plus he downloaded some "car software". Reality is he's a backyard tuning novice who (didn't) know there was another motor variant in the VE apart from L98 (discontinued four years ago), and timing should never go beyond 24º up the top end.
Car tune: There are two main software platforms to tune GM GenIV, each has specific advantages but do roughly same thing. The competency or proficiency of the operator may have bugger all to do with his ability to provide a good service, same as hands-on race track experience doesn't mean squat for your bolt-on street MAF tweak. Most yahoos use HPT, which I've found ideally suited to transmission tune and quick MAF tune, not so crash hot when it comes to tuning AFM or e85 calcs – EFILive has more advanced capabilities I've found. Basic flash load and tweak of tune will cost between $500-700. If you are racing and want to tune for high rpm WOT power delivery then a dyno run will cost a couple of hundred more, and that money will buy some quantitative results. In my experience that is a waste of money for most people.
Having spent almost $10,000 tuning same car as you, I have no hesitation suggesting a remote tuning tool so a tuner can interface directly with your ECU and flash a base tune. Then with your feedback and log files will be able to tune until it drives like you want. This will cost about the same as a flash tune in the city but you are part of both the tuning and communication process. OFC if you have no idea and don't know what you want then go to a tuner in Sydney because there is heaps of professional competition. The key here is communication of your expectation in the first place, listening to the expert(s), and deciding whether you want the result he is communicating.
Shop around the leading proponents of EFILive and HPTuners and you will find the difference between a **** tune and a good one is not an art, but demonstrated hours of commercial and technical experience, so it may make sense to leverage his experience while improving your knowledge / technical skills tuning at your home via email on your PC.
