Suspension advice

So I have an 03 ep3 with pretty much blown stock suspension. I was thinking about a mild drop with Tein high tech springs (1.2 inch drop) and KYB excel-g shocks. Free shipping from corsportusa.com.. the springs are $220, front shocks are $247, and rear shocks are $179. That's $646.00 shipped. Plus tax and I'll be needing new strut mounts. They're $45.00 from Advance auto Parts. So about $691.00 total in parts. (please feel free to recommend any other struts or lowering springs in a similar price range.)

Now the shop that is conveniently located next to my job charges $95.00 per hour and said it would be around 6 or 7 hours of labor. They said assembling the spring onto the strut takes longer than preloaded replacements or coilovers. So that's $570 - $665 in labor.

$1,356.00 all said and done if I pay cash. At this point I'm wondering, would coilovers be around the same price? Slightly cheaper in labor.. I've seen Tein street basis z coilovers less than $500.00. Or even
Godspeed mono rs around $750.00. I don't really feel the need to raise and lower the car too often but if it'll be around the same price as the static kyb and Tein springs set up, I might consider coilovers.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

PS: another super cheap option but probably not such great quality. I guess oem replacements, no drop:
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For 1300 you can definitely get a nice set of coil overs, i would recommend staying away from cheap coil overs, i currently have the godspeed mono rs and I am regretting it, the constantly loosen and are clunking, i would stick with Tein or Fortune 500, the fortune 500 are a bit more expensive but from everyone i have talked to they love them, now if you want to go with a shock spring combo, the RSX Aspec kit fits our cars with minor modifications to the rear bushing and only drops it about an inch and the come fully assembled, however they are discontinued but if you hunt you can find them, there go for roughly around 600 or so, also a good strut is tokico and the obvious koni as well, these will work with stock springs or aftermarket springs. Just so you know to get the best spring rates you will have to go with coilovers, and they are very easy to install.

What he said. Spend a little more and you will experience better ride quality. I have bilsteins that I got from 4wheelonline. These shocks are solid and have good damping.