The shop I used recently charges $250 for a balance job, so that's not far off from your balance CHECK price. From what the machinist was telling me, modern assemblies don't usually require mallory because pistons are on the lighter side. Of course any mallory used would increase cost.
It takes about the same amount of time to recheck as it would to do an initial balance, so why would the cost differ much?
Awesome, good to know. Thank you. Did you recheck the balance, or install it as-is?