My PB outsourced another company to startup my pool.
All they did was added bunch of acid (gallons) and chlorine (gallons).
They never did any test before or after. I was so upset that I took over the balancing on the 3rd week.
They were nice enough to hand over the acid for me to add to my pool slowly.
My test kits cost around $150-170, I couldn't decide which to get so I got bunch of them. K1005, 2006, Pool Master, teststrips. Note: just get TF100 or K2005 or 6, it will save you a lot of $, should have read TFP ahead of time.
As far as the material goes, it's under $100.
The $1000 they charge is probably labor. How many weeks are they doing it for you?