How is the wood fastened to the subfloor? Nailed? Glued? Floating?
There are certain cases where to properly fix a few problem boards requires taking out the entire row.

Now i am just speculating at this point. But minor to you may seem minor but there could be a lot more work involved. Especially being a prefinished product.

Feather patching is expensive no matter your location. It requires skill to make it look seemless / flawless.

On the other hand you might have just gotten a bad quote. I would call the guy and ask him to run through how the work will cost this much. Get specifics. That way you will know what he plans to do then if you wanted you could grab another quote and compare prices with an expected knowledge of the job.

Also if you got a quote from a GC chances are hes gonna sub that out and upcharge what his sub is costing him and pass the bill onto you.

The floor is nailed down. The area is in a bay window at the end of the kitchen. The quote was written as "replace 8-10 boards" so I don't think they are taking extras out. I have another guy coming today to quote the job so I am hoping his price is better. No GC's are involved.