I tried installing the really wide boards and it is harder to get the corners right and to make the joins for longer walls.

Well that sounds like a bargain either way. We just paid $2500 for baseboards + casing and we are not in a high $ market...

ok, you guys are making me feel better about it. We are having 240 linear feet. The cost is just for installation. He said he will paint them for an extra $300, do you think it's worth it, or should we try to paint them ourselves?

If you paint them yourselves, do it ahead of time so that you'll only have to do touchup when installed.

It's kinda a pain to paint them when they're in but not too bad in the garage on sawhorses. They'll probably need a light sanding job beforehand too.

Definitely do your sanding and a quality prime coat (even on pre-primed) before installation. Some people put the first coat of paint on too.

Ditto on painting before installation. The installation price sounds great, but you can easily save money by painting yourself.

Having painted a few hundred feet of wide baseboards in my garage, I would pay the extra money to get it done. It was hard work and took a lot of space in the garage to get them spaced out properly.

I do find the older I get, the more attractive it is to hire people to do the labour.

If you have space in your garage and enough sawhorses, painting baseboards is very easy. It's a lot less annoying than priming/painting 9-ft. textured ceilings. As me how I know. :)

Sometimes it's worth it to pay someone else to do the work. Other times, I treat myself to something I want (can be totally un-kitchen-related) with the money I save. I got an iPad with the money I saved painting my kitchen myself.