What's a reasonable cost to install a 12x14 bluestone patio in our backyard at the base of a new deck/stairs that were built? This would be for French bluestone, uneven sizes of pavers, rectangles/ squares, varying colors, that classic pretty look that we have seen in other posts.

My GC (who I generally like and who is doing other work now) had originally quoted me a $5500 price to put in a cement patio, saying pavers would save $1500 so would be $4000. He was assuming something like a 200 square foot patio area, more or less (around 13x15 perhaps). I asked about the bluestone pavers and he originally said they were in the budget for the cement patio, so I said we should go for it.
Now of course costs have escalated in other areas of the job so I told him I probably need to skip the patio entirely to offset against the added interior costs. But I did ask to price out the cost again and now he's saying his original proposal didn't include the MATERIALS and those are around $19/square foot which he puts at around $3,000, plus almost $4000 for labor. So an entirely new number.
I have no idea what's reasonable for labor here. The materials cost sounds fine, we have under 200 square feet now, around 12 or 13 by 14-15 foot rectangle, but my $5,000 deck just turned into a $7,000 deck. is this creative numbers on his part, a misunderstanding or something else? I don't think he's being dishonest, but it's really confusing. and I didn't price out the terrace as a separate job so i don't know if this is out of bounds.
Thanks for any feedback.
PS - I'm in Brooklyn in NYC and realize that the actual cost will depend in part on the location, and I'm in a higher-priced location, but I think the question is worthwhile here anyway.