Any reputable place should sugest the above, since the labor will be the biggest part of that bill and if you only do a partial, you will soon be doing the other side..
Depending on the shape of the vehicle and the mileage you got before it toasted, figure with redone head gaskets it will get another however many thou miles. (Head gaskets fails are notorious on Subaru's, especially the 1998-2006(?) vintage, usually at around 125k miles give or take. Don't know if they have 'fixed' it in the latest models or not.)
Anyway, having it done right by someone you have to pay to do it (as opposed to doing it your self) should run you more in the vicinity of $1600 unless the labor rate down in those southern parts of Joisey is a lot more expensive than up in the lumpy part of the state where I took mine (in the shadow of the Highpoint monument).
I chose to fix the head gaskets on my '98 because the body and everything else was in good shape, and if I get a second 150k out of it I come out ahead.
Your mileage and comfort zone may vary.. ;-)
And whatever you do, DON’T go to a dealer.
Unless you have a secret gold mine..
At times like these, ask yourself, “What would Elon Musk do?”
He’d probably saw New Jersey off from the rest of the states, and float it down to North Carolina.
This doesn’t help your situation, but it might give you perspective.
Mine is a 2003 with 151k on it right now which leads me to believe that someone has already replaced the head gaskets on it before I bought it with 130k or so on. Still trying to find some maintenance records in hopes that I won’t need to spend $1600. The gaskets aren’t blown yet but I would rather not wait until they do.