150/hr is cheap for a group of software engineers. To contract one software engineer out as a systems analyst you can expect to pay that just for one.

I think you are being unreasonable if you were quoted $150/hr to have an app developed properly by a reputable business. However they cant do anything if they cant guarantuee it will work.

I charge $50/hr to do web development / programming and that is a big mates-rates and I am seriously undercutting the market. But, I get work that way.

Edit - Project I have just finished at work was 1.1 Million over 3 years. And that was just for a proof of concept. We barely broke even.