Took me an two hours to take off the vacuum pump to change the gasket and put it back. Also two hours for the valve cover gasket, because getting the old one out was tough, it was so stuck in place.
But I'm no mechanic, so I took a bit longer.
Agreed though, £700 is nuts. What are they charging, £150 an hour? Mad.
Get it done by an independent if you're not that much into DIY, as one of the bolts on the high pressure fuel pump can be annoying if you have an earlier MK5 (upside-down banjo bolt with M8 Spline bit) when getting to the vacuum pump.