96 Caravan A/C evaporator

The A/C in our 96 Grand Caravan died (again), and the diagnosis is that the
evaporator is leaking. The estimate for this job comes to just shy of
$1000.00. This being the latest in a long line of failures over the last
3-4 years, we're probably just going to live with it until we can replace
the vehicle or something really major goes..

Is this a reasonable estimate for this job? From the shop manual, it looks
like the whole dash as to some apart as well as a number of things in the
engine compartment before you can get the air handler assembly out, so I
tend to believe it. Any tricks to doing this cheaper?