I have done much of my own blasting but I've also paid for some since it's messy and the price really is not too bad once you price your media, mess, time and of course health risks. You must protect the lungs. Need to choose media and blaster carefully - don't use the guy who mainly blasts heavy equipment and bridges. I pay around $80/hr here and they can do it faster than me and includes the media though I do a more thorough job myself. It works out to roughly $50 per body panel, inside and out, so a good way to price your own time.
I had body panels stripped by a guy that did plastic bead. The bead removed paint finishes but not bondo or rust and it still left factory markings and original protective coating on the metal. It was a great way to start and picture what really needs work and reduced the toxic mess of the remaining blasting since the paint finish was gone.
For rust and bondo I use a fine ground glass and only use new media (no recycling media as this reduces packing contaminants into the clean "pits" you are making. I use the fine glass since it was abrasive enough for rust removal but not nearly as aggressive as sand, slag, etc to prevent warping. Sand is not healthy to use. I have had friends use the dustless blasting and it left everything messy with a slurry in corners and starting to rust.
I find with the glass that I am actually cleaning everything very well and the part is spotless when done and a really nice texture for epoxy primer. The only drawback is that blast media bounces and removes all coatings into the smallest corners which is good for starting fresh but epoxy primer does not bounce. You may need to brush or airbrush inside the corners of doors, etc as you don't want to leave them naked and freshly blasted as they will rust quickly.
