just to keep the midas thing alive..... I go to asian shop if I need somthing serious done like clutch. They had replaced the clutch "wrong" (in my opinion) once-- and it took them about 45 min to redo the whole deal(including fixing the fork. it was slightly bent )

 

Brakes are super easy to do yourself!! After my uncle changed mine for me 8yrs ago, I have done all of my own. Just did my wifes a month ago and it took like 45 min. You do need something to compress the thing that pushes the pad to the rotor, other than that you don't need anything special.
As far as your lugs go, if you pay attention, **** like that will not happen! Not knocking you just saying to look your ride over mor than once every 6 months.

 

JAL1639, when you do your brakes, do you put lubricant on the area where the back of the pad meets the caliper. I've aslo been told that i will need brake cleaner and anti squeak compound to keep my brakes from squeaking after i install them.