Skimcoat my ceiling

Ceilings are not easy, even after being skimmed you still might see waves, just so you know.

Is the area empty? or is there a lot of protection needed? I would say it should be somewhere in the middle around $2,000.00

areas not empty but I will be able to move most of my furniture out of the room - there are bubbles everywhere, some starting to crack, i have had three people in hoping that it is a primer issue and not plaster, but so far seems like I need a skimcoat

received estimates from 1350 to 2200 for the same job

It sounds like you do need the ceiling to be skimmed. Find out how the different people are going to skim, for example, how many coats

Just bolt big sheets of corrugated aluminum (the wavy kind, not the boxy kind) to the ceiling and be done with it. No painting needed, so no repainting needed.