Is this something you would consider trying yourself? I will tell you from experience what you are going to get into. The rubber insert is crimped on under the brass cladding. If it is good and you can protect it, the plating process will not damage it. The only way I have successfully removed those is place the handle in boiling water to soften it and use a pick to remove it. Then you must use hand painted urethane to fill it back again.
Now you will generally need to have the nickel plating removed by the plater unless you can polish it off. Then the brass will need to be worked and polished to a lustre. At that point the plater can do his magic. If the shaft of the handle is worn, that will need to be welded up and filed smooth. There are a couple other detail items that must be done on the thimble / etc. but that is the jest of it. As far as the costs, you will generally see between 3-5 hours invested in restoring each handle. Multiply that by the labor rate and the plater's charge.
