There are deffinate gains to be had from porting but like everyone else already said you need to tune it/add more fuel to truly take advantage of the extra flow. Some of the swirl lip can be removed, not quite all of it though, that'll hurt the bottom end, top end you don't really need it at all. Your buddy is right about gasket matching, for the most part you will only see a 2-6% gain, but it varies manufacturer to manufacturer, depending on casting quality etc.
And NO, simply increasing mass flow on gasser is not how you make power porting, velocity is of extreme importance in a gas cylinder head, this is the most common mistake in porting-going to big/increasing mass flow=killing velocity= loss in power.
$1000 in my opinion is high. I've ported a few TDI heads with good results. But if that $1000 is for porting alone and NO rebuilding or assembly reassembly than its pretty high. In comparison I port tdi heads for $500, this is the porting only, no rebuilding or assembly/dissassembly.