Got my first 03 Subaru WRX and was looking to lower it a little bit to clean up some of the wheel arch gap. I have never lowered a car so wasn't for sure what is needed.

Also does anyone know what a shop would normally charge for this? In terms of labor since I won't have a spring compressor.

 

My garage changed mine for £100 and didn't use spring compressors just a bit of brute fore

 

Don't try and lower it too much, have a look at apex springs they seem to well thought of. I'd allow a couple of hours for a garage to change all four corners so around £100. Would be an idea to get an alignment set up done afterwards too.

 

I have 17" on the car right now and would like to close the wheel gap to about like this..

 

If you want something like that, really the only answer is a good set of coilovers.
It will be too much to try to achieve that same look with springs, because it will cause the car to run out of suspension travel reducing performance and making the ride quality horrible.

Jerrick