I think even 5k each might be a little low. 5k each plus another 10-15k for operating expenses might be a better place to start ourside of the bidding from. Remember we through out a high figure, he throws out a low one, and then we meet in the middle, with your skill level you should be able to make that middle much closer to ourside of the line then his, but by only increasing his bid by 2k, when we know he started off by low balling as all Johnson's do, it makes it easier for him to get the agreed on price to be 4k since he will want less then 5k and we want more then 3.
The other thing to suggest is that he tapped some muscle, and that without the muscle, and extra set of eyes and ears, it will be more difficult, so he should include what he was going to pay the muscle as part of our payment as well.
If you can get him to agree to 4k or 5k each, and the business expenses, and to throw in what he was going to pay the muscle that didn't show... that would be between 6-8k each. Or about 40k for the whole operation (34k if only paying 4k)