To lower your car you need to replace the springs. A popular choice are the H&R springs for the CX-5. They provide a good drop, without sacrificing utility or ride comfort. Cornering performance is improved a bit too. The springs run about $250. Labour,; depends on the area. Around here $80 per hour seems to be the standard rate for automotive labour. It is not difficult to do it yourself provided you have all the required tools (jack, jack stand metric socket set, specifically 12mm, 14mm for sway bar links, 17mm for strut mount bolts, the bolt on holding the strut together (along with an allen wrench, can't remember size) and the cradle for the rear spring (actually this might be 19mm for the rear can't remember) and 22/24mm for the front strut lower attachment, which should be in the form of at least one breaker bar, and a crescent wrench or box wrench to hold and spin, needle nose pliers for the clips holding the ABS wire, 10mm socket to remove the wheel speed sensor , and a set of spring compressors (~$20 new on ebay, or rent from autozone free) and a crows foot or some other spike shaped tool to help chase out and align the spring cradle bolt. An impact gun, such as the low priced electric one from harbor freight helps a lot. DO NOT use power tools on the strut mount bolts). After some time of using H&R's if you want lower the only practical choice is a set of adjustable coil overs. The springs available that are lower than H&R have seen negative owner feedback; basically they are too low for the stock damper. Even if you bought the tools needed to install it, you'd probably pay half of what you'd spend on labour, unless you get a good deal. Plus you'd pretty much have all the tool needed to wrench on just about any part of your car in the future.
