Homebrew PCBs

The few times I've had to remove big SMT parts, I put a dime (or a
quarter, depending on size) on my hotplate (and two off the hotplate)
and place the board such that the dime is right under the part to be
removed.  A dab of solder paste next to the part so I know when it
hits melting temp, and turn on the hotplate.  A few minutes later, the
paste melts and I just lift the part off the board, then remove the
board from the dime.

The chipquik idea seems useful, but (1) you still have to figure out
how to heat that area of the board, and (2) I worry about removing
enough chipquik paste to make the reworked solder joints reliable.
(not that I'm making boards that need *that* much reliability, but I
have enough problems without introducing more... ;)