I will echo what has been said, if you are comfortable with the process and have an uncomplicated case, you can do it yourself. Also, there's a lot the consultants can't do for you, you still end up having to get all your documents and you're still responsible for that is on the form. Finally, having a representative doesn't make the process any faster, IMHO, in fact it adds another layer of bureaucracy in there as you pass stuff off to the representative and they send it on.