Would it be cheaper if I just did it myself?

So you've decided to go ahead and finally get tucked into the work outside of the house! Your sat looking at the snapped branches from the winter winds or hedges which are increasingly further across your garden and taller than they used to be. You wonder if you should try to save yourself the money of hiring a professional or if you should pop to screwfix, buy a set of ladders and a new saw. It can't be that hard right!

Days pass, you've just bought the best domestic hedgecutter, and chainsaw that the local dealer has picked out you. You can trust him right? He sells saws he must know about doing the work too right? Surely they care about the work i'm about to undertake and not just a quick sale?

Your stood in the garden wind blowing, rain tearing down on your face staring at the mess infront of you which used to be a hedge now lapsed and overgrown. You look over and your partner is staring from the window with a cup of tea in hand giving you the thumbs up with a smile on their face. Your stood there shaking your head wondering what got you to this place. The work starts and you are cutting the side of the hedge, its going well, theres a mess on the floor and you couldn't be happier with the £1000 you've just spent on ladders and tools so that you can do the job every year. But your shoulders are starting to ache, the rain is suddenly coming through your waterproofs, your looking upwards at the 15ft+ hedge which used to be a thing of beauty, and you're thinking to yourself, how the hell do i get up there.

A few moments pass and you muster up the courage to put the ladders to it, you start scaling it, its a lot wobblier than you had anticipated and you're carrying a 10kg hedgecutter. After a few more wobbles you draft your partner or a family member in who is now getting wet too and not as enthusiastic as you are. You try to communicate with them but they can't hear you over the loud hedge-cutter and you forgot to buy the ear defenders! So you push on. you reach the top of the ladder and before you lays a 3m wide hedge far wider than you had anticipated. it didn't look this tall or wide from the ground. how can this be?

Determined you thrust your new hedge-cutter into the hardwood, (now thicker than a standard annual hedge cut). But your hedge-cutter bounces off and can't get through! You think to yourself "what is this piece of **** that they've sold me, its useless!' Your heart sinks with disappointment about the new tools you've just bought which you're unsure if you can return. After a few more trips out for tools you need, you're now £1200 down, your family are angry because you've spent the last 4 weekends with the hedge and not with them, and thats not even including the clearing up and the mountain of waste which you'd need 50 garden waste bins for.

The clouds part and you feel the breeze against your skin and you smile to yourself looking at the mess before you wondering why the top of the hedge looks like its been cut with a spoon. You think to yourself, it's nice to be outside, but god i wish i'd just hired a professional.