I did axle seals on my 12' not too long ago after wheeling in ice and finding a way to fry them (don't ask, just look at the Avatar). I've had quite a bit of experience pulling things off the front end now, but with air tools there's no way it's a 6-7 hour job for a professional shop. The hardest part was breaking loose the rotors and unit bearings that were seized on from a year of Midwestern winter road salt. I've taken apart the front end quite a few times now, and it's about 40 min for me from start to axle shafts completely removed (while watching TV in the garage). It was longer the first time due to corrosion and learning as I went. You have to pull the carrier, which is a bit scary if it's the first time you've done it, but keep the same shims on each side they came off of and you'll be fine. You can make a seal seating tool from a threaded rod, fender washers and nuts, and as long as I spent the time to line it up, it went very well.
I'm not saying you should tackle it necessarily, but google it and see what you're getting into, at least you'll learn what the shop you take it to is going to do. The only big piece of advice I can give (which I didn't follow), was to have an extra abs sensor handy before taking it apart on a work night. I was as careful as I could be and still broke one in the unit bearing. I drove to work the next morning with no abs or esp in the snow and ice for the first time in about a decade.
