Hi there,
I create consumer internet products like you and I face this problem from time-to-time as Google takes into account page load times as a criteria for ranking your page. If you wish, I can take a copy of your existing configuration, host it on my server, speed up some aspects of it and point out what I fixed as a proof of knowledge if that gives you confidence to get started.
I can completely understand you skepticism regarding developers who claim they can fix page load issues as I've worked with some of them myself in the past and have been unsuccessful in solving them for me.
Let me know if this works for you.
B