Compiling a local repair directory

Hello all,

Hope this is the right area of the forums to put this. One of my goals for this year was to compile a directory of local professionals etc. that could repair items that are brought to us that we don't have the capacity to deal with within the scope of our events, so we can point people in a helpful direction and support the repair economy / small independent businesses.

Now it is half way through 2018 and I haven't got anywhere with this.

My big obstacle to get past is knowing what businesses are trustworthy and we would want to promote without having personally used them. I put a shout-out to our followers on facebook for recommendations to no avail and asked our volunteers and the members of our Transition Towns group that the Repair Cafe is run by.

To any of you who have done something similar, do you have any advice on where to start?

Many thanks.

Hi Jennie,

This sounds like a good idea, but there can be pitfalls. The main one (which you've already spotted) is recommending someone who might not do a very good job. However there is another problem. There might simply not be any repair businesses in your local area.

I was talking to a guy in Sheffield this weekend who collects clocks. Quite a lot of people collect clocks, so you'd think there would be no shortage of repair shops. But he ended up driving to Essex to get his fixed!

I think you'll struggle to compile a local directory, but you might be able to compile a national one. Once you have a national database then it's up to the individual how far they are prepared to travel.

Hi Jenny, at Devon County Council we have such a directory. However we have recently updated it and it took 6 months! Businesses open and close all the time. We have a disclaimer where we state we cant verify the quality of the work undertaken. We are about to do a big launch of the directory as it hasn't been very well used.