We recently conducted a survey to find out what you loved, liked and weren’t so warm and fuzzy during your Open Shed experience. We were surprised and very grateful for the responses! The passion you showed for collaborative consumption and also how genuinely interested in Open Shed people are was very heart warming- so thank you very much!

We have taken some time to distil all your awesome feedback- and here it is in overview.

How did you first hear about Open Shed?

Friend power is driving the Open Shed word about town with 26% of respondents being friends of co-founders Duncan and Lisa and just over 18% found out through a friend due to the survey, or through general conversation. Couple this with social media like Facebook and Twitter accounting for almost 20% and we can see word of mouth certainly is certainly our ally! Thanks for being so vocal about Open Shed- we really appreciate it! If at any time we can help you spread the word further, just give us a shout!

What sorts of Open Shed services have you made use of over time?

Considering quite a few of you have discovered us via social media, it comes at no surprise that just over 39% of respondents track us through social media. From our sample, 26% of you have taken the plunge and already listing your items- Yay! Interestingly, 26% of people have checked out the Open Shed site but haven’t popped their hand up to join, list or even follow the journey on social media or the blog. Don’t be shy- we’re a pretty friendly bunch! The more the merrier and we’d dearly love to have you join in on our journey in some way!

Have you used any of the following collaborative consumption businesses?

55% of you have not used a collaborative consumption business- whoa Nelly do we feel privileged that you are popping by to check us out! If we have whetted your appetite for collaborative consumption and you haven’t checked them out, please see Lisa’s blog posts on her picks here.

It’s great to see the original re-use artists Reverse Garbage have seen over almost 23% of you finding something to re-use and 18% have been riding the couch surfing travel wave through AirBnB - and that the collaborative consumption message is catching on with car share, LETS and all kinds of great ideas.

Why are you interested in Open Shed? (What is it that interests you about Open Shed?)

We asked you to give us all the reasons you might be interested in Open Shed here. Just under 83% of you like the idea of sharing with other people! This is great news because this is the true heart of collaborative consumption- bringing people together to share what we all have so everyone can benefit!

52% of you want to lessen your environmental impact and 40% are truly passionate about your being active and supportive in your local community.

Contrary to what we had been lead to believe (sometimes by naysayers admittedly), we found 29% of you were interested in the cash side of things, but helping others, not being wasteful, sharing and community were much more important than cold, hard, folding notes. It’s moments like this that make Open Shed even more awesome- because we can now say our members and our Open Shed friends choose us because they care about people, the planet and making their community a positive one in which to exist!

What kinds of items interest you the most?

Attracting the handy, well travelled, rugged outdoorsy type is an Open Shed speciality - or so says our survey results with 65% of you being interested in DIY, a further 40% being interested in gardening, 36% interested in sharing travel and holiday equipment and 33% wanting to pump up the exercise regime. However everyone is willing to share loads and loads- books, cooking stuff, the latest IT, kid’s toys- hell, we even had a request for power boats and sheds! Again, we asked you to give us all the reasons you might be interested in Open Shed here.

What kinds of situations would prompt you to rent an item?

Once again, we asked you to give us all the reasons you might be interested in Open Shed here. Short life tasks around the home and a bit of the old fashioned DIY is what 70% and 69% respectively say interest you the most.

53% closely follow on the heels with their party hats on for those one day hires for one off special events.

You also want to try new things, have cool stuff for your holidays, use things for creative endeavours and try before you buy. Is it safe to say almost anything goes?

Why would you list an item?

We’ve heard a lot of theories about why you might want to list an item, so we wanted to make sure we also captured each motivation for listing in this question too. Getting a bit of extra pocket money tickles 55% of you when it comes to listing an item, 49% of you just want to help other people out and 32% just want to share the joy their things give them with others (you sweet little things), and 42% would just like to feel a little less guilty about how much stuff you have accumulated. All things that are extremely valid and all things we can relate to 100% of the time.

Why haven’t you listed an item/more items?

Topping the list of reasons why you haven’t listed are being unsure what people would rent from you, you haven’t got the time to tackle the task of listing, you don’t know the value of your items in terms of bond and rental and you’ve only just discovered Open Shed and need a little more time. We get it and we are here to help!

Couple of tips for you-

• If you are worried about what you should and shouldn’t rent, check out what other people have listed, check what sorts of things people are looking for in these survey results, share things your friends often borrow from you already, and ask us for help and advice!

• Time is a big thing for most people, but your commitment to Open Shed can be as big or as small as you want it to be. Just try listing one item and see how you go. Or you can get ideas from Bek’s quick and dirty guide to renting.

When working out the value equation behind a listing, follow the calculator on this page. Keep in mind when you are renting from someone else, whilst a price may look expensive compared to retail, you are gaining easy access, not having to worry about extra space for a new item, the ability to find something near you for a short usage and check both the daily and weekly prices as quite a few items are much cheaper for a longer rental period to discourage one day borrowing.

For those of you who have just discovered Open Shed, you take all the time you need- we’re glad to have you! Welcome aboard! Make sure you check out our blog to get the full picture!

Would you travel for a rental?

Admittedly, the Open Shed team have puzzled over this one privately for a while. However thanks to your honesty, we now have an answer. 30% of you want your Open Shed experience to be local, 26% of you would only travel if it was a rare or special item and a further 25% would as long as it wasn’t longer than half an hour.

What could we do to make Open Shed more your kind of thing?

Topping the pops for making Open Shed your kind of thing are having more stuff in your local area, having more variety of items available and concerns about not getting your items back in one piece. We get it, which is why we will be choosing some target areas to focus on to draw more people to Open Shed and looking at partners who may be able to allay those fears about items being returned in not so good condition.

We do want to remind you all though that Open Shed is run on people power. So if you want more items to rent in your local area, help us by promoting us in your community! And if you want more variety, why not lead the charge by listing things you have? Or if you are worried about people not taking care of your items, remember to set an appropriate bond to deter breakage, remember you have the right to decline a rental if you don’t feel right about the person AND if you have insurance, most of the time this will be covered.

Where do we find you and where to next?

Most of our responses came from Sydney and Melbourne - however we crossed the Nullarbor and got a holler or two from WA, ducked into Adelaide, did a small regional tour from QLD before hitting Brisbane, the Riverina and on to regional Victoria. Heck we even gained interest from Germany, Norway and South America from ex-pat Aussies who think the idea is so damn cool!

Please note: We are a national service and we certainly don’t stop people from joining or listing and sometimes there might not be other Open Shed members for you to rent from in your area. YOU can help bring Open Shed to your town or area through spreading the word amongst your friends, social groups, work places, schools and community! Not sure how? Check out here and here

We had some really clever, thoughtful and eye opening suggestions that came through from the survey on where we should advertise - so thank you ever so much! We had over 90 individual suggestions from big scale to small grass roots campaigns and are just amazed at how clever a bunch of people you are! From here, we will be tackling partnerships, editorial opportunities, checking out online directories, looking at the website and our social media and even hitting the pavement as our first ports of call! Watch this space for more details!

One more thing before we go. We want to open the Open Shed door to you if you wish to give us any further feedback, or if you need help with anything from your listing to promoting Open Shed in your local area, please feel free to contact us! You can call on 1300 953 534 or email – thank you for being so much a part of what makes Open Shed great - we appreciate your support so very much!

About the author The fabulous Bek from Unashamedly Creative is working with Duncan and I to make Open Shed the best it can be! Bek took the survey in hand and has helped us distill the results into some exciting practical actions. You can get to know Bek via twitter and Facebook.