Consumers and self-repair: What do they repair, what skills do they have and what are they willing to learn?

This peer-reviewed study digs into consumer self-repair: what people are willing to fix themselves, the skills they already have, and what they’d learn given the right support. The takeaway is that willingness is high — the missing piece is guidance matched to a person’s actual ability.

That’s the design principle behind OwnWise. A repair is only “DIY” if it’s safe and realistic for you; the same fault can be a confident fix for one person and a call-a-pro for another. OwnWise diagnoses the likely problem and then tells you, plainly, whether it’s within reach to do yourself or better left to a professional — and why.

It turns the willingness this research documents into action, without pushing anyone past their skill or safety limits.