Why we started Makerswap

Makerswap is a response to a few things I have experienced in my life, one of the key things is to try and help people do tasks themselves. I feel this both provides a sense of achievement and also saves them some money!

Let me rewind a bit - Back in the late 1990’s I was at university in Australia studying Jewellery and silversmithing, This course came with access to a well kitted out machine shop and tools. I used these tools to re-make the pipes for my rusting cooling system in my 1973 Mazda out of stainless steel so I wouldn’t need to worry about them again.

I graduated, moved to Wollongong and realised I couldn't fix things any more? I didn't have access to the tools I needed! This made even simple tasks almost impossible - And as a recent graduate artist needless to say I had no money so purchasing tools was not an option.

Many things I would have liked to have done either didn't get done or I had to pay someone to do them for me when I was more than capable of doing them myself?

Fast forward to 2025 and I have accumulated a number of tools that spend the majority of time sitting idle in my garage and I realised somewhere there is someone like I was in 1995, wanting to do a job but unable to as they didn’t have access to the appropriate tools. And I thought what if they could hire my tools at a low rate so they could do the job they wanted to?

I started thinking that not only would this help them and save them some money but it might also help to reduce the purchase and manufacture of cheap power tools that are generally not very good and often are purchased to do a single job and then stored until they are inevitably thrown away. That is a lot of resources and energy saved if someone could hire one just for a single job?

I also realised that it's not just me who probably has a bunch of tools sitting mostly idle. So what if we created a place where anyone who has a tool can list it and anyone who needs a tool can rent it?

This is when we created Makerswap - So if you have tools, sign up and get listing them! - If you have a job you have been putting off due to tools, see if we have what you need? And If we don't, go here and request it!

Together we can help each other get jobs done and make a couple of pounds from things that are sitting idle in our houses.

Join us, and let’s make something amazing.

Makerswap Mal 03 / 04 / 2025