I have been having some people ask me for references to shops in their area. Unfortunately, there are some areas where I do not know of a shop to recommend. So I am posting this to give you some pointers as to what to look for when going to a shop to get worked on.
First thing. When you walk in the door, what does the shop look and smell like? It should be clean and neat looking. It should smell clean, you know that doctors office/hospital smell. The studio should be well lit and maintained.

Third thing. Ask to see their autoclaves and spore test results. The autoclave is the ONLY thing that is appropriate to sterilize tools and jewelry in a shop environment. Period. A spore test is the ONLY way to ensure that the autoclave is working properly. Preferably they are testing them weekly. If not, at least every other week. Monthly in my opinion is not enough. That can leave upwards of 7 weeks inbetween tests. That is too long. OSHA mandates that these are tested weekly by an outside monitering service. Mine is done by SPS Medical.

Fifth thing. Overall attitude and feeling. Do they have a good attitude and give off good feelings to you? Did they answer all of your questions and not give you attitude about it? Or were they rude and act like they didn't have time for you? Did they act like you weren't worth their time because you weren't getting the most hardcore work done?