As hokey as it sounds, my first criteria is the condition of the shop floor.
The shop which does my work has two hangars both with pristine white floors.
The shops I didn't choose have dirty unpainted floors. I believe there's a
correlation between clean/neat facilities and competent work, but maybe I'm
just fooling myself.

I also reviewed the comments on airnav. It's sometimes hard to tell a shill
from a real customer but I found the comments to be fairly accurate. And
once you find a shop, post it here, you'll likely find someone who's been
there before. You can also ask other owners at your home base. Most are
fairly candid about such things.

When I made my choice, I was lucky enough to do a trial with some simple
maintenance (if something major breaks you may not have this option): I got
an oil change and a strut refilled, and also talked to the mechanic about
some plug fouling issues. My chat with the mechanic convinced me that this
was a competent individual whom I could rely on in the long term. To be
honest, though, I don't think you can really know until your first annual,
which is a sort of test of how thorough your mechanic is.

Finally, I resolved to become more knowledgable about my aircraft. I joined
a type club, acquired the parts and maintenance manuals, and did some
independent research each time I had a squawk. I suggest you do the same,
regardless of where you get your maintenance done. You'll feel much better
if you can do some high-level problem determination on your own and compare
with what the shop wants to do to the plane. A type club is also great for
guessing where your next problem might be, and provides some hints as to
what your mechanic should be looking for.

best of luck,
mark

"O. Sami Saydjari" wrote in message
...
OK, I have a controversial question. How does one find a good A&P
mechanic. I just bought a Piper Turbo Arrow III recently and I want to
find a mechanic in my area (Central Wisconsin) that I can trust and is
competent. I am interested in hearing about how folks find the good
A&Ps out there, other than by pure luck.

I have had a couple of disappointing experiences with A&Ps where they
missed some pretty significant problems. I found one through word of
mouth. The other, well, I found the closest Piper Service Center near
me (figuring that they had special knowledge and expertise with Pipers
-- turned out to not be so).

-Sami