| Assistance of family and/or friends |
Highly feasible for most in terms of availability and cost |
High acceptability to most but some reluctance to ask for too much assistance, as it may be seen to threaten their independence or impinge on quality family time |
| Use of tradesmen recommended by word of mouth (friends, family) |
Highly feasible in terms of safety, reliability and cost |
High acceptability, most noted this as first alternative to DIY |
| Guidebook of services and entitlements re seniors' home maintenance |
Limited feasibility; may become out of date quickly due to changing entitlements and professionals involved |
Good acceptability as an easily accessible printed source of information |
| Local advertising (newspapers, letterbox flyers) |
Highly feasible, many existing examples |
Mixed acceptability; negative comments include: no guarantee of the job or the individual; time‐consuming to find several quotes and; reluctance of local advertisers to take some jobs, eg, small jobs. |
| Home and Community Care Programmes (HACC) (funded by state/implemented by local government) |
Highly feasible; HACC currently provides essential maintenance and supportive services to older Victorians living at home |
Highly acceptable; first port of call for many; reported sense of trust; reliability and legitimacy in HACC provided services |
| Community Aged Care Packages (Federally funded care package to help older people to stay at home) |
Highly feasible for those in declining health but not for the fitter seniors. |
None of the focus‐group participants was receiving an Aged Care package, and so this alternative was not discussd in detail |
| Advisory Services: council run (where seniors could be referred to an appropriate tradesman) |
Not currently feasible; councils are unable to provide an advisory service of this type as it would be costly to establish and resource intensive and difficult given current levels of funding |
Highly acceptable with the only concern being that councils would not guarantee the work. |
| Advisory Services: privately run (where seniors could be referred to a tradesman) |
Highly feasible; commercial advisory services currently operate in Victoria |
Highly acceptable; the concept was thoroughly endorsed in the focus groups, but knowledge of existing services was poor |
| Advisory service to recommend what repairs are required around the home |
Highly feasible; a State government‐sponsored scheme is in existence in Victoria, and free home inspections for older Victorians are undertaken by the Architects Association |
Highly acceptable, but knowledge of the current scheme was poor among focus‐group participants |
| Service for making complaints and advice on action |
Highly feasible; complaint systems are currently in existence via Building Commission and Consumer Affairs Victoria |
Raised as desirable in some focus groups but a simplified system would be preferable |
| Barter systems |
Feasible; there are approximately 35 barter programmes (LETSystems) running locally across Victoria |
Limited acceptability; discussed light‐heartedly at one or two of the focus groups, but no great enthusiasm overall; there appeared to be no knowledge of existing barter systems |
| Community Services (services provided by individuals under community service orders) |
Not currently feasible; this type of system would appear to be difficult to administer and monitor |
Not acceptable to most; home/personal security was vital, particularly for women living alone |
| Volunteer groups of older tradesmen |
Feasible on a small scale; such volunteer systems run well for local clubs running a service for a limited number of clients, but they are much more difficult to administer and run on a larger scale, eg, for a whole local government area |
Good acceptability among focus‐group participants, but there are concerns about the length of time it would take for a volunteer to become available and complete the task |
