Patio
Share tools, learn DIY, and build sustainably
525 followers
Share tools, learn DIY, and build sustainably
525 followers
Patio is where DIY meets community, learning, and sustainability. Borrow tools, rent yours out, learn with quizzes, discover tutorials, buy/sell tools, and find local resources. Making DIY easier, affordable, and more connected, beginner or pro.
Patio
Hey everyone, I’m Julien! 👋
Before tech, I spent eight years, from age 14 to 22, working on construction sites as a carpenter in my family’s business (though at 14, I was mostly just helping out). Patio is how I blend that hands-on experience with my passion for DIY, home improvement and tech.
That’s why I built Patio:
🔧 Borrow & share tools: tap into your community’s toolkit instead of buying.
📚 Learn with bite-size courses & quizzes: level up at your own pace.
🔍 Discover tutorials instantly with our semantic search engine.
🛠️ Buy & sell gear: from power drills to surplus drywall panels.
📰 Stay inspired with curated DIY trends and resources.
🧰 Connect locally to tool libraries, makerspaces, and fellow tinkerers.
✨ …and so much more!
The goal is to make home improvement easier, greener, and more community-driven.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially on the UI and UX. What’s working well? What’s missing or could be smoother? Feel free to share anything good, bad, somewhere in between, or just say hi! 🚀
Thanks for checking it out!
Interesting story @julien_rioux. GL!
Patio
@jessica_herman2 Thanks Jessica! 🙌 Appreciate you checking it out!
Patio
@hamza_afzal_butt Thanks for asking! Trust is the foundation of tool sharing. Here’s what we’ve built so far—and what’s on the way:
- Community reviews & clear profiles: See ratings, feedback and photos from neighbors before you borrow or lend.
- Secure in-app messaging: Chat one-on-one to ask questions, share photos or set expectations.
- Optional ID verification (coming soon): An extra layer of confidence so everyone knows who they’re dealing with.
- Comprehensive insurance protection (coming soon): Every rental will be backed by our insurance plan to cover accidental damage or loss, so both lenders and borrowers can feel completely secure.
- Refundable security deposit hold (coming soon): We’ll place a temporary hold on a small deposit from the borrower’s card and release it immediately once the tool returns in good shape.
SEO Stuff
Really liking the trust system you’ve put in place, especially the reviews and deposit hold. One question, though how disputes are handled if a tool is returned damaged? umm, from a UX perspective, the semantic search is super intuitive (nice touch :), but I’d love a faster way to filter by tool type or project category. btw, Good job mate !!!
Patio
@haiqa_irfan Thanks so much! I’m thrilled you’re enjoying the reviews and deposit hold we're working on. For damaged returns we handle disputes case by case, talking with both lender and borrower to sort things out fairly. Also optional insurance will help with this once finalized. Your suggestion for a faster tool-type or project-category filter is spot on, we'll definitely think about how to implement it! Thanks again for the feedback!
Premarket Bell
It feels like the nextgen neighborhood swap meet, just way more convenient.
How are you ensuring people actually return what they borrow?
Looks promising @julien_rioux
Patio
@daniel_henry4 Thanks Daniel! 🙌 Really appreciate it. We're finalizing a feature where we'll add an option to add an hold on credit card to ensure the tool is returned or the user will loose the hold.
Bababot
I would love to offer up some of my gardening tools, will @Patio support neighborhood-themed groups? It would be fun to join a plant parents tool swap 😉
Patio
@kabir_haynes Love that idea Kabir! 🙌 Neighborhood-themed groups would be such a fun way to connect, definitely adding it to the list!
Congrats on launching Patio. It reminded me of a dad YouTuber who shares everyday DIY tips in the most approachable way. Excited to see how Patio helps build stronger hyper‑local DIY communities.
What do you think about adding locker-style, unmanned exchange spots for those less comfortable with face-to-face pickups?
Patio
@seunggon_kim That’s a brilliant shout! The idea of locker-style exchanges is super intriguing. We’re exploring all sorts of ways to make borrowing even more convenient, so I’ll definitely keep this in mind! Also, thanks for the interest, it means a lot 🙂
@julien_rioux Thanks for the positive response 😄 I'm really looking forward to seeing how Patio grows. I’ll definitely give it a try when I’m in one of the service areas!
Patio
@seunggon_kim Thanks so much, Seunggon! I really appreciate your support and your thoughts around this 🙌
This is a cool idea (and I really love the name!). Congrats! Is there a road map of expansion/ new courses? Can we request the next ones? Are they submitted by users? How does it work?
Thanks!
Patio
@cholden_lewis Thanks a lot Holden! So glad you like the name too 🙂 These are all good questions! If you sign up, we’ll send you our short-term roadmap, and we’ll actually ask you to help choose between the next features we’re planning to add to the platform.
As for courses, we’re currently wrapping up a complete foundational course so that anyone curious about DIY can build a strong base (these courses will be similar to the format of our courses v2). And your idea is spot on: for upcoming ones, we’ll definitely involve the community to see what they want to learn next!
Patio
@cholden_lewis Awesome, we'll send you more details soon, super glad you're on board 🚢!!