Local Shops - Where to go, who do you trust?

Around my area, SE Michigan, I have a nice network of shops, people, and businesses that I rely on, both for work, and for hobby jobs. We have an excellent machine shop run by a Mopar lover, my painter does an awesome job, and my buddy from up town that just works out of his garage, all do excellent work. Most folks around here all use them, and yes, I have a couple secret weapons at my disposal as well, my next door neighbor and best friend has a complete machine shop in his 3 car garages, and after 40 years of being a plant manager for a large machine building company, he can make just about anything. Most of my contacts all use each other as well, so the network here is a tight and well oiled unit. My advice to the OP is the same as Robs, use the smaller guys, they don’t have large overhead and don’t have to rush things through. Make contacts through car cruises and ask where folks take their stuff, you will almost always get the best people to do your stuff.