Examples of what the work might involve:

• I could go to the New Register House and try to trace the records of your ancestors starting from the initial information supplied by you. (How much I am able to find there will vary from family to family).
• I could look through the appropriate City, Town or Regional Directories, Electoral Registers, Wills, land transfers, professional records, and copies of obscure books, (such as out-of-print family histories) in the Scottish Library and the National Library of Scotland.
• I could look up the local history of the place(s) where your ancestors came from, (using the Scottish Library), type out the relevant details from the books and photocopy a few pictures. I do not guarantee to find second-hand copies of out-of-print books, but will give you enough details to find them through an Internet Booksearch Service. I can't go to the actual places, unless they are in the Edinburgh area. (In any case, they will have changed a lot by now).
• Similarly from the Statistical Accounts (1790s and 1830s) - though these are now online
• I could look up other Scottish History reference books to find details of any of your ancestors who were prominent enough to be written about.
• I could also use the Scottish Record Office, the National Archives, and (if your ancestors were local) the Edinburgh City Archives
• If appropriate, I could search through wills, testaments, land transfer, etc., Matriculation records (the oldest universities are St. Andrews (1412), Glasgow (1451), Aberdeen (1495), Edinburgh (1582)), Muster rolls and militia lists in the National Archives, Tax lists, tenants lists.
• I will email you a transcript of all the information that I have copied down by hand from records on microfiche etc. (where they do not let people photocopy them), and photocopies of any that do permit it.
• If required, I will write up a report, either as a document to print out or as HTML to put on your web page.
• I will supply the same information in the form of a GEDCOM file, which you can read into any genealogy program of your choice.
• I can print out family trees etc. for you, if you do not use a genealogy program yourself. I can also do a Gendex-type series of web pages.
• You can have a free copy of my own genealogy software - which should run on any platform with Java installed.