diff --git a/setup-repositories.py b/setup-repositories.py
index 527d2b44..b94f88b4 100644
--- a/setup-repositories.py
+++ b/setup-repositories.py
@@ -2,10 +2,29 @@
 # DEV_ROOT defaults to ~/vulcanize
 
 import os
+import sys
 import argparse
 from pydoc import ispackage
 from decouple import config
 import git
+from tqdm import tqdm
+
+class CloneProgress(git.RemoteProgress):
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__()
+        self.pbar = tqdm(unit = 'B', ascii = True, unit_scale = True)
+
+    def update(self, op_code, cur_count, max_count=None, message=''):
+        self.pbar.total = max_count
+        self.pbar.n = cur_count
+        self.pbar.refresh()
+
+def is_git_repo(path):
+    try:
+        _ = git.Repo(path).git_dir
+        return True
+    except git.exc.InvalidGitRepositoryError:
+        return False
 
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
     description="git clone the set of repositories required to build the complete system from source",
@@ -22,11 +41,16 @@ print(args)
 verbose = args.verbose
 quiet = args.quiet
 
-dev_root_path = config("DEV_ROOT", default="~/vulcanize")
+dev_root_path = os.path.expanduser(config("DEV_ROOT", default="~/vulcanize"))
 
 if not args.quiet:
     print(f'Dev Root is: {dev_root_path}')
 
+if not os.path.isdir(dev_root_path):
+    if not quiet:
+        print(f'Dev root directory doesn\'t exist, creating')
+    os.makedirs(dev_root_path)
+
 with open("repository-list.txt") as repositoryListFile:
     repos = repositoryListFile.read().splitlines()
 
@@ -38,15 +62,23 @@ if verbose:
 def processRepo(repo):
     full_github_repo_path = f'git@github.com:{repo}'
     repoName = repo.split("/")[-1]
-    fullFilesystemRepoPath = os.path.join(dev_root_path, repoName)
-    isPresent = os.path.isdir(fullFilesystemRepoPath)
-    print(f'Checking: {fullFilesystemRepoPath}, exists: {isPresent}')
-    if not isPresent:
+    full_filesystem_repo_path = os.path.join(dev_root_path, repoName)
+    is_present = os.path.isdir(full_filesystem_repo_path)
+    if not quiet:
+        present_text = f'already exists active branch: {git.Repo(full_filesystem_repo_path).active_branch}' if is_present else 'Needs to be fetched'
+        print(f'Checking: {full_filesystem_repo_path}: {present_text}')
+    # Quick check that it's actually a repo
+    if is_present:
+        if not is_git_repo(full_filesystem_repo_path):
+            print(f'Error: {full_filesystem_repo_path} does not contain a valid git repository')
+            sys.exit(1) 
+    if not is_present:
         # Clone
-        if not quiet:
-            print(f'Running git clone for {full_github_repo_path} into {fullFilesystemRepoPath}')
+        if verbose:
+            print(f'Running git clone for {full_github_repo_path} into {full_filesystem_repo_path}')
         if not args.check_only:
-            git.Repo.clone_from(full_github_repo_path, fullFilesystemRepoPath)
+            git.Repo.clone_from(full_github_repo_path, full_filesystem_repo_path, 
+            progress = None if quiet else CloneProgress())
         else:
             print("(git clone skipped)")