A C182 pilot reported during initial climb they discovered the elevator trim control was reversed and returned to the departure airport.

Narrative

The aircraft had just come out of an extensive annual inspection where work was done on the elevator trim (among many other things). I was acting as PIC; with my instructor in the right seat as this was the first flight in my new-to-me aircraft I had purchased. We took extra time on the ground to talk through he risks of taking the first flight after extensive maintenance; as well as the risks of operating a new aircraft. I had a few hours in the C182 that day; my instructor has hundreds in a C182. We spent extra time in the preflight on flight control surface movement & proper direction; visual inspection of the aircraft; and engine run up as we briefed the risks associated. What we did NOT check was the direction of movement of the trim tab. After takeoff at ~200ft AGL; I attempted to trim nose down using the yoke electric trim. I observed the aircraft began to climb harder; so I reached for the manual trim wheel (suspecting I improperly used the electric trim) and turned the wheel several turns nose down and the aircraft began climbing even harder. I stated to my instructor the trim was reversed; I used a large amount of force on the yoke to force the aircraft nose over; then once we were at a safe attitude; I rolled the trim wheel back to the takeoff position. In the downwind leg we verified the electric trim moved the wheel properly; and confirmed the trim was reversed with the problem being somewhere between the wheel and the trim tab. After returning the aircraft to the Mechanic; he stated a junior Mechanic had improperly reinstalled the elevator trim (linkages/pulleys/or other) and the inspecting A&P stated he checked travel but not proper direction. They resolved the issue; and the next day we verified the elevator trim direction in pre-flight multiple times before departing. The issue was resolved. Going forward; I have added Proper direction of trim tab moving to our pre-flight checklist for each flight. I spoke with the A&P to add additional checks in their process to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future.