I had this crazy moving job and nobody could to do it in a timely manner. I found these two amazing guys (Liam Conner and Luis Hermida) from Taskrabbit.com. Why am I writing about such a company? Because these guys saved my appliances and did the impossible by moving too large appliances out of a too small space. Many people have odd jobs – and like I had today – sometimes there doesn’t seem to be an affordable solution. I would like to share my own experience. After Luis and Liam finished my task, I asked them a few questions about Taskrabbit.com, which I discovered is owned by IKEA.
Interview by Kaylene Peoples
Responses by Luis Hermida and Liam Conner from Taskrabbit.com
Kaylene: What has been your experience with Taskrabbit and why did you join?
Luis: I joined because I was looking for a way to supplement my income. And eventually it got to the point to where I quit my full-time job and did this on a full-time basis. I liked the freedom that I could work whenever I want, set my own rates, and I get to meet a lot of people from all walks of life. It’s been an amazing journey and I really enjoy doing it.
Kaylene: Is there a main client base?
Luis: It’s scattered. As a client, you go into the site and look at the different profiles. From there you choose who you want based on your task. As you get more tasks and your profile gets more attention per se . . . I’m at a point where I’ve gotten 157 reviews, 100 percent great reviews; and that’s huge because now we all rely on that, [good reviews] right? We want to make sure that person we invite into our house is not only going to get the job done, but he’s going to be respectful and he’s going to make sure that your needs are satisfied.
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Liam: I started Taskrabbit because I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and trying to find a job in Los Angeles is hectic and horrible. Everyone wants to hire you for minimum wage and part-time so they don’t have to pay you benefits. So I thought instead of making $12 an hour doing jobs I didn’t like at places I didn’t like with managers who were doing everything they could to squeeze every last drop out of me, I remembered hearing about Taskrabbit.com on the radio three years ago, and I looked it up. I only started this year. I did my first job a few months ago and very quickly started making more money than any job I’ve done in Los Angeles. And I was a lot happier. There have been one or two jobs that have been a little difficult, but it’s not like when I was working at a motorcycle dealership, going in daily and be miserable or working at a parts warehouse and be miserable because I’m just sitting around all day and making money with no chance of advancement. My wife’s done the food industry a little bit and she hated it. I have a much more open schedule and I can take a day off if I want to.
It all started because my mom kept hiring me for home improvement stuff and kept hiring me for various things. My dad (who built sets in Hollywood) had taught me a lot of carpentry and construction. I thought I could just do that for work and guess what?
What’s the hardest job you ever had?
Luis: This one!
Kaylene: We’ll talk about this one in a moment lol!
Liam: I completely painted an office that was being converted into a smoking room. It lasted over the course of three days then I had to come back and clean the floors. It took forever and I was sore from it. One of the most bizarre jobs I had, involved a woman who had illegal construction done where the exit part of dryer vent was placed into the crawl space of her home for approximately 40 years. The whole space was covered in lint. I spent 8 hours straight with a Shop Vac in the crawl space underneath the house, vacuuming this really fine clay dust. I’d come out completely covered! I was losing my mind on that one. I made really weird videos and sent them to my friends. I had to clean it all out and make a custom vent. From the illegal vent all the way to the crawl space inside the house. That job lasted two days.
My Taskrabbit Job:
“So my job was a nightmare. I had “jinormous” appliances and no way to get them out except by lifting them out and up. I was desperately looking for movers. I had sold one of the appliances (a very large refrigerator) and realized that we couldn’t get it out. The refrigerator and front-loading washer/dryer were brand new, unused. I didn’t want to destroy them. I started “Googling” movers, and because it was on a Sunday, nobody was open—I couldn’t call anyone! And all of a sudden on Google, Taskrabbit popped up as I was looking for people who I could hire that lifted things. I had typed into the search “lifters,” “movers,” “strongmen” and “heavy lifters” popped up, then Taskrabbit.com popped up. Since I never used the service before, I was careful to read the reviews and saw, “ . . . no job is too big . . .” –plus I didn’t have a lot of money, because I had to rent a storage to where I needed to move the appliances. I am selling the stuff, and it would have cost more than what I was selling to get the job done otherwise. It just didn’t make sense to hire a professional moving company. This was the most reasonable, quickest choice. And it was a hard job!” –Kaylene Peoples
Luis: I came in and saw the appliances that had to be moved via the balcony. It was about 7 feet to the floor.
Liam: There was no way to get it off the balcony. The stairway to the balcony was way too narrow for both the appliances that needed moving. And so we just had to lower it over the balcony.
Luis: Basically, we had to lift the whole thing over our heads and somehow get it out of a very narrow path out to the street. I’m with Liam . . . I don’t like to turn down tasks but one thing that I learned was always think safety first. It worked out okay. It was pretty hard, but in the end we were able to get it done for you.
Liam: I still don’t know how they got those appliances in that space.
Kaylene: They were in boxes. And there was no railing. We had to remove the railing to do this today. When the appliances were delivered, the deck hadn’t been built yet. I had a renter, thinking he was going to be there for a couple of years and I had gotten the appliances before I really had gotten the kitchen built. And that was a mistake. So now I had to get rid of the appliances and had no idea how I was going to get them out after everything had been built around them.
Liam: It was extremely narrow, so you couldn’t put it on the ground (too rough) and the walls (too rough). If you touched anything, it would scratch it up. That was pretty interesting!
Kaylene: Don’t try this at home!
Liam and Luis handled the 66″ x 33″ refrigerator once its doors were removed, but that washer/dryer was the real challenge! Upon Luis and Liam’s suggestion, and to avoid a possible injury and almost guaranteed damage to my property, we hired an additional man and my husband and I assisted with the move of the unusually heavy washer/dryer. Four guys with me helping to navigate because they couldn’t even see above them . . . but they pulled it off.
What can I say? I learned a few valuable lessons today.
- Don’t buy appliances before you build a kitchen.
- Make sure they aren’t too big for the space.
- Measure your entrances and make sure your appliances and your furniture will fit down the stairway(s) and between the doorway(s).
I am relieved and excited because now I can move forward with my new IKEA kitchen, and I managed to get those bulky appliances out of my accessory dwelling and safely into a cozy storage unit. If I ever have a task I can’t handle on my own again, I will be contacting Taskrabbit.com. If Luis (Luis J.H.) and Liam (Liam C.) aren’t available, I am confident I will be able to find somebody who is up to the task! Visit taskrabbit.com to learn more about this amazing service.
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