Dogsbody job searcher, Task Rabbit launches in UK

Not well off enough to have your own personal assistant, handyman or nanny? Now that doesn't matter as the menial labour delegator tool of the future, TaskRabbit, has now launched in the UK, allowing people in well populated areas to get those jobs done that they just don't have the time for.

Task Rabbit is a site that lets you hire on “Taskers,” to do jobs such as cleaning the house, building flat pack furniture or doing a bit of DIY. Some of them though are a little more heartless, including hiring someone to buy your Christmas gifts for you, wrap them and even put up your Christmas decorations.

This new site all comes from the mind of Leah and Kevin Brusque, who Wired describes in an off handed fashion, as not wanting to miss a dinner date because they needed to buy dog food. Their solution? Hire someone to feed their dog for them.

And so Task Rabbit was born and has now been operating for five years in the US with over 20,000 “taskers.” So far it's only available in London in the UK and has around 50 people ready to work, but that is expected to expand as the service is picked up by the busy and the disinterested.

“For an extra £10, we'll even give the presents to your children for you, so you needn't bother with all that affection nonsense.”

Prices for tasks have a range as opposed to a fixed value, though you're told what it is roughly up front. You can also specify whether you'll need the person you're hiring to be able to drive or not.

Current costs for certain tasks include:

• £15-£25 for a house cleaner
• £12-£20 an hour for office organisation
• £12-25 an hour for flat-pack assembly
• £15-£30 per hour for minor home repair
• £12-£20 for gift shopping (+costs presumably)
• £15-£20 an hour for gift wrapping
• £12-£25 per hour for Christmas decorations hanging

While you could argue that these sorts of jobs and workers can already be found via local papers or online listings, you can at least guarantee when hiring on a tasker for one of these challenging tasks, that you know they've been vetted. To become an official tasker you have to have an anti-terrorism check up, as well as one for fraud and that's on top of a face to face interview to judge applicability.

There's then a training period followed by testing to make sure that they're up to the task.

Task Rabbit now has its eyes set on the rest of the world, with plans to expand into Europe next, followed by more eastern countries.

KitGuru Says: What do you guys think of this sort of service? I can understand hiring someone on to do a bit of cleaning now and again but gift wrapping? Putting up your decorations? It seems like a tool for the emotionally detached. There's no problem with offering this as a service if people are willing to pay, but those people sound a bit soulless. 

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