In the past, you might have gotten a ride home with Uber or Lyft. Or your groceries delivered from Meijer with Shipt. Now, as of May 25, you can have a handyman (or woman) at the push of a button, as TaskRabbit has come to town.
Their CEO, Stacy Brown-Philpot, is from the D.
“I was born and raised in Detroit and I am very excited to bring TaskRabbit to my hometown. I was raised by a single mother and this type of service which provides work flexibility and a supplemental income could have really helped my family when I was growing up,” said Brown-Philpot. “TaskRabbit is about creating job opportunities and we chose Detroit and Ann Arbor because we believe they are underserved markets with a need for everyday work that offers flexible hours and a livable wage.”
Nationally, there are 60,000 “Taskers” on their platform, who the company says on average make $35 an hour.
TaskRabbit focuses on home maintenance. So think movers, furniture assembly, TV mounting, minor repairs, yard work and the like.
Here’s how it works. It’s all through their app or their website at TaskRabbit.com. You choose from a variety of home services and select the day and time you’d like a qualified Tasker to show up. Then you’re matched to a number of taskers, and you can select which one as well as chat with them in the app. This is a cashless system, so payment happens through the app connected to your credit or debit card.
The company provides up to a $1 million insurance guarantee with every task, and there’s an extensive background check and in-person interview process before being able to work on TaskRabbit.
Beyond Detroit and Ann Arbor in Michigan, TaskRabbit is expanding to five other cities. They are Baltimore, Maryland; Durham, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Raleigh, North Carolina and Sacramento, California.
