The Popular Home Service Brand That's Owned By IKEA

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who secretly love assembling IKEA furniture and everyone else who absolutely dreads it. One of the Swedish retailer's early employees came up with the revolutionary idea of flat-packed furniture after having trouble fitting a table into his car, and the rest is history. Today, most IKEA products are packaged this way, making them easier and cheaper to ship or lug home from one of the company's stores. Of course, that doesn't make assembly any easier. Unless you're a whiz with an Allen wrench or are preternaturally gifted at deciphering IKEA's seemingly hieroglyphic instruction manuals, putting together bed frames, shelving units, and other furniture can be a challenge. To help solve that problem, IKEA acquired Taskrabbit, an online platform connecting customers with "Taskers" ready to assemble the ready-to-assemble furniture for you.

Originally founded in 2008 by a former IBM software engineer Leah Busque as RunMyErrand, Taskrabbit started as an auction-style website where contractors bid for on-demand projects posted by busy homeowners. Within a few years, the company changed its name, moved to San Francisco, and shifted to a marketplace model embraced by tech startups like Uber. When IKEA acquired Taskrabbit in 2017, existing customers, industry experts, and interior design fans offered high praise for the collaboration. 

The partnership appears to have paid off. "Taskrabbit's assembly service has been a game-changer for our customers, offering them convenience and reliability, two must-haves when shopping at IKEA," IKEA CEO Javier Quiñones explained in a 2025 press release. According to IKEA, integrating Taskrabbit booking into checkout led to a 50% increase in customers adding assembly services to their orders, while returns on the company's most complex products fell by nearly 40%.

In addition to providing plenty of assembly projects for over 60,000 gig workers already on the platform, Taskrabbit has expanded IKEA's reach. The service helps homeowners who can't or don't want to shop at nearby stores, as well as those who are willing to buy back their time. After landing on the perfect new IKEA finds, customers can elect to purchase Taskrabbit services during the checkout process, either in-store or online. An email is then sent with instructions on signing up for a Taskrabbit account and scheduling assembly with a Tasker.

A Tasker will then come to your home on a mutually agreed-upon date to handle on-site assembly. Taskrabbit operates in all 50 states and with several international markets. Scheduling windows vary from the next day to 90 days out, based on Tasker availability in your area. Pricing depends on the type and complexity of the job, with furniture assembly projects starting at $52.

Whether you need help figuring out how to put together IKEA's new space-saving solution for instant bedside storage or you're worried your relationship can't survive assembling another one of the company's iconic bookshelves, the IKEA-Taskrabbit relationship can take the job off your hands. According to the company's website, Taskers have completed over 3.4 million furniture assembly projects. However, even though it's owned by IKEA, Taskrabbit operates independently and provides services beyond assembling flat-packed items purchased from the Swedish megachain. You can also hire Taskers for lighting and smart home installations, cleaning and landscaping help, and general handyman projects through the Taskrabbit website or mobile app.