Is IKEA's Furniture Assembly Service Actually Worth The Splurge? Here's What Shoppers Say

One major downside of buying home decor from IKEA is the assembly. A couple of screws here and there for a small chair might be doable. However, bigger projects, like a wall-to-wall PAX wardrobe, can cause stress just to think about. To avoid the assembling woes, IKEA partnered with TaskRabbit to offer an assembling service that hires a Tasker to build the furniture for you. There's a $52 minimum for the prepaid service and a different flat fee for each product. Shoppers have had positive experiences with the outsourced assembly and found it convenient.

A great thing about this service is that you can purchase it through IKEA both in-store and online. Plus, if you already brought the product home and, after seeing the instructions, realized you'd rather not do it yourself, you can still hire a Tasker later. Several customers have shared their success stories with using IKEA's assembly service through TaskRabbit. One shopper commented on Facebook, "100% worth it. It was a hemnes day bed and the guy finished it in a couple hours. I was sure if me or my husband tried to put it together it would have taken several weeks." With a bulky furniture piece that already meets the service minimum, it's not hard to see why customers enjoy paying to have the construction taken off their plate. However, not everyone has had a positive experience.

To make this service worth the extra charge, properly assembled furniture should be the outcome, but that's not a guarantee. One customer shared on Reddit, "After spending $740 dollars on Taskrabbit assembly, and 8+ hours of our Saturday waiting for this work to be done, we now have a wardrobe with pieces missing, inserts improperly assembled, and structural damages to our home." To be fair, the structural damage was an exaggeration, as the destruction was a coin-sized hole in the wall, and the missing parts were an IKEA error. However, the customer had two Taskers: one did a great job and the other not so much, which led to the poorly built wardrobe and the dent in the wall.

Perhaps, less severe, but still an issue, another customer wrote in a Reddit post, "I paid for Task rabbit assembly thru IKEA but they never showed." Since IKEA assigns the Taskers to you, it's a gamble that you'll get someone who will do the job well. However, in the same thread, one user offered a workaround, claiming it is better to book a "general furniture assembly" directly through TaskRabbit rather than purchasing it as an add-on service through IKEA. Going straight through TaskRabbit lets you review and select the Tasker you want before purchasing, and forgoes the per-product fees in exchange for the Tasker's hourly rate. You can even try a different app that will help you find help for tricky furniture assembly.

It seems that whether adding the assembly service to your cart is worth it depends on the IKEA product. The PAX wardrobe system is generally regarded as one of the hardest pieces to build. One of the system's wall-mounted storage frames costs $32 to have a Tasker assemble it, while an add-on mid-unit incurs a $39 assembly charge. That might seem minimal compared to the $200 and $140 price tag for the respective units and the hours it might take you to build them. Then you won't have to deal with lifting tall shelves, mounting cabinets to the wall, or a 28-page pictorial instruction manual. Plus, the flat rate per product can be less expensive than paying a Tasker by the hour.

However, if you're dealing with the easiest IKEA products to assemble, you might be better off letting your DIY skills shine. For example, the VIKHAMMER nightstand is considered a simple build and would incur a $23 TaskRabbit assembly charge. However, with the minimum fee, you'll be charged $52. In that case, it's not a feasible splurge.