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Ikea Flatpack Enthusiast Charges People To Assemble Their Furniture After Losing Job

Ikea Flatpack Enthusiast Charges People To Assemble Their Furniture After Losing Job

His love of DIY helped make ends meet when he lost his job during the pandemic

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A DIY enthusiast who lost his job during the pandemic created a new job for himself assembling people's flatpack furniture.

Waz Mahmood, 31, managed to make a living out of putting together people's flatpack furniture and has put together a whopping 500 pieces, even driving 160 miles to build a wardrobe.

Waz was made redundant from his job as a trainer construction site manager in September last year after spending time on furlough.

Having previously built people's Ikea flatpacks to earn some extra cash, Waz decided to set himself up as a full-time flatpack builder on the Airtasker app.

PA Real Life

Waz, from London, first used the app all the way back in 2018, offering his skills to help raise some cash for a lads' holiday.

Airtasker lets its users post tasks they want doing and other users can bid on the jobs to get some money - and it turned out to be very lucrative for Waz.

Talking about how he first got started, he said: "I would finish work at 4.30pm and go for a job at 6pm, which might not finish until 9pm. I'd do that a few times a week.

"I tried to work fast enough so that each job worked out to at least £20 an hour.

"Now, of course, I'm a well-known name on Airtasker. I've been in the game for a while, so when I bid on a job everyone recognises me."

Starting out on the app, Waz would accept work wherever it was offered - including one job in Southampton that involved a five-hour, 160-mile round trip.

PA Real Life

"I'm not very good with geography, so I only thought the house was about an hour away - but my wife told me it was much further," he said.

"I set out at 8am and got home at 1am the following day. I was there for so long I had a takeaway with the customers - it was madness."

Although now a highly-skilled flatpacker, Waz does remember one disaster.

He said: "I had just built a wardrobe with my nephew and was packing up when he tripped over and fell into it, busting a big hole in the back panel.

"At first, you could hear a pin drop. But then I was like, 'Tell me you didn't just do that!' I couldn't believe it.

"Thankfully, the customer saw the funny side and it was covered by a shelf, so they didn't mind too much."

PA Real Life

Waz has since found another construction job, but still assembles furniture to bring in some extra cash.

He added: "I'm too busy now to respond to the job alerts quickly enough, but I enjoy putting flatpack furniture together so much that I do still take on the odd job here and there.

"I'd like to think after all that time doing it that I still have some clout, too."

Airtasker is a trusted community marketplace that connects people who need work done with people who want to work. To sign up for Airtasker and start finding innovative ways to make up for the lost earnings of the past year, visit here.

Featured Image Credit: PA Real Life

Topics: UK News, IKEA