So you’re looking for a removalist online and want to know whether you should use Happly or Airtasker. Airtasker can be a solid choice but for moving house, Happly wins hands down. We explain why in the following article. It explains the pros and cons of each platform – a quick summary is summarised in the following table:
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Job bidding | ❌ | ✅ |
| Book removalists online | ✅ | ✅ |
| Instant pricing | ✅ | ❌ |
| Instant availability and confirmation | ✅ | ❌ |
| Easy comparison/sorting | ✅ | ❌ |
| Branded removalists | ✅ | ✅ |
| Calendar functionality | ✅ | ❌ |
| Cheap options | ✅ | ✅ |
| Moving specialists | ✅ | ❌ |
| Reviews made easy | ✅ | ✅ |
| Concierge assistance | ✅ | ❌ |
Book removalists online
Hey, it’s 2024! We get it. Unless you enjoy call centres, you’re going to want to book online. Everything is in writing so there’s fewer arguments, its faster and generally more secure. In truth, you can book removalists on both Airtasker and Happly but the experience is worlds apart.
The next few points confirm why.
Instant pricing
With Airtasker, you answer a few questions and effectively it’s a lead generation service. If you’re happy to wait for a day or two this may not be a big deal (unless you’re impatient like us and want to get things ticked off your move to do list). Removalists will respond to your job with an offer based on the limited details provided. Each one pops through an offer when they are ready – not necessarily when you are. They may have questions before determining the pricing as well, or they may base quotes off limited information which can cause issues with payment on the day.
With Happly, all the available quotes are in the page for you to select from. There’s nothing to wait for. All information is neatly summarised and available to sort for whatever you value most – proximity, reviews or cost. Plus you know that all the details have been provided, all information is organised and consistent between providers, so it’s almost impossible to argue over costs.
Instant availability
Similarly to getting pricing, it takes a little while for available service providers to come back on Airtasker. Happly uses APIs (application programming interfaces) to determine who is available for most services and so there’s no waiting around or issues with availability.
Easy comparison/sorting
Like other booking comparison sites, Happly let’s you quickly order the options by price, reviews or proximity. This means that whatever is most important to you can quickly be analysed
Because of the way Airtasker waits for responses, it’s often not so easy to compare easily the providers who can do your job. This is possibly mental load you can do without.
Branded removalists
On Airtasker, you will get companies who are vying for these jobs. But you also get guys who basically aren’t professionals who have picked up a truck and rely on the Airtasker platform or other job platforms to source their jobs. These guys can work out fine for simple jobs but can also quickly run into issues with redundancy (what happens when one of them is sick?) and quality (they may not have proper procedures in place).
In our experience, companies that have a brand to protect are generally safer hands and have fewer incidents of issues. Also when issues occur, they tend to resolve them more quickly. This can come at a slightly higher cost than non branded options but there are cheaper, branded options available on both platforms so this can be a moot point.
Calendar functionality
Airtasker lets you book a removalist but doesn’t offer much in the way of moving support features. One feature Happly offers is a calendar of all your booked services for your move so you can stay organised and in control.
Cheap options
Both Airtasker and Happly have a range of moving providers from the cheaper end to the more expensive end. No matter what your budget is you should be able to find a provider at a price point you are looking for. This is a major benefit of getting quotes from a platform like Airtasker or Happly. Otherwise, you may have to call around and wait for quotes which can chew up hours in both research and comparison.
Moving specialists
Airtasker is a broad platform that has services ranging from acupuncture to swim instructors to welding and everything in between. It’s brilliant for finding people who can do odd jobs for you who may be hard to find.
That said, they don’t specialise in moving house and if you read the reviews there are often major flare ups in what can be an extremely time sensitive and stressful situation.
With Happly, moving home is our game so every fibre of our energy goes into ensuring that this particular problematic aspect of life is handled with care. Happly organises your move into a well defined checklist where you can book one service or money. Amongst other things, on Happly you can order boxes, removalists, cleaners, packers, utilities and broadband. You can even arrange your address updates for your drivers licence, electoral roll and others. In fact, it’s almost impossible to have a bad moving experience with Happly.
Reviews made easy
Each of these platforms have reviews for removalists. This is a crucial factor in making your decision – beware of companies with few reviews and what that could mean for move day.
Concierge assistance
Airtasker is a web only platform with limited customer service when things go wrong. Happly is a web platform with customer service when needed. How does this help?
When you have specialist needs like moving a piano, high end furniture, difficult loading dock times at one of your buildings, or need a specialist truck at a location due to height restrictions or similar, Happly is easier to get a hold of to answer questions and resolve any issues.
Conclusion
So, the question is would you go to a doctor for a toothache? No, you need a specialist. Same goes when searching for a removalist.
Happly, with decades of industry experience, isn’t just about finding you a removalist. It’s about the whole journey of moving house and being specialists in the area is advantageous. That said, if you are going to go the Airtasker route, you can also have a good experience. Just check their completion rate and reviews of whoever you’re thinking of going with and maybe have a backup in mind if things fall through.
Happly moving!
