Airtsaker Stories: Mouse in the House

Pest control is not most people’s idea of fun, but on Airtasker, help is just a click away.

St Kilda lawyer and mother-of-two Christine F. turned to Airtasker when a rogue rodent terrorised her in her Victorian home. Christine was home on maternity leave, with her baby son asleep, when she saw a mouse run across the kitchen floor. She grew up in the Mallee and has lived through mouse plagues – so she’s terrified of the little creatures. “Normally I’d call my father but he was away so I instead posted a message of help on Airtasker,” Christine says.

Enter semi-retired handyman, John Van der Laan.

John was over in an hour, and quickly pulled Christine’s kitchen apart and plugged every hole with steel wool. And she’s had no mice since! John enjoyed the relatively simple job and says he was more than happy to help fill small holes around Christine’s “beautiful” wooden cabinets. “She already had the steel wool, she just needed someone to put it into the holes!” he says.

John worked as a tradesman and as a marine engineer and spent 20 years in the corporate sector with BMW. He’s never lost touch with his old skills, having renovated several homes of his own. He says Airtasker is great for picking up little jobs like renovations, and electrical and handyman work, and loves the chance to put his expertise to work. “I think Airtasker is a very flexible way to get the work I want,” he says.“You don’t have to quote silly prices; you do it what you think is a fair price.”