TaskTeens matches homeowners with teens for yardwork

TaskTeens lets teens sign up for yardwork. [TaskTeens]

TaskTeens is a new online service that connects homeowners who need yardwork done with local teens who can do the work. 

If it sounds similar to TeenServ, reported in the Annandale Blog in February, it is. TeenServ was created by three students at McLean High School. One of them, Jack Lannin branched off on his own to form TaskTeens. 

So far, around 200 teens have signed on, more than half of them from TeenServ, Lannin says. While the majority of teens are from the McLean area, there are some from Annandale, Springfield, and all over the county. 

The teens can sign up for lawnmowing, weeding, mulching, and odd jobs, such as cleaning a grill – and later on his year, leaf raking and snow shoveling. They won’t do anything hazardous like using a chainsaw. All jobs have a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround.

TaskTeens is donating half its revenues to a student-run charity, Fairfax COVID Aid Drive, through June 12. The teen workers are instructed to follow social distancing guidelines during the pandemic. 

Lannin says he had a small personal falling out with the other founders of TeenServ, but the split was amicable. They disagreed about how the service should run and how to price jobs. TeenServ asked homeowners to decide how much to charge, and that was confusing, he says. “Homeowners had no idea what to set the prices at.” 

With TaskTeens, lawnmowing is based on the size of the job. Mowing is $40 for a small lot (less than a quarter acre), $60 for a medium-sized lot (a quarter to half acre), and $80 for a large lot (over half an acre). 

Weeding is based on how long the homeowner thinks the job should take – $100 for a job taking two to three hours, $130 for a four to six-hour job, and $150 for a job taking more than six hours. 

Unlike TeenServ, TaskTeens has an Executive Program giving homeowners a discount if they spend $300 in three months. To maintain Executive status, a homeowner has to spend $150 in a two-month period. Perks include priority for jobs and a direct phone line to TaskTeens. 

There’s also an incentive for teens. If they maintain a certain level of work – at least four jobs per month – they earn 5 percent more on every job. 

Homeowners can post tasks here, and teens can sign up for a job here.