TeenServ helps homeowners find teens for yard work

The teens who founded TeenServe (from the left): Quin Frew, Jack Lannin, and Ben Jeannot.

Homeowners who need someone to mow lawns, rake leaves, shovel snow, or carry out other outdoor or indoor jobs can arrange for a teenager to do the work through an online company created by three high school students.

TeenServ LLC was founded over a year ago by Jack Lannin, a junior, and Quin Frew and Ben Jeannot, both seniors, at McLean High School.

The business was developed to help teens earn money, says Ben. “It’s extremely difficult to have a regular job with our busy schedules.” Like many high school students, all three are on one or more sports teams.

About 300 teens have registered for the program, including students from Annandale High School, as well as other schools throughout Fairfax County.

Homeowners who need jobs done can post a request on the TeenServ website, describe what needs to be done, and determine the price. Teens who have registered with the company can view the job listings and decide whether to accept one. The jobs are organized by location, so the teens are more likely to find a job close to home.

The payments are handled by TeenServ through PayPal. Quin, Ben, and Jack get a commission for each job.

While the most popular jobs are raking and lawn mowing, homeowners have posted all sorts of odd jobs, like cleaning a grill, putting up Christmas decorations, and setting up computers and phones.

The teens will do most types of yard work and house cleaning, but won’t do babysitting or anything too dangerous, like repairing a roof, says Jack.

“We screen each job that’s posted,” Ben adds. “If we think it’s unsafe, we won’t put our teens at risk.” They also won’t send a teen to a home occupied by someone on the National Sex Offender Registry.

“TeenServ operates like a free market. The homeowner sets the price, but if you post a job for $3, no teenager will accept it,” Jack notes. The website lists the average prices for various kinds of jobs.

Jack, Ben, and Quin are all interested in business careers and built TeenServ from what they learned from a marketing class and DECA, an extracurricular club that focuses on entrepreneurship.

They were swim coaches for the McLean Swim & Tennis Association, but found fewer kids needed their help, so “we didn’t make as much money,” Quin said. “We came up with a way to have a business and help other kids like us make some money.”

They plan to continue to operate and expand TeenServ even if they go to different colleges. They already proved it can be done: They ran TeenServ without a problem while they were at different locations during spring break last year.