With winter weather on the horizon, TaskTeens is available for snow shoveling

A teen gets the work done. [TaskTeens]

TaskTeens, the online service that matches homeowners with teens available for yardwork, is ready for winter. The company, run by a high school student, has about 260 teens from all over the Northern Virginia area ready to perform all kinds of outdoor work.

During the summer, most of the work involved lawn mowing and weeding. That shifted to raking and yard cleanup in the fall, and now that winter is here, the teens will focus on snow shoveling – although can do just about any outdoor job.

TaskTeens has streamlined its business model to better meet clients’ needs. Before, jobs were priced based on the size of a yard – small, medium, or large – but homeowners found it hard to anticipate the cost of a project, says founder Jack Lannin.

The new system sets an hourly fee of $25 for all jobs except lawnmowing, which has a fee of $40 an hour (or $35 if the homeowner provides the lawnmower).

Lannin, a senior at McLean High School, started a similar program a couple of years ago with two classmates but one partner is away at college and the other one lost interest. So Lannin is running the company on his own and plans to continue next year at college; he hopes to attend the University of Virginia and major in business.

TaskTeens is well suited to the COVID-19 pandemic, he says, as clients don’t have to interact with anyone in person. All you need to do is sign up online and tell TaskTeens what kind of work is needed and when it needs to be done. The company will arrange for a teen to show up at the home and will handle the payment online. 

Related story: TaskTeens matches homeowners with teens for yardwork

“We’re very selective with who we send out on jobs,” Lannin says. “Teens who sign up are vetted about their yardwork experience and the tools they have.”  

In addition to providing an important service to homeowners, TaskTeens is a boon to teens having trouble finding jobs during the pandemic.

There are students from Falls Church High School, as well as schools from all over Fairfax County, working for TaskTeens. The company has also expanded into D.C. and Maryland and also has some college students who want to work during breaks.

Lannin says TaskTeens has a 98 percent satisfaction rate. “We’re really overwhelmed by the positive responses from homeowners.”