NORTHAMPTON — Before you make a post to Facebook asking for someone to mow your lawn, mulch your flowerbed, trim your overgrown hedges or clean out a hoarding situation, maybe consider giving Jack Carpenter a call.
Carpenter, 19, a Northampton High School graduate of this year who was the lacrosse team’s captain, has brought in a net income of $70,000 since he founded his business, J and J’s Home and Yard, during his sophomore year.
He has a consistent base of 25 customers whose lawns he mows with his riding mower —just one of the investments he has made for his business that total $18,000.
“I’m never really at a lack for work, which is nice,” Carpenter said.
He said he has built valuable connections in the area.
“I’ve always had an interest in entrepreneurship … I always had small ventures. I would run cherry lemonade stands in my front yard, and I had an online eBay company when I was 13 years old. I love the stock market, I love all those kinds of things — I’d try to sell anything I could in my room, or find other ways to make a little bit of money,” he said.
Carpenter later found that landscaping was the intersection of his entrepreneurial ambition and what he wanted to be doing after a neighbor had asked him one day to help with a few odd jobs.
“I really like being outside. I always have to be doing something. So I knew I wanted to work on something hands-on,” he said. “I didn’t really want to be looking into a career, like an office job or inside or anything … I was like, you know, I could really scale this and work whenever I want.”
Where did this ambition come from? He doesn’t even know. But he loves being his own boss.
“Being your own boss — there’s so many perks to that,” he said. For example, it has allowed him the freedom to take on a heavy workload without missing out on sports or school trips.
He is part of a new generation seemingly more suspicious about the promises college holds out, and declined attending the University of Florida this fall in favor of free tuition at Holyoke Community College. So he will still be around, and will continue to balance work and school, where he’ll be majoring in finance.
The other J in J and J’s is his best friend, lacrosse teammate and fellow 2025 Northampton graduate Jackson Oravec. Oravec will be attending UMass this fall, majoring in construction.
“This is going to sound corny, but I really love what I do. It’s very fun for me,” Carpenter said. “I get paid to hang out with my friends, destroy sheds and break stuff. It’s very fun.”
Carpenter takes care of all the clients, invests in equipment, and takes phone calls. While he could make more money without the help, he said, being able to work alongside his high school best friend is one of the most satisfying parts of his job.
His truck got hit last year, destroying the bed of the 2007 Ford F-150, by a driver who was texting. Insurance deemed the truck to be a total loss, but he didn’t, and rebuilt the bed with a wooden frame. He called it a “perfectly good truck,” showcasing his mechanical abilities.
One thing he doesn’t do, however, is plow. He cited $10,000 plow insurance as the reason, on top of the fact that recent winters have shown that there are maybe three plowable weather events over the course of the winter.
Carpenter can be contacted on Instagram at jandjshomeandyard, or via email at j.jhomeandyardsolutions@gmail.com.
