(Left to right) Jordan Carro, Jonathan Stevens, Chris Weldon and Caleb Carro of We Do Odd Jobs pose after a hard day of weeding, raking and fixing a gate and lights for Kerry Laird of Benicia. The business consists of four current and former Benicia High School students who do odd jobs throughout Solano County and much of Contra Costa County. (Photo courtesy of Chris Weldon)

High school is when people tend to take their first steps into the working world. Four Benicia High School students chose to not only get jobs, but they also started their own business. Doing what? Whatever people request of them.

Incoming sophomore Chris Weldon, incoming senior Jordan Carro and recent graduates Jonathan Stevens and Caleb Carro are the founders of We Do Odd Jobs, a business that does odd jobs by request throughout Solano and Contra Costa counties. These jobs include landscaping, helping people move, trimming and other tasks requested by individuals.

According to Weldon, the job started as a way for him and his friends to make some extra money.

“We made a little post on the ‘Benicia Happenings’ Facebook group, and then we got some work,” he said. “More and more people kept calling me and texting me requesting for us to come by and help them. After that, we decided to make it a bigger thing, and so far it’s going pretty strong.”

The business was originally called Solano Contra Costa Odd Jobs, but it has since changed its name to We Do Odd Jobs. The first job the four did was help a family move from Fairfield to Benicia. Since then, they have assisted with heavy lifting, organized items and helped a woman redo her entire yard. Most recently, they helped stack bricks that were left in a pile in the Arsenal.

“There was a lot of debris, and we had to dig up a lot of the bricks and stack them all in somebody’s wall,” Weldon said. “That was very interesting.”

Much of the work has been done in Benicia, although the group has done jobs in Vallejo and Fairfield. They have not traveled farther than Martinez, although Weldon says they are willing to work anywhere in Solano County and throughout much of Contra Costa County.

Weldon says much of their requests have come from private messages on Facebook, but he also says clients have heard about We Do Odd Jobs through word of mouth and through the private social media site for neighborhoods NextDoor.

Weldon’s favorite thing about the job has been the reward of doing hard labor while working with friends.

“The four of us are all pretty close friends, and we enjoy working together,” he said. “We don’t dread it. Sometimes it’s hard, but we work together, we talk, we hang out and work. At the end of the day, we make some day and it’s a really good feeling.”

Although two of its members have graduated from Benicia High, the business will continue, as Stevens will be attending Diablo Valley College in the fall and Caleb Carro will be attending Solano Community College.

We Do Odd Jobs can be reached through its Facebook page at facebook.com/We-Do-Odd-Jobs. To schedule work, call (682) 308-8241 or send a private message to the Facebook page.

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