Blockwork was started in Fremont, California by a teen who wanted a better way to earn money. The existing options weren't good enough — Craigslist is anonymous, Facebook Marketplace has no protections, and adult gig platforms like TaskRabbit aren't built for minors. Meanwhile, neighbors were already asking in community groups for a reliable teen to mow a lawn, walk a dog, or help with homework.
The idea was simple: build a marketplace where a teen can't work until a parent links to their account, every service and every job is approved by that parent, and every payment is held until the job is done. No teen walks into a stranger's home. No neighbor gets ghosted. No parent has to wonder where their kid is or whether they'll get paid.
We started in California, where the child-labor rules are specific enough to build into the platform itself — age minimums, hour limits, and hazard restrictions. Rules depend on your state. Blockwork is open only in states we have reviewed. Check which states are open at /states. Instead of relying on people to read the fine print, Blockwork enforces those rules automatically at booking. We'll expand to other states as we can meet their requirements with the same rigor.
To give every teen a supported way to earn their first dollar — and every neighbor a trusted way to get help with the jobs they don't have time for.
Teens (13+) who want to earn money doing things they're good at — tutoring, lawn care, pet sitting, tech help, and more. Parents who want visibility and control over their teen's work. And neighbors who need a reliable local hand.
Teens create listings for services they offer. Neighbors post jobs or browse service listings. Teens offer to help on posted jobs and the neighbor chooses who they'd like. Whether a neighbor books a service or chooses a teen for a job, the teen's parent approves it. Payment is held until the job is done, then released to the parent's connected bank account. The teen earns money in their Blockwork Wallet.
Being explicit about what we don't do is one of the strongest ways we can prove this isn't a scam. Here's what Blockwork will never do:
We never ask for payment to sign up or to get work — creating an account and finding jobs is always free.
We never ask for your Social Security number — Stripe collects identity information directly for payout verification, not Blockwork.
We never store card or bank details — all payment information goes straight to Stripe.
Teens never enter a client's home — all in-person work is outdoors, all tutoring is over video.
Blockwork is built and operated by a small team based in California. We're teens and technologists who care about doing this right. If you have questions, concerns, or ideas, email us at support@blockwork.online — we respond within 24 hours.