West Seattle High School senior Spencer Weglin, 18, is so enterprising, one of his teachers suggested he quit "wasting time" in school and dive right into his career. But which? He has so many, and he maintains a 3.98 grade point average while making a buck. And not just a buck. A lot of bucks.

In the summer he mows four lawns a day, almost every day, and carries his tools of the trade around in his Chevy Silverado pickup truck he paid for in full before he could even drive. His parents drove him in it to his customers' lawns. He could not drive until he was about 17 as he postponed drivers ed for one year in order to be in the Architecture Construction Engineering, or "Ace" Mentor Program through high school where he interned with Callison Architecture. He helped design a theoretical add-on for Pike Place Market which was presented at UW.

Many know Spencer's father, Richard, who own's Harrah's Automotive near Blockbuster, 2210 1/2 California Ave SW. His mother Mary, a former Microsoft employee who wrote speeches for Bill Gates, now works for Glassybaby, a candle company set up to donate to charities.

He has one sibling, his brother, Brandon, who attends Madison, and has taken to acting and singing and will soon perform at the 5th Avenue Theatre downtown.

He calls his business "Spencer For Hire", a take-off of the 1980's TV drama "Spenser: For Hire". At 13 he found a lawnmower for free on the street and spent $100 fixing it. He said it paid for itself many times over.

He walks dogs, baby sits, house sits, and four months ago began building sturdy wooden chairs, benches, and bird houses. Two birdhouses were part of the bench design, one built atop each post.

"We had problems with the birds," Spencer acknowledged. "People would come outside to sit on the bench and scare the birds away. So I got rid of the real bird houses, and engineered a solid, 4 x 4. I bored a hole in it so an actual bird could not live in it." He also carved decorative wooden birds he perched on top of the benches.

"I have some ads on Craigslist for the benches," he said. "Also, one of the benefits of living right on Admiral Way is that a lot of cars go by, and I'll chain a bench out there to a telephone pole with my name on a flyer. If someone buys one and brings me the paint I'll paint it. But otherwise it is natural. I like the bench better than the chair. Chairs are about $125. It takes about three hours. It also takes three hours to build a bench, which I can sell for more.

"I think it's good to grow up with a working background," he said. "You appreciate things and you learn the value of a dollar. I know kids now who probably couldn't go out and make money. They wouldn't know what to do. Their parents hand them a lot of stuff. An example is that I pay for my own cell phone. I pay $45 a month. I know kids whose parents pay $100."

Weglin said he got excited about the I-Phone when it was first introduced. He had the money for one, and his folks said OK, but first they asked him to go to the bank and withdraw the money in one dollar bills, $500 for the phone, and $720 for the two-year contract, and lay all the single bills out on his bed to get a sense of how much money it really was.

"I decided I didn't need it and figured how to put it toward something else," he said. "It's different seeing the I-Phone sitting there verses seeing all the money laying there. When you see a commercial with a celebrity using the I-Phone, you say, 'I want that'. You don't care what it costs.

"I always liked to build things, even as a little kid," he recalled. "II started with Legos, and moved up to furniture. I learned a lot from Paul Savino and Mick Philp, my wood shop teachers (at WSHS). They got the program to the point where kids could make some cool stuff up there. Also, living next door and watching this house get built, I learned a lot of what goes into building a house."

His family lived in a house and owned the adjacent lot. They had a 4,000-plus square-foot house built on it and he observed from next door.

"I used to think building a house was a big, complex thing, but it seems kind of simple now," he said. "Everything is kind of square. I've worked with curved shapes in my wood working class, but everything seems cut in right angles."

He might even have a future in politics as he has strong opinions on the city's infrastructure, now that he has a grasp on the subject.

"I'm against the deep bore tunnel," he declared. "I think the viaduct was fine. Did you see them wearing out their machines trying to tear it down with giant industrial cutters? It's supposed to be weak. You'd think they could fill the potholes in our streets when you consider all the money they say they have for the tunnel."

Weglin said he is taking a "gap year". After graduating this June, he will work with Habitat For Humanity in Washington State and build houses. Then he may study for two years at South Seattle Community College and transfer to UW.

Why volunteer with the Habitat For Humanity at such a young age?

"I think it would be good to give back," said the tenacious teen.

To contact Spencer Weglin to purchase a bench, or for other work, you can email him at:

sweglin@gmail.com