Joe Lamacchia has a blue-collar job and he's proud of it.

To prove it, the Holliston resident made a decidely white-collar move and launched a Web site to help young people get started in careers such as construction, trucking and automotive repair.

The Web address: www.bluecollarandproudofit.com, of course.

"It's funny, because I don't even know how to turn it on," Lamacchia said of the computer in his teenage son's bedroom, where he logged on to the site for a visitor. "It doesn't matter; I hired someone to do it."

Lamacchia is usually on the receiving end of hiring. He runs a landscaping operation from the basement of his Noel Drive home and a rented garage in Newton's Auburndale section. The 22-year-old company has 28 employees, 16 trucks and plenty of pieces of equipment for lawn mowing, snow plowing, bricklaying, wall building and asphalt paving.

One thing Lamacchia doesn't have is a Web site for his own company. He relies on repeat business, word-of-mouth referrals and traditonal advertising outlets like community newspapers and the signs on the sides of his vehicles.

The 44-year-old father of five is not shy about saying that he graduated from Watertown High School in 1977, "by the skin of my teeth," and he likes to recall how, to start his own business, he "borrowed" a van and equipment from his employer, a company that owned several buildings in his hometown and nearby Newton, for weekend jobs on the side.

"I'd go cut a few lawns and trim a few bushes. That's how I got it off the ground," Lamachia said. "Then I bought a lawn mower and stuffed it into the back of my Toyota, then I got a trailer..."

Today, his business is booming, manicuring the green spaces and plowing the driveways of hundreds of homes, among other exterior improvements. He says he has a $2-million operation now.

"This year was better than last. I think last year was the bottom," said Lamacchia, noting the string of corporate scandals that sparked a stock market swoon. "I let seven guys go in about a month (last summer). Then in September or October it kicked up again and we hired them back."

The key to his success? Not venturing to college but instead relying on the instructions of mentors in the business. Starting small, very small, and establishing a foundation of clients to build upon.

Now that he is where he is, working hard and living on a new cul-de-sac lined with $600,000 homes, Lamacchia wants to be the mentor, to promote the blue-collar way of work and life.

"I'd like to put out there that you're not a monster and you're not weird if you don't want to go do college," he said. "I did all right."

The purpose of his Web site is to "direct and educate people interested in pursing blue-collar positions." The Web site, featuring an image of "Rosie the Riveter," the World War II-era symbol of industriousness, gets about 75 hits a day, Lamacchia said. It lists opportunities in various trades, salary scales, success stories, small-business advice and other FAQs of physical labor.

Examples: An interview with a director at Duquesne University's Institute for Economic Transformation about the skilled labor force and the U.S. manufacturing sector; the projected growth of carpenter jobs (9 percent increase by 2010) and their average wage of $44,450 a year; and the art of estimating, including a "job costing" scenario for painting a house.

This fall, Lamacchia plans to start publishing a quarterly newsletter that will be sent to members who join his blue-collar organization for a $30 annual fee. The newsletter will have features similar to the Web site, plus details on market conditions and employment opportunities. He's even tapped his CPA to provide accounting and tax information.

Besides its straighforward educational mission, the Web site highlights Lamacchia's concerns about young people being pushed away from a blue-collar career even though it may ultimately provide a better fit than college.

"I think we've forgotten about mentors, an uncle, a shop teacher, a particular teacher, a neighbor, the Boy Scout leader, coaches, " he declared in an interview. "We used to be able to learn hands-on stuff like this. It seems like they've forgotten that we're able to do that."

"They," according to Lamacchia, means certain teachers, guidance counselors or parents who encourage students to get into college at all costs. While acknowledging that a university education can result in many opportunities, he says colledge clearly isn't for everyone.

"It's like they all want (students) in the same groove: Work hard, go to school, go to college and get a good job," Lamacchia said. "That might be good for a lot of people, but some people can't do desk to blackboard.I can't; I need hands-on."

One of Lamacchia's "students" is Rob McDonald, who started working full time last week for Lamacchia. McDonald had worked for Lamacchis during high school, then left for Merrimack College in North Andover. He lasted two years at the four-year school, deciding a sociology degree wasn't right for him.

"I couldn't see myself sitting behind a desk all day (at a job)," said McDonald, 21. "I felt I wasn't learning anything. I wasn't getting anything out of 28 grand a year. It seemed like a waste of money."

While he raked leaves and did other odd jobs in junior high, McDonald now drives a truck for Lamacchia, loading and unloading materials for the landscaping operation. He makes $12 an hour - lower than the typical hourly rate of $16.91 for blue-collar occupatons in Massachusetts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, - but Lamacchia says he'll be making more soon. He said some of his bricklayers make $55,000 a year for 10 months of work.

"He's very good with what he's doing right now," Lamacchia said of McDonald, who will be given a day here and there to learn new skills. "Rob's startingjout where a lot of us do: at the bottom."