This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Rob Nachbar, who, along with his wife, rents out his backyard in Portland, Oregon, on the platform Swimply as a side hustle. His earnings have been confirmed by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
We started renting pools on Swimply to take our kids during the pandemic when public pools were closed.
We also had just redone our backyard at the beginning of the pandemic. It took a solid six months, and we were just doing it for ourselves, but after a few iterations, we realized we had created a unique space.
During our first Swimply experience, we began talking to the host and realized it could be a viable option for us. We had done Airbnb years ago, but it was so disruptive with having to clean the entire house and find another place to go.
Rob Nachbar
We put our backyard up for rent and had no idea if people would even want to use it. Since then, we’ve gotten a lot of reservations, and it hasn’t been disruptive to our lives at all. It’s been a very easy and profitable side hustle.
We call our backyard “Pong Springs.” It has a seven-person hot tub, 100-inch screen, a ping pong table, an outdoor kitchen and grill, a dart board, and gas fireplaces. We rent it out by the hour, typically starting at $75 per hour on the weekends.
Our guests are really varied. We just had a couple go on a date night and watch a movie in the hot tub. One week, we had a “Love Island” watch party with 15 women, and then the next night, we had a bunch of guys who rented it for their fantasy football draft party. It’s a lot of birthday parties and holiday-themed events. It’s all over the place. We have a limit of 20 people, so it’s never too crazy.
Rob Nachbar
Renting out our backyard has been easy and helps pay our mortgage
We’ve made about $85,000 since starting in 2021. It almost pays our mortgage, just renting our backyard. It’s really nice, especially as AI takes our jobs.
We make it available to be booked instantly, pretty much all the time. We usually have at least a couple of reservations every weekend and then maybe one or two during the week. It’s occupied about 30% of the time, so it gives us plenty of time to use it for ourselves. If we have something we know we want to do or if we want to host a small event for ourselves, we simply block it off on the calendar.
Managing bookings and preparing for guests requires minimal time. I spend less than an hour on all the management tasks, including cleaning up before and after. Guests are very good about keeping the area clean. We’ll have large parties back there, so sometimes it can be a lot of trash, but that’s the only negative.
Rob Nachbar
Everything is pretty self-contained, except guests use the bathroom in the house, but we’re going to probably put a bathroom outside soon. We are usually inside the house, so if guests need anything, I’m there to help them. But otherwise, we try to stay out of sight so they feel like they have a lot of privacy.
We have great neighbors, who are patient and understanding. They are also welcome to use the space at any time. We have a 10 o’clock end time, and make sure to keep the noise down. For the most part, all our guests have been respectful. It’s Portland. No one gets too crazy.
In the three years we’ve been doing it, we’ve had a handful of not-so-great guests, but either they drink too much or just take a long time to leave, that kind of thing. But 90% of people have been fantastic.
I’d definitely recommend this as a side hustle, but it all depends on your tolerance for interacting with strangers. We’ve met some really interesting people and have become friends with a few through Swimply.
We don’t use our backyard all the time, so why not share it?
Do you have a story to share about your side hustle? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
