As an architect, you make a decent income by designing and drawing plans for buildings to be constructed or under renovation – amongst other services. But, one thing is certain. Nobody hates making extra income especially if you don’t have to do much in the process. Earning income passively as an architect can help you in many ways including making a few extra bucks to supplement your salary.
How can you make passive income as an Architect? There are many passive income ideas for architects to consider. Some passive income ideas for architects ideas include niche blogging, offering consulting services, selling plans and designs as digital goods with eCommerce, affiliate marketing, investing in construction projects, and selling tools and assets.
In this guide, we highlight 12 Passive Income Ideas for Architects that are lucrative, easy to carry out if you are a beginner, and flexible enough to allow you to do other things. If you are an architect, looking for ways to earn extra income passively, this guide is for you. For more details about each specific idea, you can learn more in each particular guide on our blog by clicking on the orange button or the adjacent image. So let’s dive right in!
1. Blogging (Architect’s Blog)
If you are an architect who is passionate about writing and sharing architectural knowledge online, this is an idea you may want to consider. You can earn passive income monthly by sharing content (blogs, videos, articles, reviews, etc.) on your monetized blog. Now, to make sure things are very clear here, we’re not talking about blogging about your day, we’re talking about answering actual questions people are asking in Google. This will drive traffic to your site that you can monetize.
You can then monetize your traffic and content through various means including display ads, affiliate marketing, eCommerce, print-on-demand etc. All you need is quality content that your readers can learn from so they can keep visiting your blog regularly. Once you establish high traffic on your site and grow your audience, you can earn money passively from your monetized architectural blog every month.
With a sound following (about 30K+ monthly views), you can make over $1,000 monthly from your blog according to Income School’s Project 24. If you don’t know much about monetizing your blog and making passive income from it, we recommend Project 24. It is the ideal course to help you create a successful monetized blog. They offer a course that contains a systematic process that is simple and easy to follow for beginners and that actually works! Learn more about Project 24 on our site by clicking on the button below.
How passive is Blogging (Architecture’s Blog)? Blogging is both highly flexible, lucrative, and easy to start & run. You only need a good computer, an internet connection, and a couple of hours after work to run the idea successfully. You don’t have to quit your day job because it is not a time-consuming passive income source. As your site gains popularity, you earn more income passively every month.
2. Membership Sites
If blogging seemed interesting to you, did you know you could turn your audience into members? You can earn hundreds of dollars per month by running your own architectural niche membership site by offering exclusive content in the industry to willing clients worldwide. A niche membership site allows you to invite exclusive members who pay a fee to access crucial information and content in the architectural industry.
A site member pays a monthly or yearly fee to access the exclusive content. The site also allows non-members limited access to the site, whereas paying members access premium content. As long as your members are willing to remain subscribed, you can earn a steady income passively daily, monthly, or yearly. Depending on your site’s traffic, the number of members and the cost of membership, you can earn around $5,000 every month passive income. For example, if you have 500 members and they each pay $10 a month, then you have a system in place that can make you $5,000 a month. All you need is a good laptop, internet connection, and a monetized blog where you post your content.
How passive are Niche Membership Sites? Niche membership sites are an easy and lucrative way of earning passive income as an architect. So long as you are providing your members the perks you promised, and your site has enough paying members, you don’t have to be too engaged in this idea to make passive income. You can work on your site after working hours, which means that you don’t have to quit your current job.
Learn More About Creating a Niche Membership Site
3. Advertise on your Client’s Website
If you love client referrals and would like to earn extra income by increasing your referrals, you will love this idea. Getting referrals from your existing clients can be a difficult task, but if you can increase their numbers, you can earn more money easily and passively. You can boost your referral numbers in many ways, but a very effective way is by advertising on your clients’ websites. If your client has a website, you can easily advertise your business there and earn more clients – translating to more income. This is a way of marketing your business to increase your clientele and make extra income on the side.
Although it is not as passive as other ideas on the list, advertising on client websites ultimately helps you earn money without requiring intense marketing strategies. All you need is a laptop, internet connection, and a couple of clients/friends with successful websites. Depending on the number of new clients you get, this idea can help you earn thousands of referrals passively every month.
How passive is advertising on client websites? It is not passive income stream as can provide the other ideas in our list. This is because it helps you gain more clients but requires you to engage them extensively before they can agree to pay for your services. The passive nature of this idea is that you gain more clients without doing much.
4. Sell Your Designs and House Plans
We love this idea for architects. If you have drawn designs and plans, but didn’t have them actualized or built, this is an idea you might want to consider. You can earn money passively by showcasing and selling your work online. On sites like Homeplsns.com, buliderhouseplans.com, and Eplans a popular house plan can sell for over $1000 a number of times.
You can also set up a basic eCommerce website and sell your plans directly to willing buyers. We highly recommend Ecwid eCommerce to sell your plans online if you are interested in this venue. All you need is a laptop, HD camera, and an internet connection to start. You can also get professional freelance graphic designers on sites like Fiver.com to help you build and run a plan, design website, and generate passive income.
How passive is selling architectural plans and designs? Selling your plans and designs is highly passive, lucrative, and easy idea to do as an architect. You can work on it during your leisure time or after work and earn hundreds of dollars/per passively.
5. Sell your Tools and Assets
Do you own many architectural tools and equipment that you no longer need or use? This is an idea worth considering. And we are not just talking about physical tools. You may have digital assets you created and can monetize as an architect. You can earn extra passive income by selling your tools, code, spreadsheets, calculations and equipment to willing buyers. Most of the equipment used by architects like an Architect’s Scale, drawing tools, tracing paper, liner pens, spreadsheets, plans etc., cost a lot of money. If you no longer use your tools, you can sell them on your website, to others in need, or on authority sites.
Definitely think outside the box and also sell electronic tools like patterns, designs, documents and other e-goods. You can earn hundreds of dollars every month by selling your tools and equipment on sites like eBay or Amazon, or on your own website. Learn more about how you can sell direct to consumer on your own website here. You will need a good laptop/phone, internet connection, and the actual tools to get started.
How passive is selling my tools and equipment? Selling tools, equipment and digital assets that you no longer use, need or created is as passive as it gets! You don’t need to be actively engaged in the idea until a purchase is made. The only time you are required to be actively engaged in the idea is when packaging and shipping physical items. Better yet, focus on digital goods to make the process as passive as possible. This means that you can easily earn passive income without quitting any other jobs that you have. You don’t require much capital to start since most of the products are yours. Moreover, this idea can help you learn about flipping architectural items on these sites, which translates to more income that is passive.
6. Affiliate Marketing
Do you create architectural content and information? Would you like to make money from it? This is an idea you may like to consider. You can make passive income through affiliate marketing by driving traffic to your website or merchant websites offering architectural products or services. This can also be done in person but may not be as effective as online where you can reach a broader audience. Although it is not an instant passive income generation method, it is a lucrative long-term idea you can start as an architect.
Learn more in our affiliate marketing guide
You earn commission of sales generated from traffic from your link on the products or services offered by the merchant website. You can recommend and review architectural products and earn commissions from architectural product websites or merchant website that stock related products. Affiliate marketers earn thousands of dollars every month depending on the number of traffic generated and products sold. For example, if a merchant website offers 10% commission and you make $10,000 monthly sales for them through your affiliate link, you earn $1,000 passive income.
All you need is a laptop, internet connection, and a growing number of followers/subscribers interested in the products you are promoting. The idea requires you to have patience because getting a good at online marketing and building a following takes time.
How passive is affiliate marketing for architects? Affiliate marketing is a lucrative way of earning passive income as an architect. So long as your site is monetized, running, and has many subscribers and followers, you don’t have to be actively engaged in this idea in the long run. You can work after working hours, which means that you don’t have to quit your current job to get started.
Learn More About Affiliate Marketing
7. Audiobooks
Are you passionate about reading architectural content like books, journals, articles etc.? What if I told you that you could earn extra money passively by recording your knowledge in an audiobook and selling it online? You can easily become a book narrator for larger audiences and earn money while at it. You can choose to read your own books or books on behalf of other clients and get paid per book or at an hourly rate.
Some sites pay beginners as much as $100 and professionals up to $500 per finished hour. To make money passively, request to get paid royalties or a commission on sales more than an hourly rate to provide yourself passive income rather than an upfront payment. There hundreds of sites like Fiverr that offer these services and are on a constant search for passionate readers.
There’s a lot of information about the architectural industry that you can narrate. Furthermore, the popularity of eBooks is on the rise with more people preferring to listen to content rather than read. This makes it a viable and promising idea to earn passive income in the future. All you need is a laptop, good quality headphones & mic, and an internet connection to start.
How passive is narrating eBooks? Narrating eBooks is both a lucrative and easy way of making income passively as an architect. You only require a few hours during your free time to read content and get paid while at it. This allows you to retain your normal job and work on eBooks during your free time.
8. Consulting Services
You can earn passive income by offering architectural consulting services between clients and vendors. We like to think of this idea as physical affiliate marketing. Why? You earn a commission by acting as an intermediary for vendors and sellers offering architectural products and services. The best part about this idea is that you can earn more income that is even more passive by offering these services online.
Depending on the number of clients you have at a particular time, offering consulting services helps you make thousands of dollars every month. All you need is a growing clientele and sound connections with suppliers and merchants. If you choose to offer the services online, you need a laptop and an internet connection to start.
How passive is offering consulting services as an architect? Offering consulting services is an easy way of earning passive income as an architect. In fact, you can make it more passive and make more money by offering the services online through webinar or video format. You don’t have to quit your day job to offer consulting services, which allows you to make extra bucks on the side.
9. Offer Basic Online Courses on Architecture
Are you an expert in a niche area in architecture? You can educate others and make passive income. In architecture, there are many areas you can master including CAD drawing, general management, LEED exams, new design trends, stability calculations etc. If you are good at any of these courses, you can offer this knowledge online and get paid for it.
Sites like Udemi and Lynda can help you start offering online courses. You can offer your course direct to consumer to make even more money if you have an audience you can monetize. Many people and businesses out there are willing to pay for a course that improves their architectural expertise. Depending on the number of clients you have, offering online courses can help you make thousands of dollars passively every year. To start, all you need is a laptop, internet connection, and a webcam.
How passive is offering architecture courses online? Offering courses online in is as passive as it is lucrative. You can work from anywhere with your laptop as long as you have an internet connection. You can also choose to work after work or during your off days, which means that you don’t have to quit your day job.
10. Freelance Academic Writing (Architectural)
There are many people out there willing to pay for academic papers on many disciplines including architecture. You can earn passive income by writing academic papers for students, businesses, architecture firms etc. You could outsource the work on sites like iWriter, Fiverr and Upwork to make it even more passive. All you require is a laptop and an internet connection.
How passive is writing academic papers on architecture? This idea is easy, lucrative, and does not require too much engagement. If you are passionate about writing and would like to make passive income doing it, this the idea for you. You can write academic papers on architecture during weekends or after work, our just outsource it and make a couple hundred dollars every month.
11. Sell Your College Papers
Do you have college papers you don’t intend to use and would like to make money from them? This is the idea for you. There are many students across the world who would benefit from the knowledge and information you gained when you were a student. You can sell your college papers on sites like 4writers.com and make a couple extra dollars passively every month. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection and you are good to go.
How passive is selling architecture college papers? You can sell your college papers on autopilot which means you don’t have to quit your day job. There’s little engagement needed making it a highly passive idea that helps you earn hundreds of dollars every month.
12. Invest in Construction Projects
As an architect, you can make passive income by investing in real estate. You possess knowledge and experience of estimating the valuing property, which can help you identify the best deal on the market. You may know good contractors, better deals on architectural products, or a good estimation of costs than the average person may – you can invest on real property and earn passive income by owning a stake on the project after completion. If you have 20 projects where you earn $100 stake/month, you can earn $2,000/monthly without doing much.
How passive is investing in construction projects? This idea is both highly passive and lucrative. You earn money passively after the completion of the projects through owning a stake in them (source).
Related Questions
What should I consider before settling on a specific passive income idea as an architect? Each passive income idea is unique and comes with different requirements. To choose the idea that best fits you consider factors like the time you have at your disposal, the amount of starting capital you require, the ease of starting and sustaining the idea, the return on investment you stand to get, and how passionate you are about the idea.
How can I boost my passive income? Depending on your schedule, you can combine a few ideas and make more passive income. Most of the ideas do not require your physical participation and can be done as you perform other tasks. For example, you can combine selling academic papers with blogging and selling old college papers. The three ideas earn you passive income as you perform other demanding tasks.
Which is the best Passive Income Idea? All the ideas we listed are ideal and can help you earn money passively. To settle on the idea that fits you best, consider the one you are most passionate about and one that you can easily start and run efficiently. If you are a passionate writer, for example, you may want to consider blogging or copywriting over other ideas.
How can an architect make money? Architects can make money from their hourly job. Or they can create passive income streams to eliminate the need to be physically present to get paid. Some passive income ideas for architects include blogging, selling their tools (digital assets), affiliate marketing and so on.