12 Side Hustles to Make Extra Money as a Plumber

More and more people are learning trades like plumbing. After all, it’s a job you can pretty much guarantee won’t be taken over by AI! Still, it’s nice to have a bit of extra income outside of your usual hours with these side hustles to make extra money with your skills as a plumber.

Respond to Emergency Call-Outs - $100-300+ per call

While you’re still basically doing the same job as before - plumbing - setting yourself up to work out of usual hours is a fantastic way to potentially make big money.

You don’t even have to do anything extra when it comes to the actual work. You can use the same tools and skills as you already have, just at less sociable times. The downsides to this are obvious - less of a chance to use your time in the ways you want to.

If that doesn’t put you off, then get started and advertise your services as having 24/7 availability all over the place! Checkatrade, Rated People, and more local directories are great starting points for this.

Property Maintenance for Landlords - $150-500 per property per month

If you’re keen on doing more regularly scheduled work, you could help landlords keep their rental properties up to snuff. Of course, you might need to learn some extra handyman-type skills, but check out landlords’ Facebook groups and forums on sites like OpenRent to gauge interest in going on retainer.

This offers the chance to work on multiple properties on an ongoing basis, so you can carry out the required maintenance as and when you find the time. Bundling your plumbing skill with other handyman services will be a great way to maximise your income on the side and potentially get even more work with referrals!

Teaching Plumbing Online or In Person - $25-100 per lesson

It’ll require a bit of marketing on social media and a good reputation within the plumbing community, but if you can become more of an educator, you can take advantage of being able to share the unique skill required to do your job.

Of course, not everyone is a naturally good teacher, and you’ll have to spend a lot of unpaid preparation time ahead of delivering the sessions. If you’re able and willing, though, you can frontload the hard work and then focus on the joy of teaching.

You can even make teaching a passive income opportunity by putting together recorded lessons and using platforms like Udemy or Skillshare to monetise them.

Creating Video Content - $0-1000 per video

There are other ways you can create videos as a side hustle to your plumbing. For example, starting a YouTube channel and focusing on your skillset in a unique way could be a solid route towards earning additional side income.

You might want to show off the lifestyle of a plumber, or create how-to videos to help laymen fix problems without having to call a plumber in. You can monetise these videos outside of just ad revenue, too. For example, you can recommend a replacement part for a particular problem with your sink, and earn through purchases of that part through an affiliate link.

Rent Out Your Tools - $5-50 per day

You have the gear, but it’s not always in your hand. Places like ToolMatesHire and Fat Llama allow you to rent out tools to others who need them, temporarily.

It’s a way of monetising things you already own, and the extra work you need to put in is absolutely minimal. The only risk is of loss and damage, but as services like this are local, you should be able to figure out when someone’s to be trusted with your tools.

Freelance Writing and Blogging - $10-250 per article

Plumber life will put you in touch with all kinds of unique perspectives. Maybe you’d fancy freelance writing on a blog or in professional outlets! You might just become a bit of a thought leader in your space. Writing is one of those things that you won’t know if it clicks until you try. So why not give it a go?

You can start a personal blog somewhere like Medium, Wordpress, or Blogger, and should reach out to plumbing-focused publications like HPV Magazine to see if you can guest post to gain backlinks and reputation.

It’s not an immediate money-maker, and might never take off like some of these other side hustle options can, but regardless of direct earnings, it’ll be a creative outlet you can point to and potentially gain clients in the future.

Selling Plumbing Checklists and Resources - $5-50 per download

Here’s another great way to help new plumbers and earn while you’re at it. Do you have your processes organised to the point where you can’t possibly get anything wrong? Is your payments and invoicing spreadsheet a masterful piece of precision art with automations that could crack Enigma? Do you have a checklist of all the jobs you need to do to ensure a client’s satisfaction?

Other people would pay for that knowledge, pronto. It’s a niche product, so you’d have to market it in the right communities, but selling digital products on Etsy, Gumroad, Notion, or your own site can make you a solid bit of cash on the side and help your peers at the same time!

Van Delivery or Courier Work - $10-20 per hour

You’re lugging stuff around in your van a lot of the time, so lugging non-plumbing stuff around should be a walk in the park. If you’re not on your way to a job, you could take advantage of your van’s space to deliver goods while you’re off the clock.

There are tons of options for this, too. Amazon Flex, AnyVan, and Shiply are just a few courier platforms that’ll allow you to use your van for alternative services, and flexibly too. It might not pay as well per hour given the fuel costs and journey times, but delivery work can be a great bit of respite from the plumbing days you’re used to.

Snow Plowing - $20-150 per job

Snow plowing is a seasonal job. Obviously. Still, in the winter months, you can get yourself out and clear the roads for a bit of cash if you’re an early riser. Chuck a snow plow on your van or invest in a snow blower ahead of the likely snowy season, and send out flyers when you know the cold is coming.

Before you know it, the snow will start piling up, and you’re all ready for action, with pay scaling depending on the size of the job. Snow plowing will only work as a side hustle in certain areas, and you will want to be watchful for wear and tear on your van, but for some plumbers, it’ll be a great way to earn a bit more money.

You might even open the roads up for more plumbing work to come in!

Renting Out Your Warehouse Space - $100-1000 per month

If you have space you’re not using, that space is wasting money. You could be making passive income from your storage space if you just clean it up, measure it, and photograph it.

Take some nice pictures and put them on Warehouse Exchange, Gumtree, Stashbee, or other similar sites, and you’ll be able to rent it out. There are plenty of uses, all with different price points and levels of commitment you’ll need to put in, from pure storage to use as a creative studio.

It’s worth mentioning that no income is completely passive - you’ll have to ensure the space is clean, you might need to insure it, and you’ll definitely need to safeguard it if people will be storing valuables there.

Playing Video Games On Your Mobile - $5-15 per hour

What are you doing in between jobs, when you get a free moment? When I get some time, I’m reaching for my phone to play some games and relax a little. 

On sites like Freecash, you can actually earn money for playing video games. That’s a nice little side hustle if I ever saw one. You can even get a $5 bonus just for signing up - here’s how:

If you’re already treating yourself to a gaming break every so often, you might as well profit!

Be a Handyman - $25-50 per hour

You’ve already got skills in the plumbing field, and honestly, that’s pretty transferable to other handy tasks around the house. Being good with your hands, strong, and knowledgeable about how things work is rarer than you might think.

With this skill, you can sign up to sites like Taskrabbit and Airtasker, offering services in your local area from TV mounting to furniture assembly, painting to baby proofing. If you’re keen to pick up a side hustle, becoming a handyman is one of the most flexible uses of your practical skills.