I think I may have found an alternate source of income that would rock if I can figure out how to do it well.

I’d like to design houses in Chief Architect and then sell the blueprints to people who actually go out and build them!

It sounds crazy, I know, but people like this guy do it, so there must be some money to be made! I’m not sure how much, but I’d be happy with, oh, say 2 to 5 grand per project.

People go to school for years to learn how to be architects, so I doubt I’d be very good at it in the beginning…but I could probably bang out something that looks halfway decent over a weekend or two.

I’ve done some research, and apparently Chief Architect is what all the professionals use these days. It even spits out ray-traced renders for some truly beautiful previews of the finished product.

Step One is to re-create my current house in CA. I figure that’ll be a good way to learn the program before I start creating the awesomest houses ever.

There’s only one problem. I downloaded the demo over the weekend, and it is just so confusing. It’s actually not hard to use – just insanely complex. Like for example, you can tell it where your plumbing is or even specify the depth of the insulation in your walls – that’s how hardcore it is. Once I master that sumbitch I bet I could do anything though.

It’s a big project for sure, but it’s easier than getting a night job.