Portland man spent $48,412 on backyard; rentals brought in $85,000 by 2025

When Rob Nachbar bought his Portland, Oregon, home in 2015, the backyard was little more than a patch of grass with a hot tub. By 2019, the grass was worn out, and an early redesign using pea gravel and flagstone made the space even less usable. Then the pandemic arrived, giving Nachbar and his family both time at home and a reason to rethink how they lived outdoors. What followed was a five-year, hand-built transformation of an 800-square-foot yard into a covered, colourful entertainment space called Pong Springs. According to Realtor.com, the project cost $48,412, while Axios reported that by 2025 the backyard had generated about $85,000 through hourly rentals on Swimply.The result is not a conventional garden makeover. Nachbar turned a small 20-by-40-foot yard into four covered zones: a hot tub area, a fire deck, a pavilion with a ping-pong table and a grill deck.