- Bryant Gingerich quit his 9-to-5 as a mechanical engineer to build picturesque short-term rentals in the Ohio wilderness. Now they’re booked out a year in advance, raking in over $700,000 yearly.
Nestled in a stretch of the Ohio wilderness, there’s a dark dripping cave striped with colorful rock formations. Where one might see a resting spot, Bryant Gingerich spotted potential.
The 34-year-old engineer by trade is the owner and sole employee of Dunlap Hollow: a short-term rental company offering Instagram-famous houses to adventure-seeking clients. Gingerich, an Ohio native with a passion for the outdoors, renovated and built the trio of rustic rentals on 34 acres of the state’s wilderness he bought in the spring of 2019.
At the time, his 9-to-5 job left him feeling uninspired. Gingerich noticed the wooded land for sale, and decided it was too beautiful to pass up. With financial help from family and a local loan, Gingerich and his wife Amy secured the property and began their journey creating Dunlap Hollow. Five years later, the getaways he created—a cozy cabin called “The Cottage,” a modern triangular home dubbed the “A-Frame,” and a striking rock dwelling named “The Cave”—have drummed up both media attention and striking returns on their investment. These getaways raked in over $700,000 last year, and after factoring in costs, Gingerich took home over $350,000 in net profits.
The company Instagram @DunlapHollowCabins has amassed more than 400,000 followers and serves as a touchstone to renters who want to book the houses. Gingerich says the account first gained traction through a clever marketing strategy; he offered giveaways to local Columbus, Ohio influencers to stay in the A-Frame house in exchange for promotion. Through these free stays, Gingerich says the Instagram swelled from 3,000 to 30,000 followers within a month. Dunlap Hollow was gaining a dedicated following—one big enough to move from showing the listings on Airbnb to direct bookings through a website.
He said what followed was immense success—especially after The Cave exploded beyond the local short-term rental scene in Ohio. It was enough for Gingerich to quit his job, operate on his own schedule, and engage his dual passions for design and the outdoors.
Gingerich is taking home over $350,000 yearly with Dunlap Hollow
The most lucrative property at Dunlap Hollow is the Pinterest-worthy getaway: a 1,500 square foot cave with two bedrooms, an aesthetically curated home library, and clawfoot tub. Rich red wallpaper bounces off the exposed rock walls, drawing no suspicion as to why this rental is booked solid for the next year. Bringing The Cave to life wasn’t cheap; it cost $400,000 to build, and required help from contractors. But bringing in $190,000 every year in net gains, it has proved to be Gingerich’s most lucrative stay.
“There's nothing else quite like it out there. For most of our properties, we have mostly local people coming. But for the cave, I've noticed more people coming from further away. Sometimes they'll fly into Columbus and go to it,” Gingerich tells Fortune. “It’s incredibly profitable, especially when you consider how much money we had to put into it, which isn't that much. It’s pretty exceptional. As far as a return on an investment, that's pretty unheard of.”
“The Cottage,” a renovated small one-bedroom, one-bath home with a loft brings in $60,000 every year in net gains, he said. According to Gingerich, it initially took $120,000 to fix up the house, and soon thereafter they began renting it on Airbnb at low rates to get a pulse on the local market. It was the first Dunlap Hollow property to woo consumers—and after renting it out over the past five years, the initial capital outlay has faded into the background.
“We really didn't have much marketing going on. We put it on Airbnb, and our rates were pretty low at the time. But it was booking really well. Even the first winter I remember, within a month or two, we were at 85% occupancy, which is really good,” Gingerich says. “At the time, there was a little bit more demand than there is now. It was a great time for us to start.”
The success of The Cottage instilled a new confidence in Gingerich. His next idea was to build the A-Frame house: a sleek, modern, triangular escape with three bedrooms, a loft, and two bathrooms that could fit 10 guests. From his trade as an engineer, he constructed a straightforward design, and set out to bring it to life. But he needed more time and energy to devote to the project. So he quit his engineering job just one week before starting the build. Riding high off the attention coming from the influencer giveaway campaign, the A-Frame exploded in popularity. Gingerich said it cost $300,000 in total to erect the home at the time, and now it rakes in a whopping $160,000 yearly in net gains.
The A-Frame became so popular that staying there wasn’t enough—consumers wanted in on a piece of the action. Gingerich describes getting “thousands” of requests to sell the home design, so he did. He created A-Frame building drawings and computer-aided designs (CAD), which have brought in $220,000 in passive income over the past three years. According to the website, the price of the architectural plans ranges from about $2,000 to $4,000, depending on the amount of information consumers are seeking.
“We weren't planning on selling plans at all. We hadn't even conceived that idea,” Gingerich says.
A ‘leap of faith’
Dunlap Hollow has become a dream gig for Gingerich—but it meant he had to make a risky sacrifice to get there.
To build the homes blessing your Pinterest feed, Gingerich had to veer from his 9-to-5 career as an engineer. At the time he quit his job, he was working as a research lab manager in the mechanical engineering department at Ohio State University. It was 2020, and in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I would go into the labs and work, but I had to do it all by myself,” Gingerich says. “It was pretty strange.”
Gingerich grew up doing construction work, and always held the passion to renovate and work with his hands. Because of his upbringing, it felt natural to want to run his own company and be his own boss, Gingerich says. But that seemed leagues away from his career path as a mechanical engineer. His lonely days as a research scientist during the pandemic led him to consider starting a business—following in his family's footsteps. But Gingerich had no idea where to start, let alone when to step away from his day job. That was, until he bought the 34 acres of Ohio wilderness with Amy.
“We bought the property, and it was a leap of faith. Paying the property mortgage was more than half the paycheck of my job, so it was like, ‘What are we doing? We're not gonna be able to afford this, so we have to get it rented right away,’” Gingerich recalls.
Luckily, it all worked out at Dunlap Hollow. Gingerich found his customer base, independently marketed the homes he built, and began earning a wage he is comfortable and happy with. He has no intention of returning to his trade as a mechanical engineer or working an office job.
“I don't think I ever want a 9-to-5 again. I honestly haven't even missed it one time,” Gingerich says. “I love every bit of what we're doing here. I love that I get to design things and work with my hands, and not be sitting at a desk all the time. Working on our property in beautiful nature, and that's just really life-giving for me.”
But Gingerich cautions that his success isn’t always replicable. People will have different passions, and it’s important that they explore and work with them to find their Dunlap Hollow.
“Not every story is as successful as ours, but there's something rewarding about doing what you love,” Gingerich advises. “I think people don't need to be scared about taking that leap if they do it responsibly. Don't just randomly quit your job and try to start working on something else. Get your feet wet, try things out, find what you love, and then figure out a plan to start doing that.”
