Job title: Babyproofer

Companies that hire them: Small, independent firms.

How to find out about openings: Visit the International Association for Child Safety’s website, iafcs.com, to locate companies near you.

How much you might earn: $50,000 to $100,000 per year working independently, $35,000 to $45,000 as an employee.

Useful skills: Background in child care, basic safety training.

Number of jobs in the U.S.: About 1,000.

You may not think you need a lock on your toilet, but professional babyproofer Jennifer Moerbe says that you’ll reconsider it when your toddler throws your favorite lipstick in there. “People don’t realize how quickly kids are able to figure things out and how they know exactly what they’re not supposed to go for,” she says.

Of course, she didn’t start shielding homes from babies just to protect cosmetics. When she was working as a respiratory therapist at a hospital in Austin, Moerbe witnessed a number of children with minor household injuries—“simple things, like bruises from falls or fingers smashed in door,” she says—and realized there might be profit in prevention. A close friend had a baby, so they used her house as a testing lab. Moerbe founded Austin Babyproofing Company in 2000. These days, she works mainly out of her minivan and has a single employee who helps her as an in-home consultant.

People usually come to Moerbe after products they purchased have failed to work. “We have to go and remove a lot of them from customers’ homes,” she says. Parents don’t have time for trial and error; she does. “We sell only two types of cabinet latches because we know they’ll work,” she says. Her childproofing supplies include doorstops without removable rubber heads (they’re a choking hazard), nets for decks and balconies, cabinet latches, stove guards, and outlet covers. Moerbe also secures large pieces of furniture to the walls. “When a kid is old enough to crawl up on a dresser to get something, the whole dresser could tip over,” she says.

She charges $95 for an in-house safety evaluation and a separate fee for product installation. A gate, the most requested product, might run a few hundred dollars—babyproofing a full house could cost more than $3,500.

Chatty mothers have proven to be the most effective marketing tool. “Sometimes we’ll go into a neighborhood and end up outfitting five or six people on the same block,” Moerbe says. And working in other people’s houses comes with a perk for Moerbe: “One of the fun parts of the job is being able to go into these beautiful homes." 

Typical Day:

8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Work from home office—pay bills and do payroll.

9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Plan advertising and marketing, call local parenting magazines, and send brochures to Lamaze instructors.

10:30 to 11 a.m. Order products for clients.

11 to 11:30 a.m. Preassemble products for installation later in the day.

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Visit a home and do a full assessment, identifying needed products and calculating fees.

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Review ideas and budget with customer; schedule installation.

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Go to another customer’s house to begin installation.

2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Assemble gates, install latches, tape furniture to walls, and finish whatever tasks are still outstanding.

4:30 p.m. Drive to another installation or call it a day.