OT Parents with an Outdoor Playset I need your advice.

build your own

How comfortable are you with building something?

It would be cheaper to build it yourself.

Make sure you threaten to burn it down if you ever catch them pissing off the porch onto the ground.

Go big or go home. This is Dad of the century material here.

I built my own using the plans from this website:

https://www.jacksbackyard.com/

Using treated lumber from my local store. It will be here when my kids' kids' need a playhouse.

The plans are great. And if you take the time to roundover the edges with a router and countersink the bolt heads, it will look as good as anything on the market too.

quote:

---

This is Dad of the century material here.

---

Looks like he spent more on the playset than the house

If you are a handy man and have knowledge on how to read simple plans, use of miter saws and tools, then building it yourself would be cheaper and give you a better finished product with better materials.

If your not all that handy and never touched a saw or drill, I would suggest buying one. I would also suggest that you pay to have it assembled. frick that noise. I bought a $600.00 one from Walmart, passed the $250 assemble fee and rather jump off a bridge than do that again.

They short you parts, Call pieces one thing on the parts diagram, but call them something else on the directions. shite is really heavy, they have you construct things backwards, and most of the pre drilled holes are way off. took me 2 full 10 hr days to assemble it by myself and I would consider myself pretty handy.

You need to be pretty good to build a playset the right way so it will be sturdy and safe - you don't want to mess around with safety here. We just got one built and installed from a local outdoor playset/decking place (not Toys R Us, Home Depot, etc.) and it was so nice to have thing built and installed why I sat on my deck drinking a beer and watching. I couldn't have done it nearly as well and I didn't have all the tools anyway. Worth the money to pay someone to me, but I'd go with a local specialty place where you can talk to the guy, customize, oversee the process, etc.

I built one of the kits from this online company.

LINK

I built the Jungle Fort and Tower. I have about $3k invested in materials and the price of the kit. I supplied all the labor. It took about 200 man hours to make from dimensional lumber from the home center.

It's a significant time investment but you end up with something that will last. I built mine 6 years ago and have had to replace some plastic swing parts and it is due for a sanding/staining/sealing (Cabot Semi Solid) but is otherwise in good shape.

Hope this helps.

That thing is as big as his house. Might be time to recalibrate the old priorities.