Because I overbuilt it, we can have two or three adults jumping on the top platform safely, so I don't have to worry that the kids will wreck it. I'd guess they cut at least 50% of the boards and drove half of the screws (I had the 3 year old run a little drill bit and the 6 year old drive the screw), so they "own" it. The cool thing about doing it this way was that my then 3 and 6 year olds were heavily involved in making it. The rest of the playhouse is some swing-n-slide ladder bars and grab handles, rock wall rocks from Amazon and plain lumber. I overbuilt it (thicker/longer main beam, 10' uprights instead of the recommend 8, etc) so we could have 4 wide seating and it's tall and stable enough that my wife or I can swing with the kids. The swing set we started with was something like this. I went for the DIY route, and I figure that I have about $7-800 wrapped up total by now, it would be a bit higher but I the slide was a grandparent birthday gift. We started with just a swing kit two years ago, and this past summer I built the playhouse part. So has anyone entered this particular rabbit hole before? Should I just bite the bullet and spend more than I have on my last 2 cars on something fancy or just spend a weekend or two playing with a saw and drill? I'm thinking 2 regular swings, a tire swing, and a slide, sand box, platform, and climbing wall contraption. I know a lot of the kits go on clearance in the fall so I'll be looking at them too, but thinking it would be a good use of my new tools just to build one from scratch. I'm not planning on even getting started this year(i really do have a backlog of warm weather projects right now), but I would like to have something together by her 3rd birthday next June. Has anyone here ventured into this territory? So it would make sense financially just to build my own right? ![]() This same "lumberless" kit is almost $400 from any stores. Poking around on Amazon though, I could do the slide, swing holders and swings for under $200, just leaving me with needing to buy lumber and spend a weekend putting it together. Now, $700 seems to be entry level pricing for a basic kit, 2 swings, slide, climbing wall, sandbox, little play deck. Frame braces, swing holders, climbing groups, all the fun stuff. ![]() Ive seen a few now on craigslist that I've been to slow to respond to or didn't have a way to move them going for $200 to free though, which gave me some hope. I have the space for something much nicer for my daughter, but holy crap do these get expensive quick. ![]() When I was a kid, I had a junky little metal swingset that's only real purpose was making mowing the grass more difficult and keeping me up to date on tetanus.
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