Dads-- I need help. Anybody with product knowledge of playground sets?

[Viking_Hammer]

I just got this from Costco. It is $1200. It took about 15 hours with two people to build

 

[Oblivian]

I agree, but have you bothered to price components? The slide itself is $100. Lumber and swings were a bit over $200. That's just what things cost.
And you must not have kids, or pay much attention to how much they use things. Every family I know has some sort of playset in their back yard, and every single one of them says the same thing, "They hardly ever used it". They're made to impress the parents, not the kids.

Between my kids and the neighbors' kids, we have a 2 year old, two 4 year olds, a 7 year old, two 8 year olds, an 11 year old, and a 12 year old. We all have swing sets, but two of ours get used consistently. The most crucial area is a large area at the top when you climb the stairs/ladder. The kids all use it as an area to play, an area to run through playing things like tag, a fort area with nerf guns, etc. A swing set without that is basically going to be a novelty. The neighbor with the basic swing/ladder combo essentially pissed away his money for a couple days of use.

 

[mjmj]

Between my kids and the neighbors' kids, we have a 2 year old, two 4 year olds, a 7 year old, two 8 year olds, an 11 year old, and a 12 year old. We all have swing sets, but two of ours get used consistently. The most crucial area is a large area at the top when you climb the stairs/ladder. The kids all use it as an area to play, an area to run through playing things like tag, a fort area with nerf guns, etc. A swing set without that is basically going to be a novelty. The neighbor with the basic swing/ladder combo essentially pissed away his money for a couple days of use.

Do you live in the suburbs by chance, or in town with a yard? I suppose I can see the play set being the focal point in that setting. We live on a farm, and everyone I know lives in the country. My kids have 140 acres to play so playing on the swing just never interested them much. I know numerous families that would gladly give away their play set because the kids don't use it.

 

[Oblivian]

Do you live in the suburbs by chance, or in town with a yard? I suppose I can see the play set being the focal point in that setting. We live on a farm, and everyone I know lives in the country. My kids have 140 acres to play so playing on the swing just never interested them much. I know numerous families that would gladly give away their play set because the kids don't use it.

We are not a subdivision, but we don't have near as much land. We have an acre and the neighbor has two acres. The hot spot is really the blacktop driveway, but the swingsets do get some use. A lot of times, it's the 7 + 8 year olds using it as sort of a "fort" and playing with toys up there. The swings and slides were more of a big hit until the kids got 6 years old. The old kids still use the top portion for running through or playing nerf guns.