Swing Sets: More May Not = Better
By Tina Gleiser - blog.myhandymannh.com - April 24th, 2009
A Note from Kid's Creations: Tina Gleiser is the owner of Mr. Handyman, a nationwide assembly company, that has installed 1000's of swing sets all across the United States.
This article is their advice to swing set buyers looking to save money on the "OVERALL" cost of buying and assembling your swing set. We've copied a piece of her article here and have linked to the full article below. Enjoy!
...When you buy a swing set, buy according to your budget. Whether you pick an inexpensive metal swing set, or a complicated wooden play space, your children will benefit equally. As the owner of My Handyman, I get many inquiries as to the cost to install swing sets. They aren’t fun as most parents buy a complicated set with more than 1,000 parts and get upset that our install time costs more than the swing set. To help you find a swing set that fits your budget, I analyzed 2 different swing sets to demonstrate that inexpensive swing sets aren’t inexpensive, as most of the manufacturing process will occur at your home.
- Mt Ranier from Adventure Playsets (sold at Sam’s Club) like most box stores, is manufactured in China and has more than 1,000 parts to assemble
- 2 Ring Adventure by Kid’s Creation (sold online) is manufactured in the US, and most of the parts like the floor and ladder, come pre-assembled
The real story here is when you add together labor(handyman) and product costs, Kid’s Creation (right column) is less expensive even though the product costs more. This comes from a simpler design (railings instead of walls, canvas roof) and many of the components (floor, ladder, railing sections, etc) come pre-assembled reducing the hours needed to assemble the swing set.
To help you estimate more accurately, the install hours for swing sets use the table below. The preferred calculation is total number of parts (wood and hardware). For example, the Mt Ranier swing set should take between 22 and 26 hours (versus manufacturer stating 6 to 12 hrs, and omitting “times 2 people”). After My Handyman installed Leisure Time’s Cambridge set (right column) in 42 hours, we called the manufacturer. They admitted actual install times were “closer to 48 hours” after telling us 12 to 24 hours, and omitting “times 2 people”. For home owners not skilled at using a drill, they should add 20% extra time to get a more realistic estimate, or 26 to 32 hours for Mt Ranier.
Important Note: These install times do not include the 2 to 4 hours necessary to sort out the 1,000s of pieces prior to the install. The Cambridge had 32 different types of hardware, shipped in 18 plastic bags requiring the different sizes to be separated. Site prep may also require more time...
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