Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I photographed our adventure with this playset- you can find all the photos on Flickr, just look for SilvAhyla and I have a set dedicated to it. (I uploaded 3 of the photos here on Amazon) I love this playset. It's so much better in person then the advertised. Perhaps it's because my own time and work went into it, but it just seems... bigger? Every area of this playset is entertaining. My husband and I put it together by ourselves. My job was mostly organizing the pieces and making sure the screws/bolts/hardware/tools were prepared for the next step. I would also help my husband hold the pieces together when it required more then 2 hands to hold and use the tools. Having the stuff ready for the next step in advance made it quicker to put together. Before we ever started we also organized all the wood (in groups- by alphabets, and then numerical) to make finding the pieces quick and easy. We also had the screws/bolts/hardware etc organized by type anywhere we were for easy find while I set up the next step. Organizers probably would have been easier, but I didn't want to spend the extra money. The directions were decently straight forward- each page shows what pieces are being used for the steps on that page, and the pictures helped and allowed me to count how many of each screws/bolts/etc were going to be needed for the step. Sometimes I'd get stopped and have to read the directions several times to be sure I had it right, but for the most part- easy going. -- There were a few steps that did stop us, though. One specifically being Step 88 (listed by the last reviewer) where it says the spike nut was put in previously through the board. We got really stumped, until we realized we had to drill a hole through the pre-drilled hole in that board and through the boards behind it into the clubhouse and THEN put the spike nut inside the clubhouse to secure the crows nest/look-out. The slide also was a bit tricky to get secure, as it asks you to put it over a wooden piece. I'm hoping we got it on there right, but I had to step on the top of the slide while my husband secured it through the floor. The only other issue is that sometimes the wood cracked/broke when we secured pieces per the instructions. It doesn't seem to have caused problems as far as stability and security, but it did make me feel slightly uncomfortable. All in all, it took us about 14-15 hours to complete: my husband's weekend (2 days) and then 2 days for short periods of time after he came home from work. It was a bit overwhelming with all the wood and pieces- seemed never ending.. but about half way it seemed more due-able and I was really looking forward to seeing all the last steps pull it together. UPDATE- (after having the play-set for a few weeks) My children are 4 and 2 (or will be, within a month) and big for their ages- 70-90 percentile for both of them in height and weight. :) They two of them have absolutely no problems safely playing on this swingset. As you can see from my photos, I put a baby gate up (with the opening handle on the outside) across the monkey bars because my two are still too young to use that part- it holds sturdy and the gate is inexpensive- and easy to remove when I want to. It illuminates a drop off and makes it a safer play for my two. I also have two young teenagers that love to come over and play with my oldest that both use the playground, and neither have had a problem using any part of the playground, including the wall-climb...which tells me the playground is sturdy enough if they can monkey around on it without any problems from the set itself. My almost 2yo can very easily climb up the stairs (though I'm still careful) and it's reassuring to see him climb right up without slips and falls. Both my husband and I have stood inside the clubhouse (at the same time- especially while building it), and the crows nest/look-out and they remain stable. (I'm 150lbs, my husband is probably closer to 180) The clubhouse itself is spacious, which I love because it gives plenty of room for them to move around and play inside..lots of windows to look out of too. The slide is simple, but it's good and fast- doesn't make the kids slide down super slow and sluggish (always hated those slides) though I would recommend having some padding at the bottom of the slide because as I said- it's fast. :) It doesn't hurt my almost 2yo when he slides down and lands right on his rump, but we're contemplating putting some hay down at the bottom just for cushion. I have also personally swung on the swing, even with my oldest in my lap. As stated before, I'm about 150lbs. I wouldn't push it too much, and I often don't swing very high or for long, and it hasn't shown any signs of straining because of me, but I can't seem to find where the weight limit is on the instructions for the swing and I don't want to push my luck. :) If you have young ones that are too little for the regular swing, it should be very easy to replace it with bucket swing (which can be purchased even at walmart)- I'm still contemplating getting one for my youngest, though he can swing lightly on the regular one, he's still not really stable on it. All in all, I'm glad I bought this one, it's proven it's worth, especially considering how much you get for the price.