First, I couldn't find a better price than on Sam's Club or if there was a slightly better price they charged $400-600 for shipping. I got free delivery through Sam's Club. Second, it does take a while to assemble. Most of the reviews I read stated it took over the time stated in the directions. The directions state it will take 2 people 24-36 hours to assemble. I did it by myself in 36 hours (about three 12hr days). My full time job is a desk job, but I do some light woodworking/DIY projects as an occasional hobby. I did not find assembly hard, just time time consuming. There are a lot of screws and bolts! Handling some of the pieces myself was awkward and help would have been nice for attaching larger pieces. Also, MAKE SURE your yard is level where you want to build, otherwise it will slow you down and give you difficulties. For safety's sake, you want the area to be level. I eneded up digging out part of my yard after the fact, which only adds more time to assembly. Third, the directions are ok, but read a step or two ahead to make sure you have the board's orientation correct - some have holes that are closer to one side than the other that you don't want to have to go back and remove later just to turn it around. This happened to me 2 or 3 times. When using your electric drill or screw driver be sure not to over torque the bolts and screws. The quality is decent, but you can crack the wood if over-tightened. Quick note on quality: it's chinese cedar. The parts that need to be thicker are and I had no issues. Also, keep in mind that this is natural wood - there will be imperfections and some slight cracking that won't affect the product overall. If you want flawless, buy plastic. One final piece of advice, take the time to lay out all the pieces on your lawn prior to assembly. This will save you so much time as there are a lot of pieces. The wood was sorted by letter and number, so when the directions called for a piece it was easy to find. I also took all the nuts and bolts out of their plasctic bags and put them in red plastic cups for easier use - just make sure to label the cups with the contents using a permament marker. This will make grabbing screws and washers a lot easier than digging in a plasctic bag.

Either everyone else bought a different product or the one I bought came from a different manufacturer. The instructions are worthless, ie, asking to drill the wrong size holes (too small), noting to use the wrong size screws (too short), noting incorrect quantities (listing more pieces needed than it came with), etc etc etc. I'm a contractor and hold a masters degree and the instructions could have made it any more difficult. I would have organized the shipping better, labeled the items differently (used more letters for grouping and organizing) and machine drilled more holes (in lieu of asking the customer to do it). I hope seeing my son smile once I go buy extra screws and reinforce the structure will make up any regrets I may have for my purchase.

This was a great swing set for the price and the quality was alot more than my husband and I expected. We bought the set for our 4 year old daughter for Christmas and it took my husband, father in law and 2 other individuals 3 days to put this thing together. Three of those individuals can build just about anything but it was very time consuming, It helps if you seperate and inventory all of your pieces first. We seperated all of the pieces into piles and used a piece of chalk to write on the ground so we could easily get to the pieces. Overall it is a great set for the price but my only complaint is that they could have made the side that the swings attach to a little longer due to the swings being so close.

In summation, the kids love it, but had we known what a poorly run company thus is and what their brand of customer service is, we would have never ordered from Backyard Discovery, nor do we intend to in the future. Today while my husband and I were AGAIN trying to resolve this issue, my husband remarked that this is by far the worst purchase we have ever made, not because of the product, but because of the company's errors and faulting us for their errors. (See below for full story) It's mind boggling to me that a company that apparently lacks interdepartmental contact and customer service to the extent that Backyard Discovery does is still in business. So thank you, I suppose, Backyard Discovery, for inspiring me to write my very first absolutely negative review. We purchased this playset nearly 2 months ago. The vendor (Backyard Discovery) that makes them for Sam's accidentally sent us 2. No problem, we thought. We understand, mistakes happen, and we'll gladly send it back as soon as they get a shipping company set up. We immediately called and notified them of the error, spoke both to sam's and Backyard Discovery (the vendor) and were told to wait for a call back to schedule pickup. A week later, no return phone call. We speak to backyard discovery again, they tell us they will contact their carrier, but if we don't ship it, we will be charged. Again, no problem, we just want this 800 lbs of cheap wood out of the way. Now nearly 2 months later, no matter how many times we've spoken to the vendor, we never get a call back to arrange shipping. This morning we receive a rude voicemail saying that we will be charged, we haven't taken their calls, etc. I immediately pull up our phone records to determine when we apparently missed a call that we didnt return...nothing. No one has called aside from the times that we spoke to someone and say "yes, please come get this thing! We spent days putting the first one together and have absolutely no desire to do it again! It's a pallet of cheap wood and hardware that my husband is just tripping over at his work!" (The play set was shipped to his work and stored there because our home is difficult for semis to get to and there is a forklift available at his work for easy unload. Again, we've tried to make this as easy as possible for them, even from the beginning and our initial purchase.) and were told to wait for a callback. I called Backyard Discovery today wanting this solved. I'll admit, I was annoyed. We've been trying to solve an issue that we brought to their attention 2 months ago, yet we've been threatened and "warned" (in the words one of the vendor's reps) with double charging every step of the way as well as we've seemingly been blamed for their "technical issue" that we've been trying to rectify every step of the way. They've acted like we drove there, picked up 2, and refuse to give one back, when nothing could be farther from the truth. Who wouldn't be annoyed? During this most recent phone call, I'm told, to put it bluntly, a bucket of baloney. First, they supposedly notified that they shipped us 2 prior to delivery. (Wrong) Next, the shipping company has been trying to contact us on the correct phone number. (Our phone records say this is wrong). Next, that we haven't returned their voicemails (Again, our phone records beg to differ. Any call from them was promptly returned.) The representative seems almost shocked that I'm annoyed, saying this isnt their fault or the shipping company's fault. There was a "technical error" that caused them to double ship and we haven't returned it. Obviously it was our plan all along to receive a second play set that we didn't order nor expect, store it where it's in the way, and never use it *(heavy sarcasm)* Mind you, we made room to store the boxes out of the elements, have made a forklift available so it can easily be reloaded, and have gladly returned phone calls or voicemails that we receive if its a number that we recognize as Backyard Discovery. But they're going to charge us twice plus shipping. The only way we could have been more accomodating is load it into the truck and drive it back ourselves. In my final phone call, the rep said that "they have no idea what the other departments are doing, they're in different buildings, and there's just too many hands in this." Obviously. Its too bad the customer is the one that pays in the end for a company's lack of communication and organization. In regards to the playground, it was fine, about what we expected. A few pieces of wood arrived damaged, but we were able to replace them with pieces of wood we have around for woodworking rather than go through the hassle of dealing with a company (in hindsight, i can't imagine what a nightmare THAT would've been). If we would have had the knowledge that we do now regarding Backyard Discovery, we wouldn't have even considered making the purchase. I just wanted to make others aware in case it could save them the headache of making it an unpaid part time job to help a company rectify their error, all while being treated as though it's our fault or that we're some sort of criminal. Obviously, I can't tell anyone how to spend their money, but if we could repeat the experience, we most definitely would avoid Backyard Discovery like the plague.

Our little boys have loved this playground. It takes quite a bit of time to build and the instructions are not very detailed. Always examine each piece of wood for pilot holes and make sure it is oriented correctly. It is a little creaky and if three kids or even two larger kids are swinging at the same time the post is very creaky and moves a little bit. I have a 1 year old and I’d like to crawl up on the structure to help him since he is so young but I’m not confident it will hold my 130 lbs which makes me a little sad. I would have liked it to feel a little more secure. Overall we are very happy with it and the kids love it.

I read many of the reviews before purchasing this set. I was geared up and ready to go for a 40+ hour project. I prepped two cordless drills (one for drilling, one for screws/bolts) and when the set arrived (in four boxes) I organized the screw/bolts/hardware as others had indicted to do. I decided to leave all the boards in the boxes because the boxes have an inventory list and felt it would be easier to find what I needed that way. The set went together faster than expected. I finished it in about 20-22 hours of total hands on time. The directions were straight forward and the boards were correctly pre-fitted and guide holes lined up correctly. The only times I had to drill was when the directions indicated such. And although seeking out boards that were needed for each step was still somewhat time consuming, having the packing lists for each box sped up the process. It would have been useful to have a second person to pull and preset the boards/bolts for the next steps but I had expected this to take me a while anyway. As for quality, the boards are cedar and have a finish on them. This set is not for older children. Although fairly sturdy, I could foresee issues for older children (11+) putting stress on the cedar boards that they weren't designed to bear. I did not receive any cracked or damaged boards in the set. They were cut to specifications and as stated, that made the project go faster than expected. I still plan to put a water sealant on the wood to preserve the lifespan of the set but overall the kids have been thoroughly enjoying playing on and in the set and even had fun "helping" put it together.

We bought and installed this within the last month and are very happy with the playset. Our four year old son loves it, especially the lookout at top and the slide. We are very happy with the size of the playhouse portion, as it will allow for many years of playing without outgrowing it. The quality feels great and was noticeable as my husband and father-in-law installed it. The only thing to note is that it does take awhile to install (12-16 hours) but we know the time invested was worth it already with how much our son enjoys playing on the set.

Do not purchase this item. I read the bad reviews but saw that there were over 300 5 star reviews so I figured it must just be people who like to complain and purchased this swing set. The quality of wood is absolutly junk!! I sent the manufacturers about 25 pictures of splits in the wood including the main 4X4 supports wich are just 3 smaller boards glued togther. Their response was it was due to over tightening and the set was not on level ground let us know 5 parts that are the worst and we will replace them and see what we can do about dicounting any additional parts. Discounting!!!!! more than five pieces came craked out of the box. The play set is dead on leavel all the way around. I bulid decks and fences arbors etc for a living this is not pressure treated wood it is dry and brittle and splits before you get the screws anywhere close to being tight enough. This swing set will not last 2 years do not waste your money!!!!

Very nice set. Looked for a long time before buying this one. Not hard to assemble, but is very time consuming. Parts are clearly marked. Diagrams are the problem. They use shading to show if boards are attached inside or outside of their rails. Have had to remove and re-install several boards, but overall the directions are easy to follow. Very solid feel to the structure. Has taken 3 adults 15 hours to complete. PS, the slide is pretty fast, watch very little kids so they don't bounce right off the end.

We have had our skyfort2 put together for two weeks and boys love it. It took me about 6 days to put it together with help from my father-n-law for 2 of them and on cold days I would stop early. I have to admit I had fun putting it together. its kind of a big lego set. I read some of the review before I purchase and they had a lot of good advice. all the boards are lettered and numbered so you want to set all the boards out on the ground in order before you get started. A good screw-gun is a must if you are putting this set together (they provide the bits you will need)but not the drill bits I had to buy a 7/16th drill bit. I used a black-n-decore 20V lithium. I suggest putting the clubhouse together first because every thing connects to it , To me the slide was the hardest thing to put together. the playset is very sturdy it held me and I'm a big-O-boy 6'1" 265 so I have no problem with my boys being on it. this set is not going to be put up in a day but it is do able. Read the instructions several pages ahead, take your time and have fun with it. I hope this review is helpful.