After I received a quote of $2800 to build the playset I wanted from a local Deck company I decided to look elsewhere. I found this one that had everything I wanted and perhaps more importantly that my wife wanted. With some promises from my brother, father, and brother-in-law to help me build it, I thought it was worth a shot. When we opened the box, it was a little overwhelming with all of the screws, bolts, washers, and boards. I think the key is ORGANIZATION. Sorting the boards by the letter was a huge help and laying out the different bags of screws on an open table was equally important. Not all of the pre-drilled holes seemed to line up exactly right, but for the most part I would rate the instructions and precut wood at 8 out of 10. The manual said that it would require two moderately skilled workers 20-24 hours to complete. I found that to be pretty close to a minimum requirement-- as our schedules allowed and my help came and went- it took us 3 weekends to complete- some 4 hour days, some 7-8 hour days. It was a lot of work. After completion, it stands very sturdy. I would rate the overall quality at 9.5/10. If you have the (free) help needed to build this, it would be hard to beat the price. I would give the value of this product a 10 out of 10. Best of all, my two children, 4 years old and 18 months old, LOVE IT. They have played on it every day until there is not a bit of daylight left. Their smiles make all the work a distant memory!

I bought this in April 2022. The assembly instructions were excellent, but had I any issues with assembly, there's an app with more detailed assembly instructions. Assembly went smoothly with just me and my son. The grandkids LOVE it! When hurricane Ian hit, the eye was 10 miles south of us. We were hit with 150+ mph winds. As I watched, I thought, without a shadow of doubt, that this Skyfort II swing set was going to end up in my neighbor's yard. I honestly believed it would be destroyed. To my surprise, it survived INTACT. The only damage - minor - was a result of fallen trees. There's still a palm tree resting on the swing support beam. I wholeheartedly recommend buying this set.

This swingset is very nice. I would definitely recommend it. We bought it two seasons ago at a local club. I assembled it myself in about 30 hours. Certainly could have cut this down considerably if I had anyone helping me. I do consider myself very handy though. Three things to mention 1) Instructions tell you to hammer the pipes into the holes for the outer ladder. Do not do this. the wood is much softer than it may seem. By hand if more than sifficient. I damaged one of the boards but saved it with some good wood glue and a few clamps. 2) Stamped markings on boards are very hard to read sometimes. Could use some serious improvement there. Wasted lots of time trying to figure out some of the markings. 3) Do not skip this - stain/waterproof this or any other playground as soon as you finish assembling it. If you do not, it will look horrible in one year. The existign coloring is just that, a coloring. It has no protective quality or UV block of any kind. I live on a very small lake and can see 4 of them that are the same age as ours and look 20 years old and are quite frankly eye sores. after spending this kind of money and 30 hours assembling, a gallon of cedar colored stain 60 to 90 more minutes (way less if you decide to do this before assembly - just mind the stamped markings) and a $8 sprayer at Lowes can keep your playground looking good and sliver free for years instead of months.

My wife and I have been looking to get a new playset for our 4 kids the last 3 years and the Skyfort II was the ultimate choice we wanted that fit within our budget. It finally aligned up with tax return this year so we bought it. Shipping is free which is awesome since I don’t have the means to pick up at a Sam’s directly. Comes in four boxes, probably 100-200lbs. each. The delivery driver had a 2-wheel dolly so I was able to bring the boxes to my back yard with a little “umph” work. I’ve done many do-it-yourself projects, but probably not one from a box this large. I was very impressed with how everything is packaged and labeled. I had no missing hardware (some extras actually), all wood pieces were there and marked legibly enough to recognize the part #. I was able to do this by myself in about 28 hrs. over several days as I had time available. It probably would have taken a little less time if I had more full days to work on this vs. broken up. My suggestion/recommendations is to take time to lay out all the wood pieces by letter, definitely helps to find pieces during the process. I had an 18-volt cordless drill with two batteries, which I would also recommend if you have access to one; a handtool is provided, but a drill of some sort is needed regardless since some minor drilling is required and also helps to complete in a timely manner (star drill bits are included with the hardware as well). The instructions are very well marked and great to note which way pilot holes need to face when putting pieces together; I got ahead of myself a couple of times and overlooked these details, so just make sure you pay attention to the instructions about which way pieces need to face when assembling. Doing so will make sure each following step goes smoothly with you having all the holes in the right place. For the whole project, only one piece had the pilot holes in the wrong place (one of the main floor sections), but that was no issue at all. I was careful when working on the upper playset areas, but I’m 195lbs, and the 2nd level of the playhouse as well as the crow’s nest was able to handle my weight with no issues. While the playset is still new for us and don’t know about wear and tear, I’m very impressed with the quality of the wood and hardware. I’m also impressed with the instructions; it’s about 65 pages/steps in all, but very well laid out and was easy for me to follow. It all seems very sturdy and looks great in our yard and kids are having a blast. Our youngest is 1, so we expect to have this over 10yrs. and will maintain it with wood treatments as recommended to upkeep. Very happy with this purchase.

I bought this over a year ago after spending a year looking for a neat one at a price I could afford. All the ones I found at this price didn’t have all the cool stuff this one has. it’s still in great shape even after being snowed on, rained on, and abused by a bunch of little boys. We had all the pieces and a few extras.However, putting this thing together will bring out the anger in you. My husband and I put this together ourselves, it made us so mad, made us fight. We hated this thing, it took us a month to put together because the instructions were so unclear, and the letters on the boards are so hard to see, we had to take it apart several times due to mistakes. And it made us so angry that some days we didn’t even want to mess with it. But My children love it! And that’s the important thing. So it was worth it.

I was very surprised by the excellent quality of this kit. We had all of the pieces and they went to together like a well engineered puzzle. Instructions are lengthy, but very detailed and very accurate. All of the holes lined up with surprising precision. Hardware and pieces were all correctly and clearly labeled. Really don't have anything bad to say about this product. It is larger than I expected and looks pretty impressive in the backyard. Wish I had something like this when I was a kid... Highly recommended.

We purchased and assembled this for our four year old grandson and eventually his now two year old sister. He LOVES it! Both children immediately began using the picnic table for snacks and coloring activities. Our grandson loves the glider, slide, and fort! It took about three weeks from placing the order to delivery. It took two to four people about 30 hrs. to construct. Doing an inventory first is essential. Having only two, but moderately skilled, workers is a good recommendation. Having more than two can be confusing. The two should be well-versed in reading construction plans. It's also a good idea to look over each day's plans before beginning. Several tasks had to be done over because of not understanding instructions. Referencing the hardware by the last three digits within the plans would have helped enormously. The next best option is to write in the hardware's code by the dimensions on each page. Some of the wood split when drilled. Once we had to glue the broken pieces. Having nut barrels to cap off the bolts provides an attractive and safe product. We were shorted on three types of bolts and barrels; so we spent about $25 replacing them at Home Depot instead of waiting for replacements. We are very pleased with the number of activities this set provides as well as the overall quality of the product. We chose it after looking at a multitude of other playscapes, selecting it based on its having a cedar as opposed to canvas or plastic roof over the fort, a ten foot (not eight foot) slide, sandbox, picnic table, monkey bars, and of course glider and swings. Our son-in-law is boarding up the outlet to the monkey bars and removing the climbing bars on it so neither child can use this until he/she is old enough.

Sky Fort II is a great play set. It looks good, is sturdy, and your kids/grandkids will love it. It is not hard to assemble, but takes preserverance. We used four fairly competent people to assemble it (all 4 adults have masters' degees and more) and the total number of person-hours was 60. Although technically there really aren't 1 million parts, you will think there are. The instruction manual is good, but at times confusing in just where and how you should complete a step. There are multiple bolt/nut/washer/screw sizes and you really need to make sure you use the right ones as per the directions. Recommend you gather all parts from each step together and figure out which bold goes with which bolt barrel before hooking them together. Bolts and nuts strip very easily so you don't want to minimize number of times you tighten/untighten them. Spray a lubricant into the bolt barrels to make it easier. Lots of holes to line up and we had to drill some to get them to do so. We also had to shave some of the boards to get them to fit together. If you have young kids, ship them to a foreign country during the project as they will want to help but will be a hindrance. Finally, if any of your workers are married to another worker, consult divorce attorney prior to starting this project. Bottom line, YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF, but at times you will be frustrated.

Its a monster thats for sure! I guess i forgot to factor in all the ground work that needed to be done. And you will definently need at least 3people to help each day..about 3-4 full days. Sorting wood and parts can be a days work in its own. We received LOTS of split wood. Its so dry and cheap we will have to stain it this year too. We just finished building today. Started almost 2weeks ago but we only had 1good day of help and lots and lots of rain days. Directions were rather sketchy on some parts and we did have to take a prior step apart and redo. I will admit..if i didnt have to buy a ton of mulch for the 6inch safety rule i would have paid the $650 to have them come out and build it!

I am a contractor and put this together in 24 hours by myself and my wife finding pieces for me on a part time bassis. It would be a big job for the do-it-yourselfer, you might want to hire it done, for the stores $400 offer. This comes in 4 large crate type boxes. One of the boxes is extremely heavy and take two good size men to move it. You will want the boxes close to the assembly point, as you will make a million trips to them. Finding the pieces is a challenge in itself. Numbers are faint and similar to each other, ie N8, M8, HK4, KH4, ect. You may need 6 - B8, there may be 2 in one boxe 2 in another box, 1 in each one of the other boxes. There is a packing list in each box, but you spent a lot of time trying to find the pieces. 20 plus bags of screws, bolts nuts, washers, with similair sizes, 14x1-1/8, 14x1-1/2, 18x1-1/4, 18x1-5/8, plus multiple size washers, bolts & screws. Plus there is only one extra of each. Except screws, which I was short 50 14x1-1/8 and 2" bolts I was short 10. The instruction are all just black & white copy drawings and very little actual instruction. Hard to make out placement of boards. Plus they kept showing the project from different sides, with no indication which side you are looking at. Many boards have to be put on in a certain rotation and that is not spelled out. You find out in a later step that your holes do not line up. Then you have to remove the board and reattachit, or if you have too many things already attached, you may have to drill new bolt holes, then you loose your predrilled screw hole indentions. This is the main area that could be improved. All for all it seems to be a nice play set and alot of thought has gone into it. The main fort is over 6' tall on the inside and at 250# supported me well, even the crows nest look out platform. The value is good for what you are getting. But the aggravation of looking for poorly marked parts and the vagness of the instructions, can make you hot under the collars. I am glad it is done.