I searched and searched and searched for the perfect play set for our 2-year-old daughters birthday. I looked at a wide variety of brands, and styles. After comparing the features of the Skyfort II to the features of various other brands at the same price level, it was clear this set gave us the biggest bang for our buck! The set took about 26 hours of my time, and about 18 hours of my dad's. We mostly worked on it after we both got home from work during the week. We did spend about 8 hours on Sunday together working on it. The set is solid, shipping is quick, and assembly is... well assembly is not as easy as opening a banana. It takes time, it takes patience, and it takes a keen set of skills to ensure you have everything in its place. Here are my tips: 1.) Open each box separately. Inventory each piece as you take it out of the box against the packing list in each box. Be advised that the packing list in the most updated piece of information, versus the online manual or manual that comes with it. 2.) LABEL EACH BOARD WITH MASKING TAPE AND WRITE THE LETTER/# ON THE MASKING TAPE!! Yes, the wood is labeled. Is it super tiny and sometimes difficult to read, yes! By putting masking tape on the wood with larger letters/numbers, you will be able to see the boards easier when assembling. Furthermore, I suggest taping together like boards, i.e. M25 may have two boards, so tape them together. Put all the boards in alpha/numeric order. 3.) Go through the book, and group all the hardware (nuts, bolts, screws, lug screws, washers, "L" brackets, etc) together per each step. I suggest either putting them in ziplock baggies, or Tupperware. Just be sure to label each bag/container with what step is in that container. I promise you, it will take you a long while to do the above step and this one, but can assure you that in the long run, you will save massive amounts of time and stress! 4.) PAY VERY VERY VERY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHICH WAY A BOARD IS TO BE LAID OUT! There are a ton of pilot holes, and it is crucial to the structural integrity and ease of putting the set together. I strongly encourage that you always look a step or two ahead to ensure you have put a board in the correct position. Always assume that certain holes, go a certain way. 5.) Have at least two batteries if you are using a 12v cordless drill. Having two drills can be beneficial as well. 6.) It seems weird building all the attachments at the start. Trust me, it is so nice once you have the fort together to just be able to attach the slide, ladder, rock wall, etc. 7.) When using T-Nut "BG", always hand start the bolt into the T-Nut. This will help in not having you push the T-Nut all the way through and ruin the T-Nut. Just get the bold started into the T-Nut and then use your power drill, being sure to go slowly. 8.) We built the entire crow's nest, and then attached it. Was it heavier to lift? You bet, but a lot easier and safer than trying to attach pieces to the crows nest 9 foot off the ground! 9.) I leveled the ground that the fort was to be placed on, and put 7 19"x19" pavers perfectly level on the ground. I had the pavers so it created a "U" with the open part facing the front. The dimensions were 61" wide, by 81" deep. It ensures you have a level surface to build the fort and be able to square everything off of your main fort. 10.) Speaking of squaring, SQUARE AND LEVEL EACH AND EVERY PIECE YOU ATTACH. It is very frustrating if you just guess on some pieces, and then end up having to loosen them to square it up each time. 11.) Have some short 1x4 pieces handy. Then read the manual and find out what gap distances you will need. Create gap measure pieces out of a random 1x4, 2x4, etc. It is much easier than trying to use a tape measure or something else. The amounts are random (2 - 11/16" for example). 12.) When putting the screws into the slide all along the side, be sure to go exactly straight so you don't have a rogue screw go through the slide. 13.) I had my dad help me for about 80% of the project. There were two nights he did not help. While I assume one person could get the entire set done, it is SO MUCH EASIER when you have two people. 14.) Don't throw out the French and Spanish versions of the manuals. You can use them to help you look a step or two ahead for pictures. 15.) Ignore that a PFH 2" screw is labeled as a "CK" for example. Just worry about the style and sizes. Don't waste your time labeling the hardware like you did the wood. I seriously recommend doing each step into one bag, etc. 16.) Have fun putting it together. It is a great time to bond with whomever you are building it with! Once it is completed, you will love it, and your child(ren) will too!

We are currently putting the unit together, which is very time consuming. So far, all parts and pieces are there. The unit appears to be good quality. The instructions are pretty good for first time users of these instructions. The unit is good size with lots of stuff for the grandkids to do.

I was expecting the quality to be way better! My three year old makes the boards creak and the slide bends.. it is not study at all! Very unhappy with the amount of mone I spend and the quality of the product! I really want to return it

Was delivered within a week of delivery. Arrived in great shape. Had an outside company put it together. 3 guys, 6 hours. It's amazing. My 3 year old loves all the features. Looks great. Only downside is the slide is a little flimsy.

We're so glad we picked this swing set! We're very impressed with the quality of the materials and our kid is smitten. We're just happy to see him have such an awesome space of his own that beckons him to play outside. We have woods so we did do some grading and installed a platform for soft ground.

Get your ducks in a row before starting! Lol.take the time to organize each items. Took about 25 hours to assemble, but well worth the work to do it. Ran out of a certain size screw, but bought more to complete it. Directions are less than perfect so be sure to look ahead so you don't have to undo what you have already done to turn a board so other holes align. Slide has too many bumps and kids can get air if they go fast enough. Overall, this is an amazing swing set and well worth the time and money! Kids absolutely love it.

Nearly perfect! Easy (but long) instructions. Did almost everything with one person. Came up short by 3 on one bag of screws, but brass wood screws are easy to find. A few boards were warped but not unusable. Give yourself 3-4 days if you are doing this by yourself, 2-3 with 2 people. The monkey bars are 7.5 ft off the ground so we are waiting to install them until we have wood chips down. The most important part? The kids love it!

Directions say 20 hours estimated time to put together. We did it in about 15 with 3 people. Definitely need previous skill, especially using multiple power tools. It was annoying that you had to pre drill some holes, but all in all it was pretty self-explanatory. Looks great, kids love it. Be prepared for a hard day lol

Awesome play/swing set!! My kids love it! We paid for assembly (took about 8 hours) and I wouldn’t go any other route! It is sturdy and the company who installed it was great to work with! I would definitely recommend this play/swing set and assembly!

Swing set is all set up. For the most part very straight forward. Took myself and and brother in-law just shy of 20 hrs to complete. We are both mechanically inclined so in experience was not the issue. For most part instructions are easy enough to follow. Only found a few spots that wasn't clear on what hardware to use and one spot that listed the wrong bolt. You do have to pay very close attention to the orientation of the pieces and pilot holes. We found a few times that we had to unfasten to change orientation. The most frustrating issues I found was with the hardware. Specifically with the bolts and nut barrels. They are coated with something to keep them from oxidizing, this caused many of the pieces not to fit properly, even with impact we could not get them to thread as the excess material was causing it to bind. I spent a fair amount of time with a tap and die re-threading bolts and nut barrels after that it was fine. The slide was a pain to get together, you will most def need a another set of hands if not two. We had almost all the hardware, however except for the board that fastens to slide, package only had one of the 3 required nut barrels, I had to order those through backyard discovery as well as two bolts from another location that were damaged because they wouldn't thread. As far as quality of wood. It isn't terrible. Only one damaged piece more so from probably shipping company. It would probably be a benefit to use some Thompson water seal in the fall. Even treated I noticed the wood absorbing water during a rain storm. My only complaint is I would of like to have seen 4x4 beams on the supports for the swings and monkey bars. Kids have seemed to enjoy thus far. 2 weeks in and its holding up fine. I think with proper care, weatherization, it should last.