Since we are now hopefully settled in our home for the next five years or so I have been campaigning for a play set in the back yard. We finally decided to do one as a Christmas gift for all of the kids. After a week of research and debate we ended up with Playstar Ready to Assemble Legacy from Lowes.

What You Get
Since this is a Ready to Assemble Kit you receive almost everything you need to build a 13' X 17' swing set and climber in your backyard. In addition to the kit you will need to purchase sixteen 2" X 4" X 8' pieces of lumber. Otherwise common household tools (drill, screwdriver, socket wrench etc.) are all you need; you do not need to cut any wood. The play set comes in three boxes and fit easily inside our station wagon. The kit includes all of the rest of the pre-cut, sanded lumber and all of the equipment and accessories to build a 4' high platform with 6' slide accessed by a vertical rock wall ladder, money bars accessed by a rock climbing wall, a swing, a glider and rings along the swingset plus a steering wheel and telescope.

Build-it-Yourself or Ready-to-Assemble – What's the Difference?
With a Build-it-Yourself (BIY) kit you get instructions, some basic hardware but you get to decide exactly which components and accessories you add-on. Most BIY sets included instructions for building several similar sets in your yard. You get to decide if you want 2, 3 or 4 swings; if you want a 4 foot or a 5 foot high deck; which slide etc. You also get to choose your own lumber, from inexpensive pressure treated wood to redwood or cedar. Many manufacturers of these kits claim you can save up to 50% off the cost of other sets.

With the Ready-to-Assemble (RTA) kit we had to take what comes in the package. There is only one layout you can build so you better like it. We also had to take accessories that we would not necessarily have paid for, like the steering wheel and play telescope. However a RTA kit goes up much faster because there is no cutting. You just follow the instructions so assembly time is often less than half. They are a good choice for people who may be intimidated about doing everything from scratch.

Our plan had been to go with a BIY kit for the money savings and the ability to customize the play set. My husband built the house we recently sold, there was no doubt that building a swing set and climber in our back yard was well within his scope of abilities, heck it's within mine! Once I began pricing kits, lumber and the extras we wanted I quickly discovered that BIY kits were going to cost us a lot more than the Legacy Ready-to-Assemble kit. For us, the Legacy had everything we wanted, 3 swinging positions, a slide and monkey bars. To get that in a BIY kit was going to cost us in the neighborhood of $750. Slides alone cost $100 minimum and the least expensive basic kit we could find for what we wanted was $200. On top of that it was another $200 for ways to climb up to the platform plus extra swings, rings and the like. Then lumber screws and other building needs were another $250. The extra wood, the RTA kit, with even a little more than we wanted, was less than $500. Plus not having to cut the wood, well that was priceless!

Assembly
The instructions claim that this set can be assembled by two people in 4 to 6 hours. I put in about 4 hours and my husband did close to 24 before the set was complete. Honestly, my husband is a perfectionist, and our obviously non-level backyard is now quite level, at least where our new swing set is. He spent over an hour ensuring the climbing deck was level in all directions by shimming and moving dirt. Overkill in my opinion, but he was the one out in the cold doing it. The instructions were clear and easy to follow and if the second person had a drill I could see it going much faster than it did for us; but at no time was a second person necessary for assembly. I would plan on a weekend to do it and just be happy if it went faster!

My husband was impressed with the quality of the wood. In fact he had trouble finding the additional wood at Lowes that matched the quality included in the kit. When they say you only need a handful of common tools they are right. My husband did have to cut the lumber he bought, but only because to get the quality he wanted he had to go with 10' pieces instead of 8'. Otherwise even the drill bits you need are included in the set. You are even provided with a plastic template to ensure all of he holes you need to pre-drill are put in the right location.

All I Want for Christmas is a Swing Set
My husband has been against building a large swing set in our yard, feeling that the town park is a better option "because we have already paid with that with our taxes and it is only 10 minutes away." All true. But if there is half an hour until dinner who is going to drive the kids 10 minutes to the park, to let them play for 10 minutes to turn around and come home. Now the kids get that full half hour of play time. We live on a narrow albeit quiet street without sidewalks and our house is built up on a knoll. There is no place for the kids to ride bikes, not much space for more than a wading pool so there isn't much for the kids to do outside, until now. I want them outside playing and getting exercise as much as possible not inside sitting around because there is nothing to do outside. As much as this was a gift for my children, it was a present for me too. I love the idea of sending the kids out to play and burn off some energy in our own backyard. If they get cold or hot after 15 minutes it doesn't feel like a wasted trip to the park, now it is just a matter of opening and closing the back door. Yes, the playset was expensive, but after all of the plastic toys are broken and forgotten the kids will still be playing on our Legacy play set.

What Do the Kids Think?
Sure it is still a few days before Christmas, but the kids are in love with their early gift. At 5, 3 1/2 and 20 months this is a set that the younger two will grow into, but it is just right for our 5 year old. The swing, ring and glider have all gotten lots of use as has the slide; so long as someone is there to lift the younger two up to the platform. The vertical wall-like ladder is not easy for younger children to negotiate, especially our youngest. While our daughters can both scale the angled rock wall neither has mastered the monkey bars yet to swing across to the platform. I just consider it an upper body workout helping the younger two get up the slide. Eventually they will both figure it out I am sure, but until then we are considering adding on another more traditional ladder on the third side of the platform. They have already spent countless hours playing. They seem to particularly like the future sandbox area under the platform. Sand will have to wait until spring, but that doesn't stop them from playing house under there right now.

There are some battles already over the single swing. If those continue into the spring our youngest will most likely receive an extension kit for his birthday. For $20 plus lumber you can add two or three bays onto the existing A-framed swing set area. For under $50, plus the costs of swings, trapeze bars or other such fun items, the set can be easily added on to. And yes, at some point we do plan on adding a 5' high platform and a 10' long curving slide that can end in a waterslide in the summer! The Legacy RTA kit does not include any instructions for adding on other pieces from their BIY collection, but after assembling this one my husband and I are both confident that this set will grow as our children do.

Final Thoughts
This is the perfect sized set for our three children to enjoy. I discovered, despite claims by many manufacturers, the price for this set simply can't be beat. Of course, this set may not be for everyone but we felt this gave our children a great variety of activities in a fairly small space. The expandability means you are only limited by your budget and imagination. The Playstar Legacy is a great way to start a very nice wooden play set in your yard on a budget.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): ~$500