Wooden Playhouse Help

[JennsBabySky]

Hi everybody,

We have decided to get our daughter a wooden playhouse for Christmas. We live in California. From searching on the web, it seems most are shipping from the Virgina area (most are built by the Amish). Shipping alone is about $500. Before investing this much money in a playset, I was hoping for some real life recommendations on whom to buy from (or whom to avoid). Also, I can find the playhouse for about $350 cheaper if I buy through Ebay. I've never purchased anything this expensive on Ebay before, is this too big of a risk?

So far, my favorite style is the 8' x 6' Victorian with a smaller child's dutch door for entry and a larger adult size door on the side. This seem to be readily available from various companies on the web, but none locally. What I can find locally is either outrageously expensive and/or does not have the larger adult door. My husband really wants this door, so that when she outgrows the playhouse, he will have a shed. The child size door by itself is too small to be functional for a shed.

Any thoughts/recommendations/ideas?

Thank you,
Jennifer

[hwin708]

I had a carpenter come and build a custom playhouse for my DD. This was MUCH cheaper than any of the kits online, and I really liked being able to customize all the features, i.e. choose the exact size, shape, style, etc. Basically, I paid for all the materials, and I paid him about $280 for labor, I believe (it was a little while ago). It took him about 2 days to complete - he said it was a simple project - pretty much just a rectangular building, with a loft, windows, doors (we also wanted the adult door), porch, roof, and a few decorative touches like window boxes, railings, trim details, and special shingles. My DH and I later did the painting. There are several free playhouse plans on the internet, which I downloaded, and gave to him to help in his design. I also looked at several photos, and chose the features, style and layout I wanted and gave him those pictures. Little details like the Dutch style door you describe were easy for him to construct - I just had to tell him exactly what I wanted
This carpenter had been recommended to me by a friend, who had used him for help at her home. He also constructed my swingset. The phonebook does have listings for carpenters and woodworkers you could try. The best way, however, would be if you knew someone who was building a house. They could simply ask at the construction office if anyone was looking to pick up some side work of that nature.
Just another option to consider :)
HTH!