Savvy Dad Builds An Impressive Fortress For His Kids In Back Yard After Seeing How Expensive Tree Houses Are

It seems that everyone has been into DIY projects lately. From baking sourdough and growing scallions to tie-dyeing old shirts and recreating real-life paintings with objects found around the house, the lockdown has clearly given us too much time.

But one savvy dad from Rochford, Essex has taken his DIY skills to a whole new level. After browsing for a treehouse online for his kids, Marc Ely, 33, realized that he could make one for a fraction of the $2,400 retail price. Marc rolled up the sleeves and in 3 days, he built an incredible playhouse fortress with a tower, a swing, and a rock-climbing wall. Made from only scaffold materials, the wooden buildings cost him $205 only. And we get the dad. With kids running errands between the four walls all this quarantine, nothing's impossible to keep them entertained out of the house.

Marc said that the lockdown gave him a lot of spare time on his hands and his daughter Bella had always wanted a treehouse. "I looked online and the ones with swings, stairs, and a slide were over £2000 and I knew I could do this playground myself.”

Fortunately, Marc has his own scaffolding business and could use up the materials from the yard. “The only things I had to buy for kids playground I was making were the wood chippings, swings, slide, rock-climbing stones, and paint from Amazon, eBay, and B&Q.”

The Daily Mail broke down the castle on a budget shopping list—wood chipping: $11 from B&Q, swing: $18 from eBay, heavy duty slide from Amazon retails around $120, rock climbing stones: $41 from eBay, charcoal grey paint: $15 from B&Q. The essentials can be bought for a total of $205, which is a tenth of the retail price.