An Interview with a Parent Who Successfully Custom-Built a Pirate Ship Playhouse
Hello there, my name is Dave Gerrard. While vacationing in Tampa, Florida, I stopped by my old pal’s home Christian Hager, and had a chance to check out his custom-built pirate ship playhouse which he constructed for his twin 5-year olds – Craig and Thomas. Now, I’ve known Chris since junior high and I didn’t know the guy was good at woodworking! Back in high school, our teacher paired us up for a woodworking project and Christ was totally awful at it.
I recall feeling a bit angry at the teacher for pairing me up with Chris. Fast forward almost 3 decades later and it appears that Chris has picked up some wicked woodworking skills! He actually put together a large pirate theme playhouse for his sons. Wow…How about that, eh?
Of course I had to see the playhouse to believe it…Well, I now believe it! How Chris accomplished such an incredible feat with - according to him – only basic woodworking skills is described below in our interview. The reason I decided to interview him instead of talking about this particular achievement like a normal buddy-to-buddy conversation is because, I want parents out there to realize that it is absolutely possible for them to construct pirate theme playhouses for their children, despite possessing minimal woodworking ability.
Of course I had to see the playhouse to believe it…Well, I now believe it! How Chris accomplished such an incredible feat with - according to him – only basic woodworking skills is described below in our interview. The reason I decided to interview him instead of talking about this particular achievement like a normal buddy-to-buddy conversation is because, I want parents out there to realize that it is absolutely possible for them to construct pirate theme playhouses for their children, despite possessing minimal woodworking ability.
Chris is proof that it can be done. Store-bought playhouses are overpriced – forget about them. Go the DIY route as it is significantly cheaper and a ton more satisfying. Alright, enjoy the following interview folks!
Me: What made you want to custom-built your own pirate ship playhouse? Why don’t you just buy one at toy store?
Chris: Well at first, I wanted to buy one. There’s a toy store not far from here and Michelle (Chris’s wife) and I found this nice looking playhouse which was made in the form of a ship. So we wanted to buy that for the kids but two things held us back. One: The ship was a little on the small side. Two: It was terribly expensive! It wasn’t that big of a playhouse and the price was about 2 grand.
Me: Oh my…That’s awfully pricey!
Chris: Yeah exactly, so we went home and decided to scour the internet to find better deals. No luck. The playhouses we found online were expensive too. Michele jokingly suggested we should just build the playhouse ourselves to save cost and that set off a light bulb in my head.
Me: That’s when you decided to build one yourself, right?
Chris: Yeah, right! I started searching for instructions online but most of them were very confusing. One site leads to another and next thing I know, I ended up on a website that sells detailed downloadable plans on how to build a pirate ship style playhouse. I thought the plans looked great and there’s a package on the site with lots of video tutorials included. I thought okay, this is seriously going to help me out.
Me: So you bought some sort of construction plans with video guides?
Chris: Yes, that’s right.
Me: So these plans and videos, they actually helped you build that pirate ship playhouse that’s standing in your backyard right now?
Chris: Yep.
Me: How much did you pay for the construction plans plus the videos?
Chris: Around $100.
Me: That’s kind of expensive, don’t you think?
Chris: No I don’t think so Dave and here’s why…First of all, the pirate ship playhouse that I custom-built cost me under $1200 to build. That’s actually very cheap compared to buying one from the toy store, online or whatever. I mean look at the size of the playhouse Dave. It’s pretty huge. It would’ve cost more than 2 or 3 grand if you buy it from the stores. The playhouse that Michele and I saw at the store was about $2000 and it’s a lot smaller than the one I built. And the other thing is the plans and videos were totally helpful. Without them, no chance in hell I would have been able to build that pirate ship playhouse for the kids. My woodworking skills are totally basic level, okay? I could do a bit of sawing and hammering, well that’s pretty much it. So the plans and video tutorials really helped out a lot. Even a guy with little handyman or woodworking ability like me was able to build a nice pirate ship style playhouse for his kids thanks to those helpful instructional materials.
Me: Right, right. That’s wonderful Chris. I still remember we got teamed up for a woodworking project back in high school and you sucked at that sort of thing!
Chris: Ahahahaha!
Me: But now look at you. I mean look at that playhouse in your backyard. It looks like the work of a woodworking master. Can’t believe someone with little woodworking skills such as yourself could construct something like that. Congrats Chris!
Chris: Why, thank you Dave. I know, I’m so awesome right? Hahahaha.
Me: Okay, okay, someone is getting a bit big-headed here. So how long did it take you to complete the playhouse?
Chris: About 4 months. Each day after coming home from work, I spent about an hour or two working on the playhouse. On most weekends, I put in 5 to 8 hours of work. Consecutive rain days in Tampa slowed things down a bit.
Me: What are the challenges that you face while building the playhouse?
Chris: The challenges were mild mostly like sawing lumbers, cutting and shaping wood, carrying heavy stuff, that kind of thing. The construction plans and videos had all the info I need to build the playhouse, so doing the actual construction was quite challenging and tiring. It was tons of fun to build, but definitely tiring!
Me: Okay, what was the most fun part of building that pirate ship playhouse?
Chris: Umm, I’d say building the ship’s upper deck was pretty fun. I think that was the most fun part to work on.
Me: Cool. So Chris, before we end this interview, any tips or advice that you’d like to share with parents out there who are interested in building a pirate ship playhouse like yours?
Chris: Building a playhouse for your kids, doesn’t matter whether it’s a pirate ship style playhouse or a basic type or whatever, is a lot of fun and very, very satisfying. Don’t get intimidated at the prospect of building one. Believe me; any able-bodied adults can do it. If you have zero knowledge in building a playhouse, don’t worry. There are construction plans you can download off the internet or you watch online videos. Paid plans are usually superior in quality compared to the free ones. They are more complete and usually much easier to follow. If you have the money, then just buy and download a bunch of paid plans like I did, go out and buy your building materials and get to work. Work on one step at a time and before you know it, you’d have your very own custom-made pirate theme playhouse in your backyard.
Me: Fantastic tips and advice Chris! Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for your time.
Chris: No problemo. It’s a pleasure to do this interview.
Me: Alright folks. This is the end of interview. If you’re interested in checking out the pirate ship playhouse plans and video tutorials used by Chris, click on this link. Have fun and good luck folks!
Me: What made you want to custom-built your own pirate ship playhouse? Why don’t you just buy one at toy store?
Chris: Well at first, I wanted to buy one. There’s a toy store not far from here and Michelle (Chris’s wife) and I found this nice looking playhouse which was made in the form of a ship. So we wanted to buy that for the kids but two things held us back. One: The ship was a little on the small side. Two: It was terribly expensive! It wasn’t that big of a playhouse and the price was about 2 grand.
Me: Oh my…That’s awfully pricey!
Chris: Yeah exactly, so we went home and decided to scour the internet to find better deals. No luck. The playhouses we found online were expensive too. Michele jokingly suggested we should just build the playhouse ourselves to save cost and that set off a light bulb in my head.
Me: That’s when you decided to build one yourself, right?
Chris: Yeah, right! I started searching for instructions online but most of them were very confusing. One site leads to another and next thing I know, I ended up on a website that sells detailed downloadable plans on how to build a pirate ship style playhouse. I thought the plans looked great and there’s a package on the site with lots of video tutorials included. I thought okay, this is seriously going to help me out.
Me: So you bought some sort of construction plans with video guides?
Chris: Yes, that’s right.
Me: So these plans and videos, they actually helped you build that pirate ship playhouse that’s standing in your backyard right now?
Chris: Yep.
Me: How much did you pay for the construction plans plus the videos?
Chris: Around $100.
Me: That’s kind of expensive, don’t you think?
Chris: No I don’t think so Dave and here’s why…First of all, the pirate ship playhouse that I custom-built cost me under $1200 to build. That’s actually very cheap compared to buying one from the toy store, online or whatever. I mean look at the size of the playhouse Dave. It’s pretty huge. It would’ve cost more than 2 or 3 grand if you buy it from the stores. The playhouse that Michele and I saw at the store was about $2000 and it’s a lot smaller than the one I built. And the other thing is the plans and videos were totally helpful. Without them, no chance in hell I would have been able to build that pirate ship playhouse for the kids. My woodworking skills are totally basic level, okay? I could do a bit of sawing and hammering, well that’s pretty much it. So the plans and video tutorials really helped out a lot. Even a guy with little handyman or woodworking ability like me was able to build a nice pirate ship style playhouse for his kids thanks to those helpful instructional materials.
Me: Right, right. That’s wonderful Chris. I still remember we got teamed up for a woodworking project back in high school and you sucked at that sort of thing!
Chris: Ahahahaha!
Me: But now look at you. I mean look at that playhouse in your backyard. It looks like the work of a woodworking master. Can’t believe someone with little woodworking skills such as yourself could construct something like that. Congrats Chris!
Chris: Why, thank you Dave. I know, I’m so awesome right? Hahahaha.
Me: Okay, okay, someone is getting a bit big-headed here. So how long did it take you to complete the playhouse?
Chris: About 4 months. Each day after coming home from work, I spent about an hour or two working on the playhouse. On most weekends, I put in 5 to 8 hours of work. Consecutive rain days in Tampa slowed things down a bit.
Me: What are the challenges that you face while building the playhouse?
Chris: The challenges were mild mostly like sawing lumbers, cutting and shaping wood, carrying heavy stuff, that kind of thing. The construction plans and videos had all the info I need to build the playhouse, so doing the actual construction was quite challenging and tiring. It was tons of fun to build, but definitely tiring!
Me: Okay, what was the most fun part of building that pirate ship playhouse?
Chris: Umm, I’d say building the ship’s upper deck was pretty fun. I think that was the most fun part to work on.
Me: Cool. So Chris, before we end this interview, any tips or advice that you’d like to share with parents out there who are interested in building a pirate ship playhouse like yours?
Chris: Building a playhouse for your kids, doesn’t matter whether it’s a pirate ship style playhouse or a basic type or whatever, is a lot of fun and very, very satisfying. Don’t get intimidated at the prospect of building one. Believe me; any able-bodied adults can do it. If you have zero knowledge in building a playhouse, don’t worry. There are construction plans you can download off the internet or you watch online videos. Paid plans are usually superior in quality compared to the free ones. They are more complete and usually much easier to follow. If you have the money, then just buy and download a bunch of paid plans like I did, go out and buy your building materials and get to work. Work on one step at a time and before you know it, you’d have your very own custom-made pirate theme playhouse in your backyard.
Me: Fantastic tips and advice Chris! Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for your time.
Chris: No problemo. It’s a pleasure to do this interview.
Me: Alright folks. This is the end of interview. If you’re interested in checking out the pirate ship playhouse plans and video tutorials used by Chris, click on this link. Have fun and good luck folks!