Rowlinson A038 Swiss Cottage Playhouse

There's minor damage but all pieces were there. One slat is actually written on in ink. We did feel reinforcement was necessary for the walls. Plan on painting it.

This is an incredible playhouse. Our daughters love it and we can stand up in it! We bought this house because it was a fraction of the price of comparable playhouses but it doesn't feel like we sacrificed anything! I am confident our two girls will enjoy this house until they are teenagers.I am not a natural handyman and was nervous about building the house. This was easily the biggest project my wife and I have taken on ourselves, but we did it! While I am very proud of myself, it was very doable. Putting the roof on was the trickiest part, but even that was manageable.Our kit came with one side panel that had separated, but we were able to fix it ourselves in less than 10 minutes. They include a repair kit in anticipation of minor issues from shipping. We bought a few extra screws only because we were pretty generous in how many we used at each step, but otherwise the kit included everything we needed besides the drill, a hammer, and a ladder.

Star Justification1 Star for arriving damaged. 5 Stars for how amazon handled the damage. 3.5 Stars for instructions clarity. 3 Stars for quality of materials (needs extra bracing - not included). 2 Stars for fasteners supplied (not good enough). Average of 3 stars.GeneralThis playhouse requires an intermediate level or above with regards to construction and tools to assemble safely. It comes in multiple large panels, but requires extra bracing and multiple tools and fasteners beyond what are listed in the instructions or supplied to make it safe for children to play in. This not something you can just put together after dinner one evening…it requires two people minimum and a significant investment of time.ShippingI had no idea what to expect ordering something like this off amazon. However shipping was as described. The carrier was CEVA Logistics. They called a couple days in advance to arrange delivery and day-of, they called :30 min prior to give me a heads up. They came in a 30’ truck with a lift gate. They parked on the street as they did not want to damage my driveway. They were careful and placed one large 540lb double pallet in my garage.DamageUpon further inspection after delivery, it became apparent how poorly packaged the playhouse was…Quite possibly the worst packaged item I have ever received from amazon. Multiple pieces were broken. I discussed options with amazon and ultimately came to a mutual agreement with them and decided to keep the playhouse and repair the pieces on my own. I was satisfied with how amazon handled the situation, but imagine most people would simply send the playhouse back.Instructions & AssemblyInstructions are pretty clear and straight forward, but everything must be converted from millimeters to inches…Not a big deal, but requires extra time. I ended up building a floating deck out of treated wood sitting on concrete piers for the playhouse to be attached to. I pre-drilled all holes and used better “exterior” screws for the entire playhouse. I had to reinforce two walls because they were flimsy and I feared a child could easily push or fall through them.Ultimately I’m satisfied with how things turned out, but probably wouldn’t tackle it again given the option.

The packaging for this wasn't as sturdy as I would have liked, but it did arrive without any damage and all parts were accounted for (even the hardware, that was a surprise). Directions for how to support the floor were very inadequate, but the remaining directions were good. Once all the pieces were in place, the final product was sturdier than I had expected. I had read several reviews that said it needed additional support (blocking/gusset plates, etc) but I don't feel like it's needed. We did enhance the foundation. Instead of using the puny 2x2s provided, we used pressure treated (gc) 2x2s and put 10 pave stones under the 2x2s to level and support. This is definitely a 2-person job, but two 50 yr old women can put it together in 10 working hours. Recommend setting the door in place BEFORE screwing the walls to each other to make sure you have proper clearance (lesson learned). I had fun building this. I would buy it again.

this playhouse is amazing. my 3 year old (and all of the neighborhood kids) love it. the reason I rated it a 4, was for missing parts. there are slats on the loft area railings and our pallet was missing 4 of them. there was also a large gap where the roof plywood ties in with the side of the house. I will be filling this since it is access for bees.

Nice playhouse, but cheap materials. I had to re-inforce several areas such as stairs, roof, and rails on top level.

Overall it's a cute house but we had to buy more materials to make it more durable there was a huge gap in the doorway we had to purchase pieces to fix that and it still has a small gap :( weve been getting alot of rain and I pray that this house will withstand the elements . The floor of the playhouse where the water is touching it from outside is staining the inside. Overall it doesn't seem to be leaking anywhere. We also had issues aligning the roof it still has a semi gap we put the shingles over that . This playhouse was the only one in our budget and currently it just went up another 700$ :( so I guess we got it just in time. My hubby 6'3 and can stand up for the most part inside I'm 5'3 and have easy time getting around inside. My kids have a table and 4 chairs with beanbags inside. With more pillows in loft area .

Beautiful play house, FAST delivery!! Not that hard to build.