What I did and am going to do for my kid is this:
I got a store bought set from a buddy who moved into a house. He didnt want it in his yard and it was still in reasonable shape, even had the manual and leftover hardware.
I took the manual and made a big spreadsheet with the exact dimensions of every piece of lumber on it.
Then I converted that to nominal treated dimensional lumber available at teh home store.
This way, you get a ridiculously high quality play set, with all the extra stuff thats hard to find, like the slide, swing seats, etc for free.
I am going to get all the lumber, and use the OLD POORER QUALITY PIECES as templates for treated wood replacement.
It will be a slightly beefier version of the original with much better, longer lasting wood.
For me, the playset would have cost about 800-1200 bucks, but with that part being free and just replacing the wood is going to cost about 400.
This way, you don't have to 'design' anything. the way this set is made, there is a 'playhouse' on top that is essentially a standalone piece, it just rests on the framing and base of the rest of the playset. This piece, since its not structural or in constant contact with the ground or water, is in great shape. So that will simply be placed back on the top as is and bolted to it accordingly.
[This message has been edited by jed1154 (edited 12/29/2010 12:10p).]
