So, what's possible?
The short answer: Just about anything.
The art and science of treehouse construction has taken incredible leaps in the past two decades, moving from scrapwood nailed up for the season to carefully designed structures raised into their hosts for years to come. Special mounting hardware, unique building techniques, and a greater understanding of tree biology has enabled professional builders and DIY enthusiasts to explore brave new worlds full of character and comfort.
If you'd like some sense of what's possible, including a general idea of costs, check out the treehouse examples below.
If you have other questions and you're looking for answers, feel free to jump to our FAQs section below.
Examples
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| A wonderfuly simple platform for kids by Artisan Tree and Treehouse. |
Scrapwood and nails do not a sound treehouse make, but that spirit of simplicity and economy is still alive and well.
Some of the most basic tree structures are simple platforms. Close to the ground for kids, raised a bit higher for adults, a basic platform offers all the joys of getting off the ground as well as an unrivaled view of trees and sky. Custom designed for tree and setting, they can be further customized through unique entry and exit methods -- think everything from spiral stairs to zip lines -- and a host of add-ons intended to inspire play or just facilitate a good nap.
Depending upon the site, the height of the platform, the materials you choose and the extras you want, basic tree platforms can be designed and built by professionals for as little as $3,500.
Design wisely, and you can make that platform house-ready and let it evolve and expand over time.
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| A small self-supported treehouse by the brilliant Barbara Butler. |
Typically not far off the ground and less than 100 square feet, small treehouses can make wonderful places that fuel the imagination of children of any age.
If they're intended for kids, most small treehouses place a premium of special spaces and places to play, as well as safety and ease of use. The house itself can occupy all or part of the platform, and the level of finish detail and play-inspiring add-ons can vary widely. It's all up to you.
As with all treehouse structures, site conditions, materials and design choices create a wide range of construction options, but a good small treehouse that will echo with giggles and shine with grins for years to come can often be professionally designed and constructed starting at about $10,000.
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| Our own pirate ship treehouse. |
With a little more space comes a lot more options.
Medium-sized treehouses -- somewhere between 100 and 200 square feet -- allow more room for more elaborate kids spaces as well as offering enough space for adults to create a comfortable refuge. Platforms tend to get higher as well, depending upon personal preference and the limits of the host.
Options are likewise broader as imagination stretches to fill the space alloted to it -- from airborne pirate ships to fully heated living spaces suitable for nights under the canopy and stars. Prices are as individual as the projects, but a great medium sized treehouse can often be taken from notion to reality for as little as $20,000.
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| A large adult-themed treehouse from The Treehouse Workshop. |
If you have the right trees and the ambition, we can push the platform size over 200 square feet and set the sky as the limit.
Generally intended for older teens or adults, large treehouses can have any element a ground-bound home can offer -- complete living spaces, full accommodations, rich finish details -- as well as a host of things not possible on the surface.
Many large treehouses sit 15 feet or higher in their hosts and have multiple floors, affording an arboreal experience that's almost impossible to describe. Add in specialized details such as bridge entryways, upper porches, broad decks and lots of windows for sightlines, and it becomes an experience that has to be felt to believed.
Here, more than anyplace else, pricing varies as widely as ambition and imagination. Still, some legendary coffee-table book structures have been created and constructed for $35,000 and up.
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| Treehouse engineer Charley Greenwood lives in this home-sized treehouse. |
Do a quick search on the Web or stop by the local bookstore, and you'll find some treehouses that can only be called monstrous.
Some are as large as full-sized homes, or 100 feet or more above the ground, and many are complete with hot tubs, guest baths and more. They're marvels of design and engineering, and many cost $100,000 or more to build. As a small, high-craft enterprise, Peacemaker Treehouses generally sets an upper limit of about 500 square feet on what we design and build. If you'd like something larger, we're happy to develop a custom plan with you or help connect you with one of our colleagues who specializes in monster work.
Frequently asked questions
Over the past several years, I've enjoyed hundreds of conversations about treehouses with everyone from professional colleagues to the passingly curious. While the topics tend to be as wide ranging as the treehouses themselves, there are some questions that seem to resurface. Here are a few that I've found frequently asked, and some answers to go along with them.
Remember, if you have any other questions, just drop me a note. I'll be happy to help.
What's possible?
As noted above, almost anything within the limits of physics, tree biology and the investment you want to make.
How much do they cost?
Prices, like trees and treehouses, vary widely. Some basic platforms can cost as little as $3,500, and some of the monster treehouses you may have seen in books or on the Web cost more than $500,000 to build. Some folks build from their imagination and don't worry about price. Some folks set a project budget and design to make the most of it. Either way, if you have your heart set on a unique treehouse, there'll be a way to make it a reality.
Are these for kids to play or adults to enjoy?
Yes.
Treehouses can be anything you'd like. If it's for your kids, you can add cargo nets, swings, fire poles, rope ladders, zip lines and more to create magic. If you're the one looking for the magic or rejuvenation, treehouses can have porches, decks, sleeping lofts and about anything else you can imagine. It's all up to you.
Why are treehouses suddenly so popular?
We all loved treehouses as kids. They inspire imagination and make us feel safe in a way that no ground space can. It's a rare kid who didn't want a treehouse.
For years, treehouses were only that -- that thing we left behind years ago. Then a kid who wouldn't let go of that dream named Michael Garnier decided to build a few outside his bed and breakfast in southwestern Oregon in the late 1980s. When he stepped up to a large treehouse, Michael's creativity led him to create a unique anchoring bolt -- known since as the Garnier Limb -- to safely carry the greater load. When he offered to rent the treehouse to guests, local building inspectors who had no idea what to make of a tree-borne structure tried to shut Out-n-About's Treesort down. So began a legal battle, and so began Michael's work with his friend and engineer Charley Greenwood. The two men developed, tested, refined and proved the load-carrying capacity of the Garnier limb. They also opened up a whole new world of design and construction possibilities into which pioneers such as Pete Nelson and Jake Jacob of The Treehouse Workshop quickly stepped in. Michael, Charley, Pete, Jake and a small group of arborists and builders pioneered the craft, helping all those grown-up kids have the treehouses they always imagined and build a few for their own kids.
As word spread, so did demand, creating a second a second generation of treehouse professionals who learned from the pioneers and try to spread the joy of treehouses to a wider clientele.
Should I hire a professional?
It all depends upon who you are and what you want.
Modern treehouse construction has its unique tools, skills and hardware, and there are lots of books and Web sites that can explain them. Several builders, including Peacemaker Treehouses, offer consulting services to help you develop your project. The most popular section of the Peacemaker Treehouse blog is the entry on installing a Garnier Limb intended for the do-it-yourselfer. If you have the time, and you're comfortable with careful carpentry and working in a tree, a DIY treehouse may be your best choice.
But some people don't have the time to sort through all of that. Developing and exercising their own set of skills is demanding enough, without trying to learn a new craft in their sparse spare time. Other people do have some design and construction skills, but also have treehouse ambitions that extend beyond what they're comfortable tackling on their own.
For these people, a professional treehouse design and construction services is the right answer.
How do you set a Garnier Limb?
Installing the foundation anchor that makes the whole treehouse possible is not very complicated, but it has to done right. If you're looking for a detailed explanation with photos to illustrate the steps, fell free to jump over to the installing a GL section of the Peacemaker Treehouses blog, and then drop me a line if you have any questions.
Does installing a Garnier Limb hurt the tree?
No honest treehouse builder ducks this question. Yes, bolting anything into a tree damages it. That's part of the genius of the Garnier Limb, and the reason proper installation and sound design is so critical.
The GL has been designed to work with a tree's biology, distributing loads in ways the trunk can handle and allowing the tree to move, grow and develop reaction wood to handle the added weight. If installed carefully, there's minimal damage to the tree, and if designed properly the treehouse load is no more than a fraction of the forces a healthy tree faces in its natural state. Do it right, and a healthy tree will hardly notice the imposition -- and benefit greatly from the added care it will receive from it's grateful guests.
Are there codes and rules for treehouses?
There are best practices for treehouse construction that have been developed over the past two decades, but no national standards as yet. Local jurisdictions may have there own rules and requirements, and anyone building a treehouse should make sure to work with local officials and comply with these requirements.
Beyond that, there are long-established construction guidelines for playgrounds, decks and houses -- and a good builder does her or his best to make sure to incorporate those standards wherever they apply in any project.
What about accessibility?
Yes, fully accessible treehouse can be built.
In fact, one of the industry's pioneers has made a career of it. Bill Allen of Forever Young Treehouses has created many fully accessible treehouses through his not-for-profit operation based in Vermont. If you're looking for a full accessible treehouse, there is no one better than Bill.
If your treehouse is smaller than the type of project Forever Young takes on, his lessons have been learned by many professionals who take the craft seriously. Ask him to recommend one.
How long does it take to have a treehouse built?
That depends on the site, the design and the company doing the work. If speed is your goal, larger firms are your best bet. Several do wonderful work, but you'll pay for the urgency.
Peacemaker Treehouses is a small operation, with an emphasis on individual customer service and attention to all project details. We only take on a few projects each year, and we carefully plan them with our clients to work within their schedule. For us, small platforms can take as little as a week to plan and build. Large treehouses can take as much as four months to bring from concept to completion.
How long will my treehouse last?
That depends largely on the tree. Designed and built well, and carefully maintained, your treehouse will last through more than a few childhoods or retirements. Several at Michael Garnier's Out-n-About Treesort are now pushing two decades old and going strong.
One important thing to remember about longevity is that, unlike ground structures, no honest builder can guarantee a term of years for your treehouse. Rather than concrete or blocks, a treehouse's foundation is a living thing, subject to all the whims of nature we all endure. The best we can do is design well, work within the advice of certified arborists and build carefully. Do those things, and the odds are you'll be enjoying your treehouse for decades to come, too.
Are some trees too small for treehouses?
Yes and no.
When it comes to supporting the load of a treehouse, you need a good, healthy tree with at least a 12-inch trunk diameter at the height you plan to attach the treehouse. Smaller trees present all sorts of problems -- lack of load-carrying strength, difficulty installing larger hardware, greater movement in the wind, rapid growth that can quickly overwhelm anchors, and the tendency of smaller trees to try to shed load by bending. It's best to avoid supporting treehouses in smaller trees.
That doesn't mean your treehouse dreams are dashed, however.
It's always possible to use posts to support part or all of your treehouse. Designed well, the posts can blend into the setting and the treehouse can still sit among the branches. You can't get too high with this method, and that gentle rocking in the breeze may be out, but it's still a house in the trees -- and that's pretty special.
What's the right tree?
There are a few types of trees to avoid, but the key to it all is to have a relatively mature, healthy tree. If you're starting from that point, you can make almost anything work.
Some trees get a bad reputation because of some imprecise naming conventions. Most of we call softwoods have great strength and make fine hosts. Some careful pruning may be necessary, since lots of pines love to shed lower branches when they become shaded by new growth -- with not always pleasant results for anything below. If you don't mind cones and a little sap, evergreens can be great trees in which to build. One caveat, watch out for spruces. Their roots tend to be shallow and they can tip under rough conditions. That means they're not the best bet for a single-tree treehouse.
Some of the classic hardwood species, one the other hand, can make unwelcoming hosts. Black walnuts and butternuts are strong, but brittle, with a tendency to snap branches. Black locust, North America's hardest hardwood and a gorgeous flowering tree, tend to grow in swampy soil that can be no fun to walk through. Weeping willows have a great deal of movement in the wind, and like their native cousins, the black willow, sometimes are a little too willing to shed high-wind stress by dropping major branches or just tipping over. For lots of little reasons, elms, cottonwoods and sycamores are not the best hosts.
On the upside, some very common trees are wonderful friends to treehouses. Maples, native and imported, are hardy with great wood and magical natural spaces. Oaks are true studs, and long-lived ones at that -- just make sure to leave room for the squirrels. Hickory varieties, and there are many, likewise make great hosts. Just eat your Wheaties before trying to set GLs in those. Ash trees have great strength, but many parts of the country have a blight problem that can turn healthy trees into standing baseball bats in short order, so be careful.
Do I need an arborist?
Whatever tree you choose, tree health is an absolutely critical factor. This living thing will, quite literally, be holding you up and keeping you safe (not to mention holding your investment in its metaphoric hands). It's no small task, and it's a relationship that begin by the new guests drilling a few holes in their host. Build well in a strong tree, and there's no problem. Don't, and you might as well save some time by taking all the materials for the treehouse and the tree, and chopping them up for firewood right off.
That's why consulting with a certified arborist -- and preferably one who doesn't own a wood chipper -- is critical. Tree health is hard to assess, and requires an understanding of the tree as well as the micro-environment around it. You'll need a trained eye to help you out.
Do I need an engineer?
You'll find some disagreement here, even among the pros. Lots of folks love to fly by the seat of their pants, so to speak, and apply what they see as common building sense to treehouse construction.
In many cases, that might work out fine. Most ground structures are vastly overbuilt, with established practices based on doubling or tripling what engineers determined to be minimal safety thresholds -- standards themselves built with big margins for error. Build a small treehouse that way, and you'll likely still be fine. The odds are in your favor.
But, when your investing thousands of dollars and one day plan to be sitting on the treehouse deck in a strong breeze, do you really want to play the odds?
Standard overbuilding can be a problem with a treehouse. More materials means more load, and that means more burden for the living host to carry. Treehouses also frequently face a wide range of stresses most ground structures rarely see. Motion can exceed the most active earthquake zone, and be much more common and prolonged. Wind forces acting on all side of the treehouse -- even the bottom -- can try to lift and toss a treehouse in ways that rival hurricanes. The art of determining how these forces interplay and are translated to the tree is just that, an art.
An experienced treehouse engineer can sort all that out. Structure shape, materials, platform design, GL type and placement, all of this benefits from a careful review -- and will help you have the most treehouse for the lightest impact on the tree. That translates into maximum comfort, safety and years of enjoyment.
For a few hundred dollars, the benefits of a professional treehouse engineer's review are well worth the cost. And so are you.
Is a treehouse green?
If anything should be, certainly a treehouse should be green. But the truth is, a treehouse is no more environmentally friendly than its designer makes it.
The good news is the kind of people who want treehouses and the kind of people who make a career building them are the kind of folks who are inclined to think green. For treehouses, that often means minimizing chemical preservatives, using recycled or recovered materials (although be careful about recovered wood of unknown strength in key structural areas), and employing careful construction techniques that minimize waste. When possible, a green builder tries to get materials from local suppliers, which limits the carbon footprint of what's used, and never falls for the allure of exotic natural or artificial materials that damage ecosystems or create massive amounts of pollution to produce.
What's green on the ground is green in the trees. If you love nature enough to want to spend time among the branches, you're already off to a good start.