“I was a girl who came into the clubhouse, into the treehouse, with the sign on the door saying, ‘No girls allowed,’ and the reception was not always a good one.”

Ellen Ullman

Pros and Cons of Treehouses

Treehouses are quite popular, especially among children since they give them additional space to play and to hide from their parents.

While having a treehouse can be great in various aspects, there are also some problems related to it.

In fact, I show you all the pros and cons of building a treehouse in the following.

Advantages of Having a Treehouse

1. Your kids will have additional room to play
2. Your children will spend more time in the fresh air
3. Building a treehouse can be fun
4. You can set a challenge for yourself
5. Tree houses come in various types and shapes
6. Installing a treehouse can increase property value
7. Building a treehouse can be a nice alternative to going to the gym
8. Many people will envy you
9. Your kids will have an easy time finding friends
10. Treehouses can be built with natural materials
11. Can give you some space to unplug from your stressful daily life
12. Having a treehouse can make your home unique
13. Building a treehouse can make you more confident
14. You can also involve your kids with your building project

Your kids will have additional room to play

One advantage of building a treehouse is that your kids will have plenty of additional room to play and to hide.

A treehouse can be a great place to hang out with your friends as a kid since you will just not always be watched by your parents and will be free to do what you want to do and to talk about topics your parents should not hear.

If your child hangs out in a treehouse for an extended period of time every day, this also means that you will have more living space for the other family members and treehouses can therefore also be great if you have many children and a rather confined living space indoors.

Your children will spend more time in the fresh air

Another upside to treehouses is that your children will also be more willing to spend time in the fresh air in your garden instead of just hanging out indoors in front of a computer screen all day long.

In our current state of the world, our younger generation seems to completely lose its connection to nature since video games are often more important to them than spending time in nature.

By building a treehouse, you can mitigate this problem to a certain extent and can show your kids how interesting and beautiful it really is to spend more time outdoors.

Once your kids recognize that, you will not even have to tell them to play outside.

They will do that in a completely natural manner and will really love spending time in their treehouse.

Building a treehouse can be fun

Apart from the benefits for your children, you can also really enjoy the building process of your tree house yourself.

In fact, it can be pretty interesting to see the progress every day you invest time to build it a little bit further.

Especially if you have never built a treehouse or any other bigger things before, you can also really learn a lot from this project and chances are that you will learn many important skills that can benefit you in various different ways for your future life.

You can set a challenge for yourself

Building a treehouse is also not that easy.

While you could just get people to build it for you, you can also do it completely by yourself.

Building a treehouse from scratch can be a pretty nice challenge and you can really grow from this experience.

Quite often, you will not know how to proceed and what parts will be needed next.

While this can be quite annoying, it also gives you the opportunity to really think about your project and to structure it in a profound manner.

If you stick with it, you will see enormous progress sooner or later and this will motivate you to keep going until you finally complete your treehouse challenge.

Tree houses come in various types and shapes

You can also be pretty creative when it comes to the type, shape and color of your treehouse.

In fact, you can build your treehouse the way you want it to be and do not even have to rely on any manufacturer.

You can just go to your favorite home improvement center, get some wood and you can start your project.

Of course, it would be far easier to just use treehouse sets that you only have to assemble.

Yet, building a treehouse from scratch can be much more fun and will also give you a greater level of freedom regarding how it will look in the end and what materials you want to use for it.

Installing a treehouse can increase property value

Another benefit of installing a treehouse at home is that you can increase the property value of your home.

This may not be relevant to you yet since you might plan to stay in your home for a pretty long period of time.

However, you never know what will happen in the future and circumstances may force you to sell it sooner or later.

In such a case, you will be far better off with a nice treehouse since people will just be willing to offer you more money for your home, especially if your treehouse looks nice and fancy.

Building a treehouse can be a nice alternative to going to the gym

You can also build a treehouse after work. This can also be a great alternative to the gym.

Imagine you work on your treehouse for just one hour every day after work.

Although it may take a few months to complete your project, you will still be able to finish it sooner or later and building your treehouse this way will also keep you fit.

Chances are that you will also be much more motivated to build a treehouse compared to just going to the gym since you know what you are working for and will see the progress of your work every day compared to a state where you just burn calories in the gym and don’t get anything out of it.

Many people will envy you

If you put in plenty of effort, you will soon see real progress and by the time you finish your treehouse project, people will be really envious and will also secretly admire you for your hard work, your patience and the end result.

In fact, many people out there want to have a treehouse, yet they are not willing to put in the extra hours for building it.

You can be a real motivator for these people since you can show them that it is feasible to build a treehouse after work in your leisure and that almost everyone can do this if he or she is willing to put in the work and to learn from mistakes.

Your kids will have an easy time finding friends

Since treehouses are quite popular among kids, chances are that your children will also have a pretty easy time finding new friends.

If they tell their classmates in school about their treehouse, chances are that these classmates want to come over and play in the treehouse.

In fact, many parents will call you up and ask you whether it is ok for you that their kids will come over.

Hence, treehouses can also be great for you and your children to socialize and to get to know new people.

Treehouses can be built with natural materials

Another advantage of treehouses is that they can be built with natural materials.

In fact, treehouses can be built almost entirely out of wood without the need to use any plastics.

This is not only great for our environment since you can use renewable resources for your building project, but it is also beneficial for your kids since you can educate them about the necessity of protecting our environment by using eco-friendly materials.

In turn, your kids will be more likely to behave eco-friendly as well once they get older and you can get a good feeling since you will know that your educational efforts will likely pay off sooner or later.

Can give you some space to unplug from your stressful daily life

Having a treehouse in your yard can not only benefit your children, but it can also give you the opportunity to unplug from your stressful daily life.

When you come back from work tired and frustrated, it can be great to have some space for yourself where you can relax and forget your worries.

You can just get a cool drink and sit down in your treehouse for a while.

You can also use it for meditation and other practices that can make you relax from your stressful daily life and your treehouse may indeed become your favorite place due to that.

Some people even use their treehouse for working since they just feel more inspired compared to just working from an office.

Having a treehouse can make your home unique

Since not that many people have a treehouse at home, building a treehouse in your backyard can be a great way to make your home unique.

Especially if you don’t rely on treehouse building sets but build your treehouse from scratch instead, you will be able to create a completely unique treehouse for which your neighbors, family and friends will greatly admire you.

If you are really good at what you are doing and also perfect your treehouse building craft, you may even be able to turn your passion for treehouses into a real business.

In fact, many people are willing to invest significant amounts of money for nice unique treehouses and this means that you could also make really good money in this industry.

Building a treehouse can make you more confident

Another chance of building a treehouse is that it can simply make you more confident.

Especially if you don’t have high levels of inner self-confidence yet, building your own treehouse can really help you overcome your fears since you will soon see progress and will realize that you are actually capable to do things.

In turn, your self-esteem will grow and you will also become more confident in various other parts of your daily life.

Confidence is king for success in life and boosting your confidence through building a treehouse can be a great way to go in such a case.

You can also involve your kids with your building project

You also don’t have to build your treehouse alone.

If you have a family, you can also let your kids help you.

In fact, your children will often be quite eager to assist you and this can also strengthen the bonds between you and your kids.

Now that you got all the advantages of having your own treehouse, it is time to talk about the issues that come along with it in the following chapters.

Disadvantages of Building a Tree House

1. Treehouses take away some space in your backyard
2. Treehouses can be expensive
3. You might need some helpers to install it
4. Construction mistakes can make your treehouse collapse
5. Your kids may fall from the treehouse
6. Treehouses may not be useful during rainy periods
7. Your children may simply not like playing in it
8. Building a treehouse can make you liable for accidents related to it
9. You have to maintain your treehouse
10. Treehouses may attract other unwanted animals
11. Some people just don’t like the looks of treehouses
12. Your treehouse will often not be as nice as in the pictures

Treehouses take away some space in your backyard

One problem with treehouses is that they often take away plenty of space in your garden.

The bigger the treehouse, the more space you will lose that you can no longer use for other purposes like gardening or for building a pool.

Thus, before you decide to get a treehouse, make sure to invest some time and plan your project wisely to avoid any space-constraint and other unpleasant surprises in the long run.

Treehouses can be expensive

Treehouses can also be pretty pricy.

Depending on the size, type and material, you can easily spend many thousands of dollars on your treehouse.

The amount of money you have to invest also greatly depends on whether you build your treehouse yourself or if you rather want to get people to build it for you.

If you build it yourself, you can save plenty of money for labor costs and the overall costs for your treehouse will be much lower due to that.

Thus, if you have the time and the skillset to build your treehouse yourself, you should also do so due to financial aspects.

You might need some helpers to install it

While you can build your treehouse yourself if certain conditions are met, you will still need some help from your family or friends sooner or later.

Some parts are just too heavy to carry them alone and you should not think that the average man can build a treehouse alone.

There is plenty of hard work involved in the process and you should make sure that your friends will help you out in case you need them before deciding to build your own treehouse.

Construction mistakes can make your treehouse collapse

Another issue with building a treehouse is that you can make serious construction mistakes.

If you don’t know much about how to build things, chances are that you will also not know enough about statics and if your mistakes get too big, chances are that the whole construction will become unstable and may collapse sooner or later.

Thus, make sure that you have proper knowledge in this regard to avoid any construction mistakes and to assure that the end result will be safe for your children to play in.

Your kids may fall from the treehouse

Especially if they are still young, your children may also underestimate the risks associated with your treehouse.

For example, if they fall from your treehouse, this can result in serious injuries and you should also take appropriate safety measures in this regard, especially if your treehouse is pretty high.

Installing these safety measures will cost additional time and money and you should not underestimate all the time and money you have to invest in your treehouse project.

Treehouses may not be useful during rainy periods

Another disadvantage of having a treehouse at home is that you will also not be able to use it during winter or during rainy periods of the year.

In fact, most treehouses will just not be solid enough to protect you against heavy rain and some rain will still fall on your head.

Moreover, chances are that the inside of the treehouse will get wet as well and you will just no longer feel comfortable staying there during those periods.

Hence, you should also be aware that your treehouse will only be used for a few months a year while it will not be suitable for winter or during periods of rain.

Your children may simply not like playing in it

While most children love treehouses and cannot get enough from them, your kids may be different and may just not like playing there at all.

They may also love your treehouse at first, but it may just get boring in the long run and you might have wasted plenty of time and money in such a case.

Building a treehouse can make you liable for accidents related to it

Another downside of building a treehouse is that you might also be liable for any accidents that might occur in it.

For instance, if the kids from your neighbors come over to your place, play in your treehouse, fall from it and get injured, you will often be liable for medical costs or may even get sued by their parents.

Thus, make sure that you install proper safety measures for your treehouse so that you can at least minimize the risk in this regard.

You have to maintain your treehouse

You will also have to maintain your treehouse to a certain extent.

Sure, once it is built, you can just leave it like that for a certain period of time.

However, sooner or later, you will have to fix some things and your treehouse may also lose its stability in the long run.

Hence, make sure that you are also willing to invest some time and money for those repairs that might come in the future.

Treehouses may attract other unwanted animals

While treehouses can attract cute animals like birds and squirrels, they may also attract unwanted animals like snakes or spiders.

Thus, you should not be afraid of rather exotic animal friends if you decide for installing a treehouse in your backyard, especially if you live in a region where those animals are quite common.

Some people just don’t like the looks of treehouses

While many people love the idea of having a treehouse and also love the overall appearance of treehouses, others just don’t like them at all.

In fact, it depends on your personal preferences if you like the appearance of tree houses and if you don’t find anything attractive about them, you might not want to get a treehouse as well due to visual aspects.

Your treehouse will often not be as nice as in the pictures

You should also be aware of the fact that your treehouse will often not look that nice as in pictures you might have seen on the internet or in advertising.

The truth is that those pictures often don’t reflect reality in a proper manner and you should be prepared that your treehouse will just not look that perfect.

Top 10 Treehouse Pros & Cons – Summary List

Treehouse Pros	Treehouse Cons
Treehouses provide additional living space	Getting a treehouse can be costly
Nice if you have children	Maintenance efforts related to treehouses
You can unplug from your stressful life	Your kids may fall from your treehouse
Building a treehouse can be fun	You may be liable for accidents
Can replace the need to go to the gym	Your treehouse may collapse
Treehouses can make your home nicer	Building a treehouse implies plenty of work
Treehouses can increase resale value	You may need additional helpers
Many different types of tree houses	Will not be used during winter
People will envy you	Treehouses may attract unwanted animals
Can make you more confident	Some people just don’t like treehouses

Should You Get A Treehouse For Your Home?

As you can see from the previous discussion, there are indeed many advantages and disadvantages of treehouses that you have to know so that you can make a profound decision of whether you still want to get a treehouse or not.

Thus, make sure to take some time and also talk to your family members about it. Only if everyone is happy with your idea, you will also be happy with it in the long run.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_house

https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/kids-pets/g21288330/treehouse-ideas-for-kids/

https://www.pinterest.de/tsphomedecor/treehouse-ideas/

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my own plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.