Playground planning
What does it cost to build a playground?
Deciding on your playground budget
A public park may need a big playground to accommodate all the children in the neighborhood and have high requirements for the amenities. A homeowner association may need a smaller playground with fewer amenities. You will get the rules of thumb of what it cost to build a playground as well as how to plan your playground to fit your budget. You will also get some examples of playgrounds and what they could cost.
5 cost considerations
1. Choosing your playground equipment
2. Your choice of surfacing
3. Choosing your site amenities
4. Character of the site
5. Playground cost breakdown with examples
1. Choosing your playground equipment
We believe that the children of the world can get more playgrounds if we build them of the highest quality materials that can stand the test of weather and usage. This will give low operating cost in the future, so the same budget can be used to build more playgrounds, rather than maintaining the ones already built. The cheaper the materials used today is, the higher the operating cost in the future is, and vice versa. In this 25-second video, you can see the theme park Egeskov Castle has used this philosophy to have playgrounds all over the theme park.
Choosing strong and durable wood types, such as Robinia, keeps the maintenance costs low and extends the lifetime of the playground. In areas with high wear and tear, and perhaps even with the possibility of vandalism, products made of steel and high-density polyethylene reduce maintenance costs.
Depending on the following choices, we recommend assigning around 60% of your budget to products and around 10% of your budget to installation, including groundwork, assembling products, and installing them.
2. Your choice of surfacing
Loose fill such as sand and wood chip (engineered wood fiber) look very natural. This also have the advantage of being cheaper in the upfront investment, but at the same time yearly top-up needs to be kept in mind. Be aware that sand is not just sand. The fall sand is a specific type of sand that does not compact and maintain the injury prevention. Likewise with woodchip, then it needs to be engineered wood fiber to protect the children.
Pour-in-place rubber can be made in many colors and can form patterns that enhance the theme and the type of play of a playground. For example, dolphins next to a ship or a water splash at the end of a slide. Pour-in-place rubber is also inclusive for wheelchair users and walking impaired children, parents, or grandparents. It has a higher initial cost, but yearly top-up is not needed making it an option with lower operating cost.
We recommend assigning around 20% of the playground budget to surfacing.
3 Choosing your site amenities
A restaurant is more than tables, chairs, and food. A lot of other things are part of making a great atmosphere. The same is the case for a playground. At a kindergarten, the sole focus may be to accommodate as many children at the same time as possible. However, often the playground also needs to cater for other things than play. In the 30-second video below, you can see how the new playground also have an impact of the joy and play motivation of, not only the children, but also the kindergarten teachers.
Site amenities for your playground
A fence can be a safety separator between a street and the children. Because sometimes the play gets so exciting that they may accidentally run in to the street. Sometimes communities even prefer to fence of the entire playground to avoid that cats and dogs use the playground as their restroom.
Benches can be a nice resting place for parents or care takers. If the parents have a nice area to read a book or speak to a neighbor, the children often get more play time.
Shading can be a good way to prevent sun burns of especially toddlers. It is also nice for parents and grandparents to have a shaded area to sit in.
Bushes and paths add to the nice atmosphere of the playground. A place that is very open does not enjoy the same cozy feeling as a place with bushes and green vegetation.
Bins can help keep the area clean and appealing, and bike racks can be handy, if children come by bike to the site.
We recommend assigning 10% of the playground budget to site amenities.
4. The character of the site
Not all playgrounds are to go into a green field area. If there is an old playground, you need to keep in mind the cost of removing it. Not all playgrounds are built on soft soil. The site can be a hard soil area making it difficult to dig in. This naturally drives up the cost, and it is difficult to put an exact number on. Your local playground consultant will be able to estimate the price upon a site survey.
If the playground is on a very sloped area, it might need to be leveled, at least, part of it. The dig-away can be used as a small hill on the playground, as children love to run up and down hills, and can even be combined with an embankment slide. Using the dig-away as a small hill prevents the cost of getting rid of the dirt.
Depending on the site, we recommend assigning 0-10% of the budget to removing an existing site and for hard digging.
5. Playground cost breakdown with examples
Public Parks
Playground products
$158.000*
Installation of products
$40.100*
Surfacing incl. installation
$14.000*
Freight
$20.000*
Total
$232.100*
Schools
Playground products
$98.900*
Installation of products
$17.800*
Surfacing incl. installation
$12.500*
Freight
$10.400*
Total
$139.600*
Kindergartens
Playground products
$83.000*
Installation of products
$18.000*
Surfacing incl. installation
$10.500*
Freight
$8.800*
Total
$120.300*
Homeowner Associations
Playground products
$50.000*
Installation of products
$12.500*
Surfacing incl. installation
$7.000*
Freight
$5.500*
Total
$75.000*
Got questions about how to plan a playground?
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*Based on 2022 US pricing (excl. tax) and serves to exemplify what a playground can cost on average – given green field, flat area, surfacing only under products, and no site limitations.