What To Know About Buying Commercial Playground Equipment

Buying A Commercial commercial playground equipment PlaygroundThe task of buying playground equipment has fallen to you and your committee. Perhaps you're the decision-maker and your head is about to explode because you don't know the first thing about shopping for commercial playground equipment. Where do you begin? Right here. You need good advice from a professional playground design consultant and I'm here to help.First, this is gonna be fun - and yes, expensive. Let's get this out of the way to save us all the anxiety - $10,000 to $110,000 is needed. My projects fall between $30,000 and $90,000 including site prep, safety surfacing, purchase and installation.There are many playground companies in the USA - mostly contenders who don't offer much more than their versions of what the bigger competition offers. Bigger is not always better except in this case I would disagree. You can weed out all but four or five companies. The popularity of these top-tier companies with municipalities and school districts come from decades of experience that demonstrate they can be depended on when it comes to quality control, service, innovation and safety.

Look beyond (but learn from) the catalogs and design something that meets your specific needs. As a playground design consultant I never charge for this service. I prefer meeting with my clients in their office, conference room, or conducting live online design sessions to work together with a CAD program until we find something everyone is happy with.If you don't have a budget and plan to raise money for your project, knowing exactly what you are getting (and how much money you need to raise) is critical for your success. I have seen groups come together for the purpose of raising money without first designing the playground. They have a hard time raising money. If you have a large poster of your playground project, your public will be more willing to donate for something they can visually see.There are about a dozen important questions that a design consultant will be asking. Pick one design consultant and get the layout that works for you. If they are on State Contract you probably do not need to go out to bid. The process is fun and educational so relax. And don't be afraid of working with the bigger companies, as we are all competitive with pricing.

Before consulting on a playground purchase it is better to know your playground site and choose it wisely. Are their utilities underground of overhead? Is it level? Are there drainage issues? Is parking nearby? There are many more questions and an experienced Design Consultant should have their CPSI certificate updated and be able to go down their checklist to be certain there are no issues that might come up later on. And remember, this is supposed to be fun! It will be fun, trust me!