CreateTree Art and Build a Backyard Playset in a Tree.

Custom tree houses are my favorite backyard projects and my latest passion. It's a vast leap from building custom backyard playsets that are perfect, plumb, and square to building a treehouse deck. The tree is imperfect and resists efforts to make it do anything other than be a tree. You can't overbuild or the tree will resist. The trick is to work with the tree and its natural curves. The tree house must move and flow with the tree. A great custom treehouse does not come in a kit and the simplest plan can be derailed in the first 10 minutes because the tree says no. Say Yes to An Experienced Tree House Build.

How to Build a Treehouse
​Time Machine

People often tell me how cool it must be to build one-off tree houses and backyard play equipment. They're right! There was a time not so long ago when my thoughts about working for a living involved an eventual retirement. That time has passed and been replaced with a resolve to make backyard memories until old age creeps up, my body betrays me and making treehouses becomes physically impossible. "Lucky", some would say about my craft, but this talent for craftsmanship and finding a balance between nature and man-made was groomed over many years.

Tree House Builders and
​Design

Before you contact me for a consultation, keep in mind, my services are more expensive than you might find in the contractor section of some free ad publication. Be prepared to build a quality structure and expect to pay a good price for it. This is not the ranting of some handyman looking to make a dollar making junk and moving on to the next one. Treehouse building is a hobby/passion that keeps getting in the way of my full time work. This means my projects have to be chosen carefully and there is a limit to how many can be built during the year. My custom tree houses are mostly in Austin, Columbus Round Top and Houston, Texas. Please take a few moments to enjoy some of my favorite projects in my treehouse gallery.

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My Treehouse Story

My first memory of building a treehouse takes me back to a time before video games, cell phones, and round-the-clock cartoons. In the 1970s, at my grandparents’ lake house in the countryside, even a group of 11- or 12-year-old boys had to create our own adventures. Despite ample opportunities for fishing, swimming, and hunting for snakes and frogs, boredom was our constant companion.
There stood a giant willow tree by the lake, its sprawling branches sparking our wildest imaginations. We envisioned a high-up deck—a treehouse that would be the envy of every boat passing by, the Taj Mahal of treehouses in South Texas. Our plans were as elaborate as they were humorous: we even dreamed up a security system to ward off jealous boaters, complete with a sign reading, "Beware of Peanuts the Attack Dachshund," as we planned to leave one of our dogs in the tree.
My grandfather, a hobby builder always immersed in projects, deeply influenced my creative path. A child of the Great Depression, he valued resourcefulness and told us, "You can use what you pay for." So, we scoured the shoreline for driftwood, boards, and anything useful, gathering not just wood but also life jackets, a lone ski, and even part of a sailboat hull. He even donated a coffee can filled with his rejected, rusty nails—warning us that our fingers might get a few bumps, but assuring us the nails would do the job.
We balanced our days between work and play, diving back into our project after swimming and fishing. After several days of hard work, we completed our dream hangout—a rough-hewn deck in the tree that lasted for 3-4 memorable years until a storm eventually brought the tree down. Nearly 40 years later, that memory still fills me with pride and warmth, a testament to the joy of building something with your own hands and the simple adventures of childhood.