" Well, if you've ever put together any kind of kit project, whether it's a doll house or a backyard gazebo, you know it takes a lot of patience and there's a lot of parts. What we have here is a major playground construction and it's gonna take us a week to put it all together, but we have lots of helpers. Let's say hi first to Brett Hadaway."

" Hi Bob."

" Children's Playgrounds is really the company that has put the kit together for us, but we don't really understand what the layout will be yet, Brett, so why don't you explain that to us."

" Okay. Here's the site plan Bob, we have basically an area that's 94 feet x 41 feet."

" So, it's a big area."

" Pretty big. It fits right into the space very nicely."

" Uh huh."

" We have 2 main structures, one for the younger children."

" This is the end where we're standing right here."

" That's correct."

" We have wheelchair accessibility."

" Yeah."

" A large stage area, where the children can put on puppet shows and things like that."

" And this is an octagon stage?"

" Yup, an octagon stage."

" Yeah."

" Something that we've never done before. We're doing it especially for this project."

" Great, then what's this area here?"

" Here, since we have a castle theme, we have symbolized moat. Right in the center where the bridge that crosses from area over to the other."

" And this is all decking is it?"

" No, that's going to be all, a resilient wood moat surface."

" Okay, and then you go over the bridge and then this area, what do you have?"

" That's a climbing structure for older children."

" Okay. So, what are some of these components like this thing that looks like a teepee right here?"

" Okay."

" Looks like a teepee Bob and it's actually turret root."

" Uh huh."

" To give us this castle effect."

" I see, so that will get hoisted into place. And the green molded affair here?"

" This is a slide for our older children's area. It comes in one piece. You can just bolt it right on to it."

" So, you just slip the slide through tube."

" That's right."

" Right."

" It's gonna complicated. Now, you've got a ground crew already in place, how far along are they?"

" Well, we're just in the very early stages right now."

" And you've what, volunteered here to do some of the preliminary?"

" Yes."

" Mainly the heavy work that cannot be done by the volunteers."

" Okay."

" We excavated the site. We've brought the grade down 8 inches."

" So, you removed the top soil that was in here?"

" Yes."

" And what have you done with it?"

" We redistributed it over here to bring up the grade and to enable them to plant grass because it was a gravel base."

" So, we're improving the playground in that respect as well?"

" Yes."

" Yeah."

" And then all these folks are installing, what are all these big timbers for?"

" This is a support for the platform and there's another structure that goes in beyond the platform."

" You got a power [unk] driver in the background here right?"

" Yes."

" Yeah, and then what about the perimeter of the area? I noticed you got timbers in place here."

" Okay. Yes. We needed to install a retaining wall to separate the playground from the rest of this."

" So, this is one part for the younger kids and then this is where the moat will be?"

" Yes. The moat will be right in this area. These holes are for the bridge, that's going in and then we have another structure over here."

" Oh, let me get my hand over here. I think we got some of our younger volunteers carrying the stair assembly."

" Okay watch the holes."

" Watch the holes."

" Here you go."

" Big step."

" Lock it in."

" Set it right in."

" Right on top. Good, good."

" Now, what's all the gravel at this end for?"

" Well Bob, you can't really tell, but this is the lowest spot on the site, so we put in a dry well, which is an area that's 5 x 5 x 5 filled with gravel."

" So, it's just a pit full of this gravel."

" So that the water will naturally dissipate from the area."

" Or drainage and that takes care of that. Then we've got the rest of our holes in here and you've got your strings in place. What's happening here?"

" Strings that are used are estimated to the original layout of the holes"

" Yeah!"

" And then I keep the nails and boards, so that I retrace those original locations and we can reestablish where the playground is suppose to go."

" Because the holes were dug with a power auger."

" That's right. Sometimes the holes go a little bit off here and there, so this gets me an average of where the centers of the holes were."

" Yeah. Now, they are putting together all the different components, because everything comes preassembled, right?"

" Uh huh."

" Yeah."

" We have the first deck in place now with the brace off, leveled, plumbed and from that, we're able to go on to the deck and the next deck. We have a series of about 6 decks on this structure. We're gonna try to get up to that."

" Well, there aren't any nails actually driven on the job, right?"

" That's right. They're all done in the shop. On the site, we have a special system, were we use a half inch carriage bolt."

" Uh huh."

" Flat washer. "

" Yup."

" Lock washer. "

" Yeah."

" And a special knot that we developed, that's tamperproof, needs to be installed with a special tool. That way, once it's in place, it can't be taken apart."

" So, the most important feature here, I assume, is to make sure that you've got these things perfectly plumbed."

" Uh huh. That makes the rest of the assembly very easy."

" Yeah. And from here, we're going up to what, another deck portion that goes in place here."

" That's right. We come up 1 foot, 2 foot, 3 foot, up to 5 foot right across here."

" Yeah. How much time, I mean real time, to complete the whole project?"

" Well, actually it would be about 3 days, a 3-day job."

" Great."