Dad in lockdown creates incredible treehouse and it cost just £10

• Tom Cole, 31, took advantage of the lockdown to build an amazing playhouse
• The treehouse cost Tom just £10 as he reused everything from hinges to latches
• Tom’s daughter Mila is delighted with her new treehouse

If you’ve been looking for a lockdown project to flex your best DIY skills, take inspiration from this creative dad.

Tom Cole, from Abergavenny, South Wales, decided to make the most of the lockdown to build his daughter Mila, three, an incredible playhouse - and it cost him just £10 by cleverly reusing everything from timber and screws to hinges and latches.

Tom, 31, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "The idea came because the corner against the garage at the bottom of the garden wasn’t being used. My daughter saw something similar online and asked for a treehouse but we don’t have a tree.

"I used to be a carpenter but I got fed up of working seven days and missing my daughter grow up. I finished last year in a total career change and I now service and repair mobility scooters.

"The feel good factor from that is way better than I had with carpentry. The guys I help now are so appreciative. I get to know them and their family and they get to know me and my family. I often take my daughter with me as she is such a joy.

"I had timber and screws left over from previous jobs I worked on which have been sat around the garden for a couple of years. I would save timber from the fire and skip and salvage anything I could.

"I have tins and tins of fixtures and fittings. The felt for the roof was kicking around in my uncle's shed which was refelted a few years ago. I sourced the pallets from a local chap and he said I could have them for free.

"I have had quite a few off him in the past with various projects I have done in the garden. I gave him £10 as a goodwill gesture for him to buy himself a few beers. That’s all I spent.

“The first job was to strip the pallets. That’s the hardest job. I haven’t concreted the uprights as I don’t want any problems with the council but that was my first job.

“I connected to the uprights to the existing fence which sits against a private car park. I then put the deck down and put the handrail on the upright top half of the steps.

“I used pallets to clad around and decided then to put the roof on as I had a friend give me old timber. I built walls and roof next, and put in the bottom steps last as I wanted to make it safer."

Tom says the project was an ideal way to spend time with his daughter during the lockdown, and says she helped him throughout the process.

"I am so glad I took the time to build it,” he adds. "My partner works for the NHS so it gave me and my daughter something to do together to occupy our time.

"I’m so glad it’s done now as I love to sit in the garden and watch her play in it. I initially wasn’t going to make it as grand but I just carried on stripping pallets and kept on building.

"The total spend on this was only £10. I salvaged everything from skips. Even the hinges and latch on the door are from an old garden gate. We love to sit and watch her play in the garden - we can have all the fun right in our own back garden! I love making stuff out of nothing."

Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Looking at Tom’s amazing treehouse, I’d never imagine that such a cool construction could cost as little as £10.

“It just shows that by asking friends and family for leftover and unused items such as pallets and felt, and by reusing everything possible, such as hinges and latches, you can make your own amazing garden construction under lockdown while really keeping prices down!"

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