The next time your kids come home from a friend's house and beg you for a backyard playground of their own, surprise them with an answer they're not expecting. Say yes. You'll be doing them a big favor. Research has found that playgrounds are essential not only to a child's physical strength, but mental well-being. They help kids develop cognitive reasoning and problem solving skills, and encourage them to use their imaginations and creativity. Having heard about the research, Daniel and Bethany Jacques of Hadley, Mass., recently decided to invest in a play set for their sons Joshua, Matthew and John. "We thought it would be good for the boys," says Daniel. "It was actually more of a Mother's Day present to my wife -- to give the kids something to do."

They knew they wanted a wooden play set, one that would be sturdy and last a long time but when they found out how much one would cost, the Jacques' were shocked. Depending on the features they come with, wooden play sets typically cost between $2,000 and $3,000. "While doing our research online, we came across a company that advertised a high-quality play set for under $1,000, and that's who we decided to go with," says Jacques. The company they found, Detailed Play Systems, has been around since 1998. Founder and owner, Karl Jessen, is a dad who had found himself in a similar predicament just five years ago. "When my boys were four and one-and-a-half, I started looking into getting a backyard play set for them, container house and the prices were so high, I decided to build one myself," he says.

When he started shopping around for supplies, Jessen realized the task wouldn't be as easy as he first thought. He had to go to different places to find the swings, slide, monkey bars, hardware and lumber. "No one was selling materials that met my standards as a kit, and that gave me an idea." Jessen decided to go into the playground building business after realizing he had stumbled onto a niche that needed to be filled. "Our business plan is designed to meet the needs of the cost-conscious consumer who wants to save approximately 50 percent off the cost of comparable prefabricated wooden forts and swing sets, without sacrificing the safety, size, quality, or features of their children's backyard playground, " says Jessen. "The key to the savings is low overhead and the willingness of our customers to spend about 8 hours time cutting and drilling hand-selected wood prior to starting to build something special for their children." container house for sale:yukehouse.com