I found a place near me with a bunk bed like this, but it was priced at around $1200 for everything.
So, while I did save money with this purchase, heres some of the issues Ive had:
Three boxes were delivered (very quickly) but one box was open and several parts were damaged, including some of the parts that would be clearly visible.
Near the end of building, found one of the support legs was missing for the bottom (full size) bed.
The planks that support the mattresses are really cheap and pretty flimsy, and prone to leaving splinters, which is not great for kids. Other beds Ive looked at used better wood and wider cuts so that the planks supported better.
For the full bed, the support planks are actually used as part of the support for the rather flimsy full-size bed frame. The bed frame rail connections really need metal supports, like either angle brackets or what some other makers do is have full metal connections for the wood parts to better strengthen the lateral movements. As it is, one of the wood pieces on the full size bed actually broke before I was done and I have glue it and screw in reinforcement.
Because the support planks for the mattress are used as part of the support for the whole thing, it makes it very, very tedious and difficult for the day you need to move the bed to another house. You have to remove many, many screws. This could have been alleviated by adding wood supports to the wood frame, making the platform for the support planks better. There are a couple of place, like on the stairs, where the method of connection seems weird and less supportive.
The instructions were initially OK, but upon getting to the page with the stair build, it was so horrible that the stairs took as long to figure out and put together as all the other stuff!! Also, there was no indications of some cutouts that were supposed to align, but you would not see that until all done. I was all done and found one panel on the stairs was in the wrong place so I was forced to cut out a piece and re-paint.
The bottom slide out bed is a joke: its just two pieces of wood that again uses the mattress support planks but theres no support at the head or the feet!!!! Hard to write so it makes sense, but just imagine some flimsy wood planks that a weaker type of wood as all that holds the front-facing wood and the smaller wood piece on the rear side together. So weak! I am likely not going to use it. The pic looks great, but try to find a pic that shows the bottom bed all the way out and notice there is NO support to hold the two sides together adequately.
I had to spend too much time trying to repair the shipping damage.
I dont think this unit could handle someone jumping on the bed. I think the planks will break. They are weak.
I dont if I will be able to move the full size bed in the future due to having to glue and brace the end that broke.
Given the damage, the missing part, and the fact that Ill likely never be able to use that bottom part, in addition to the many, many hours it took to complete (with trying to fix parts and paint as well as figuring out the directions), I feel like I overpaid. If my time is worth money, and considering the repairs stuff I paid for, I would have been better off spending that $1200 to get something of better quality that would be built for me.
The twin bed on the top is more sturdy as it has additional rails and the cheap wood planks are shorter.
Saving money gives more pains and problems
I found a place near me with a bunk bed like this, but it was priced at around $1200 for everything. So, while I did save money with this purchase, heres some of the issues Ive had: Three boxes were delivered (very quickly) but one box was open and several parts were damaged, including some of the parts that would be clearly visible. Near the end of building, found one of the support legs was missing for the bottom (full size) bed. The planks that support the mattresses are really cheap and pretty flimsy, and prone to leaving splinters, which is not great for kids. Other beds Ive looked at used better wood and wider cuts so that the planks supported better. For the full bed, the support planks are actually used as part of the support for the rather flimsy full-size bed frame. The bed frame rail connections really need metal supports, like either angle brackets or what some other makers do is have full metal connections for the wood parts to better strengthen the lateral movements. As it is, one of the wood pieces on the full size bed actually broke before I was done and I have glue it and screw in reinforcement. Because the support planks for the mattress are used as part of the support for the whole thing, it makes it very, very tedious and difficult for the day you need to move the bed to another house. You have to remove many, many screws. This could have been alleviated by adding wood supports to the wood frame, making the platform for the support planks better. There are a couple of place, like on the stairs, where the method of connection seems weird and less supportive. The instructions were initially OK, but upon getting to the page with the stair build, it was so horrible that the stairs took as long to figure out and put together as all the other stuff!! Also, there was no indications of some cutouts that were supposed to align, but you would not see that until all done. I was all done and found one panel on the stairs was in the wrong place so I was forced to cut out a piece and re-paint. The bottom slide out bed is a joke: its just two pieces of wood that again uses the mattress support planks but theres no support at the head or the feet!!!! Hard to write so it makes sense, but just imagine some flimsy wood planks that a weaker type of wood as all that holds the front-facing wood and the smaller wood piece on the rear side together. So weak! I am likely not going to use it. The pic looks great, but try to find a pic that shows the bottom bed all the way out and notice there is NO support to hold the two sides together adequately. I had to spend too much time trying to repair the shipping damage. I dont think this unit could handle someone jumping on the bed. I think the planks will break. They are weak. I dont if I will be able to move the full size bed in the future due to having to glue and brace the end that broke. Given the damage, the missing part, and the fact that Ill likely never be able to use that bottom part, in addition to the many, many hours it took to complete (with trying to fix parts and paint as well as figuring out the directions), I feel like I overpaid. If my time is worth money, and considering the repairs stuff I paid for, I would have been better off spending that $1200 to get something of better quality that would be built for me. The twin bed on the top is more sturdy as it has additional rails and the cheap wood planks are shorter.