These days, it’s becoming more like father, like daughter in the Burkey household now that the girls have their very own playhouse.
Before Eric G. Burkey started work last summer on the small house built between two old oak trees in the side yard of his Cumru Township home, he consulted with his daughters, Michaela, now 7, and Serena, now 4.
“I really wanted my daughters to get a glimpse of what I did for a living,” says Eric, who talked in detail about design, a timeline and the materials they would need. Afterwards, Eric and Michaela sketched out several different plans on paper before selecting one that made the most sense within the scope of their project.
The gift for leadership and building is in the Burkey genes. Eric, president of Burkey Construction Co., is the third generation in his family to take over the locally owned and operated business. He follows in the footsteps of his father, Rick, and his grandfather, Grant, the original owner.
For Eric, the vision began in his childhood when he and a friend built a small log cabin in the woods behind his parents’ house. “They would have been upset if they knew what we were doing, especially since we were using chainsaws and cutting down large trees,” Eric remembers. When the cabin became infested with bugs and slugs, the boys built higher above ground in the treetops. “We made platforms and catwalks…a pretty neat idea, but they were far from safe,” Eric says. “I know that I’m much safer and wiser today!”
Move Over Burkey Men.Here Come The Burkey Girls
Eric and Michaela had to find a way to secure the house without causing damage to the two trees. For answers, they went to a local bookstore and paged through Black & Decker’s The Complete Guide: Build Your Kids a Tree House. The book, Eric says, had good visuals and a chapter on the exact topic in question.
“Looking at pictures together was a good way to convey ideas to Michaela,” says Eric, who was really trying to involve his daughter as much as possible every step of the way. When it came time to pick location and color, Eric had the final say. “Otherwise, the house would have been in some random tree and the exterior would have been pink or purple,” he says.
Back at home, Eric laid sticks on the ground around the base of the tree for Michaela so that she would have some idea of the approximate size of the house. “As I expected, she wanted it bigger than what I was comfortable with. She also kept telling me that she wanted it up in the tree! Try convincing a [then] 6-year-old that laying sticks on the ground is much easier than holding them all up in the air,” Dad fondly recalls.
Time To Build
Salvaged wood from previous construction projects was preferred over using new. A few of the boards, or those with concrete residue and random nail holes, resulted in some less than desirable details. “I kept telling myself that it’s just a tree house and that it added character,” Eric says. The deck, railings, wall framing and some trim were also salvaged from other projects. As a company, Burkey tries to salvage lumber and other materials rather than sending it to landfills. Some of Burkey’s recent construction projects, such as the LEED Platinum Berks County Community Foundation building, took this practice to a higher level. Most of the salvaged material is the lumber used to form concrete or for temporary safety provisions on a project. It was a good lesson for Michaela, who learned firsthand the importance of reusing materials to lessen her family’s footprint on the environment. She also learned how to measure things, hit nails and even paint a few wooden boards. “That went okay,” says Dad. “She actually got more on her clothes than on the tree house.”
The structure, including the roof, was built to withstand harsh weather conditions. It passed its first test in October—during last year’s bizarre fall snowstorm—when several large branches fell onto it. “It would have to take a major hit for any significant damage to happen,” says Eric, who considered using fancy materials such as cedar siding and real glass windowpanes, but cost, safety and sensibility won over. “It’s not weather tight due to the open windows, and I’m sure I will get complaints about bugs and other various wildlife, but isn’t that part of being outside?” says Eric, who aimed to please, but not pamper, his little campers.
Looking back, on a less serious note, the tree house project gave Eric a good reason to ignore the yard work for a season. It also presented a worthwhile and fun opportunity to build something with his hands. “I see the business side of the construction industry on a daily basis, but it’s good to experience the field side, too,” he says. “It takes a lot of creativity and skill to do what they do. Actually, there were several times I could have used a true carpenter’s assistance and a safety net on this project!”
The biggest reward for Eric occurred when he would be working on the house and the girls and their mother, Angela, would be running errands. “When they got home, the girls would look for me working on their house in the trees,” says Dad. “The smiles on their faces were priceless!”
Tree House Play Set
The day Brendon and Celine Field of Oley decided to replace their growing daughters’ swing set with a new one, they went “bananas” over a whimsical tree house called the “Deluxe Monkey Mansion.” The playhouse, with its crooked windows and door, promised several other features, including swings, a turbo slide, a fire pole, a rock wall, a balcony and monkey bars. The best part, though, is that it came with its very own tree—a real, hollowed-out, 6-foot-tall log.
The recycled logs—cut from primarily oak, pine or eucalyptus trees—are acquired from all over the central coast of California by the makers of the tree house play set.
After a few upgrades and several design changes, the set, handcrafted by Daniels Wood Land of California, arrived in three pieces on a dedicated flatbed truck all the way from the west coast to the Fields’ house as a surprise birthday gift for sisters: Claudia, now 7, and Samantha, now 8. On assembly day, no major construction was necessary other than having a crane ready to lift and move the approximately 4,000-pound stump off the truck to the play area in the backyard. A carpenter was able to bolt everything together in about a day.
The playhouse, which sits precariously on top of its tree, can be entered by climbing the rock wall or the fire pole from the porch area. The tree has a ground-level front door that the girls use to climb up and down a ladder that leads to a trapdoor on the floor inside the house. “It’s a snug fit [the tree’s front door], but a large adult can easily climb inside and stand straight up with room to spare,” says Dana Morris, production sales manager at the company.
Brendon, co-owner of MBR Construction Services Inc. in Blandon and Baltimore, MD, compares the look of his daughters’ playhouse to the Keebler Elves' house. “If you look at the construction, it would actually be a little tricky to build,” he says. “There are very few right angles or squared joints – everything is crooked and off center to give it that playful kind of feeling.”
The Fields’ tree house is one of two tree houses in Berks County and one of nine others that Daniels Woodland has shipped to Pennsylvania.
Both Brendon and Celine have pondered whether or not (or when) the girls might grow out of their new play set, but it’s not something they dwell on.
“We are still trying to convince them not to grow up,” says Brendon. “So, hopefully we won’t have to decide what to do with the set anytime soon.”
BY MARCIA WEIDNER-SUTPHEN | PHOTOS BY CATARA CARRELL, CATARA CARRELL PHOTOGRAPHY
