When Tyler Hall was a second-grader at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School, his dad spearheaded a project to put in a new school playground.
When it was completed, Randy Hall vowed to never do another playground. Until he did. And did. And did again.
Randy installed countless playgrounds as founder of RGH Landscape, and now Tyler and brother-in-law Jeff Shelburne are continuing the tradition, putting together play spaces throughout Amarillo, Canyon and the region. That’s not all, though. Thanks to a government contract, they’re also installing them for air force and naval bases around the country.
Among their local projects are installations at John Ward Memorial Park, John Stiff Memorial Park, Benton Park and AISD schools in Amarillo; and Kylie Hiner Memorial Playground in Canyon. Further away, they’ve installed the Monahans Kids Zone in Monahans, Texas, as well as on military bases in Anchorage, Spokane, Cheyenne and Key West, among others.
Tyler and I recently spoke about what it takes to build the perfect playground and why some old favorites are making a return. [This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.]
Chip Chandler: How did your father first get into the playground business?
Tyler Hall: When I was a second-grader at Sleepy Hollow, my dad was on the PTA, which purchased a playground for the school. My dad kind of spearheaded the installation, and by the time it was finally done, the sales rep came to him and said, would you do another one? And he said, “I never want to do another one of those things again.” He finally realized he could make some pretty decent money because it’s pretty specialized. And now we’re to the point where it’s all we do.
CC: What was so hard about that project as a beginner?
TH: They had retooled the factory and a lot of things weren’t quite right and that added to the difficulty, but overall, putting in play equipment is difficult. It takes very specialized people. What we see a lot of is people that think they can handle it. It’s really difficult to get it all right because everything’s got to be right from your elevations to what size bolts you use in certain places.
It ends up costing people more money because we have to fix what they messed up.
CC: Obviously, it’s been very successful for you guys, and that makes sense why you’re still doing it. But what pulled y’all into this direction to continue such complex work?
TH: Really just because it’s fun. It’s definitely difficult and very labor-intensive at times, but it’s also fun. It’s not a cookie-cutter, you know? You’re not doing the same thing every day, and I think that’s what’s always enticed me.
CC: What’s it like when a playground finally opens and you see kids enjoying it for the first time?
TH: It’s really cool, especially watching the kiddos. Some of the most fun parts are whenever you’re out there putting in the playground, and the kids are right there [asking], “When is it going to be done?” And hearing how excited they are when they see each day’s progress whenever they come out for recess. People ask, what’s your why? And that’s really it.
CC: I’m a child of the ’70s. We had burning-hot metal slides, and merry-go-rounds that you spin as fast as you can and try to hang on for dear life. Why has everything changed so much?
TH: The answer to that question is actually pretty simple. There was a while where it did seem like they made them too safe, you know, where it was not as fun. The real reason for the safety is that they have what we call “risk vs. hazard” in the industry. Risk is where a kid can look at, let’s say, the top of the slide, and go, I’m going to climb up on top and jump off of it. Well, that kid has made a decision. He knows that there’s just a chance he’ll get hurt. Obviously, we don’t want him doing that off of a 14-foot slab. We have to figure out basically what a risk is versus what a hazard is. The hazard is something the kid can’t see, like a bolt that sticks out too far. It can be a protrusion or where it could hurt them and they would never even think it could. We’re trying to mitigate the risk part for the kids.
CC: To be clear, I’m not advocating for those stupid things I did when I was a kid.
TH: Right. This might surprise you, but the metal slides are coming back.
CC: Really?
TH: Yes. They’ve done studies on them. [Temperature-wise] they get within one or two degrees of the plastic slides.
CC: Yeah?
TH: Yeah, yeah, I know. They showed us some pictures from Phoenix, and I’m like, I wouldn’t have bought it if they didn’t show me pictures from Phoenix in July.
CC: As a kid, what was your favorite thing on a playground?
TH: I always liked the slides and the monkey bars.
CC: So do you have to include those in your projects now? Are those musts?
TH: Oh yeah, and the kids love them. The monkey bars, they call them overhead ladders now, are not really recommended for children ages 2 to 5. So it just depends on how inclusive they want to be. But your big slides are all always included. The other thing that I’ve seen trending is lots of ropes. They’re really cool because it adds a challenge for the kids. They have to problem solve a little bit more, which is fun to watch.
