AI Treehouses? What on Earth?!?

Mention AI these days and most people immediately think of Artificial Intelligence. At Tree Top Builders, however, we’ve been practicing a different kind of AI for years:

Always Innovating.

That's right. Our Data Centre? The collective hearts and minds of a crew dedicated to nature, trees, and the artful craft of building inspiring structures that honor their natural surroundings. Our AI agents? Our always knowledgable, always skilled, some times goofy team of carpenters and builders out in the field. Digital technology will evolve, yes. But for us, human hands respectfully touching nature will forever lead the way.

Teamwork. Especially in the trees.

Treehouses present a fascinating engineering challenge because they aren’t conventional buildings. Their foundations are alive. Trees grow, sway, bend and respond to their environment. Every site is different, every tree is different, and increasingly ambitious treehouse designs constantly present builders with problems that can’t necessarily be solved with conventional construction techniques.

That’s where innovation comes in.

At Tree Top Builders, we don’t simply build treehouses—we continually look for better ways to build them. And through our sister company, Treehouse Supplies, many of the solutions developed and tested through real-world construction eventually become specialized hardware and building systems available to professional builders and DIY treehouse enthusiasts around the world.

It creates an unusual innovation cycle:

Build. Learn. Engineer. Test. Improve. Build again.

Some of our most interesting products and construction techniques began with a surprisingly simple question:

“There has to be a better way to do this…right?”

Very often, there is.

Here are some examples of how, together, Tree Top Builders and Treehouse Supplies continue to push treehouse design, hardware and engineering forward.

1. CoreTAB™ — Rethinking the Fastener for Smaller Treehouses

Treehouse Attachment Bolts—or TABs—helped revolutionize modern treehouse construction by creating extremely strong attachment points specifically engineered for living trees.

But not every treehouse requires the same hardware.

For years, smaller structures frequently relied on heavy-duty treehouse lag bolts, while larger projects utilized full-sized TABs. That left an opportunity for something in between.

Enter the CoreTAB™. The best priced American-made TAB on the market

Developed by Treehouse Supplies and made right here in the USA from American Steel, the CoreTAB™ is a purpose-built attachment bolt designed specifically for smaller treehouse structures. Its 1.75-inch-diameter stem provides greater wood compression than a conventional lag bolt, while its 1.25-inch perch maintains compatibility with Treehouse Supplies’ standard bracket systems. That compatibility is important.

Innovation doesn’t always mean making something bigger or more complicated. Sometimes it means identifying a specific application and engineering a solution that fits it better.

The CoreTAB™ brings TAB-style treehouse engineering to smaller structures and is now being incorporated into Treehouse Supplies’ Mini Treehouse Hardware Kits.

That’s Treehouse AI: Always Innovating.

2. TISS™ — Creating an Integrated Treehouse Support System

As treehouses have become bigger and more ambitious, the loads placed on their attachment points have increased as well. Modern projects can include large decks, multiple stories, bridges, enclosed rooms and substantial architectural features. Supporting those structures in living trees requires builders to think beyond a single bolt or bracket.

Tree Top Builders engineers in conjunction with Treehouse Supplies developed the Treehouse Integrated Support System™, or TISS™, to give builders additional ways to reinforce critical tree connections.

TISS™ incorporates strut and suspension support systems that work in conjunction with primary treehouse fasteners (TABs). Depending upon the application, builders can reinforce a connection from above using suspension or from below using a structural strut. 

The concept is powerful because it gives designers another tool for dealing with unusual tree geometry, increased structural loads and architectural constraints.

Instead of asking the tree to conform to the building, the support system can be configured around the realities of the tree.

And because Tree Top Builders encounters those realities every day in the field, hardware development isn’t happening in a vacuum.

Real trees create real engineering challenges—and those challenges inspire better hardware.

3. TAB Extenders — Designing for a Treehouse 20 Years From Now

Perhaps one of the best examples of the Always Innovating philosophy is our Patented TAB Extender System.

Why? Because it addresses a problem that may not appear until years - or even decades - after a treehouse has been built.

Trees grow. A properly installed TAB may remain structurally viable while the tree gradually expands around it. Eventually, however, that growth can reduce the usable portion of the TAB perch and bring structural members increasingly close to the trunk.

The conventional solution could involve major reconstruction.

Treehouse Supplies developed another option.

The patented TAB Extender is designed to fit over an existing TAB perch, moving the structural connection farther away from the growing tree. Combined with TISS™ strut or suspension support, the system can reinforce the connection while creating additional room for future growth.

Even more interesting, the extender concept isn’t limited to Treehouse Supplies installations. The extender system has been designed to work with existing hardware systems from other brands, opening possibilities for renovating older treehouses rather than simply replacing them, regardless of the brand of the original hardware. 

Tree Top Builders and Treehouse Supplies have already put this idea into practice.

Before/After photos of a Treehouse Supplies HD TAB Extender installed over a Nelson HL TAB and supported with a Suspension Anchor

During the refurbishment of an older treehouse at the Mohican Treehouse Resort in Ohio, modern Treehouse Supplies hardware, including a heavy-duty TAB Extension installed over existing legacy hardware, allowed structurally viable components to remain in place rather than requiring invasive removal. The renovation was estimated to potentially extend the structure’s usable life by another 15–20 years.

This development changes the way we think about treehouse longevity entirely. A great treehouse shouldn’t simply be engineered for the tree that exists today. It should anticipate the tree that will exist tomorrow.

4. Engineered Glulams — Building Bigger While Touching the Ground Less

Sometimes innovation isn’t about inventing a new piece of hardware. It’s about applying engineering differently.

One of Tree Top Builders’ continuing design goals is to create substantial tree-supported structures while minimizing unnecessary ground posts. There are practical and aesthetic reasons for doing this. Posts can interrupt the open space beneath a treehouse, change its appearance and potentially conflict with root systems.

Engineered glue-laminated structural timbers, or glulams, have helped Tree Top Builders tackle this challenge.

Glulams allow designers to span considerable distances while supporting larger structures. Tree Top Builders has used them in applications including two-story treehouses without intermediate supports, paired with custom-designed brackets and gusset plates engineered around the requirements of individual projects. 

The company has also developed methods for fabricating composite beams in-house, with compatible hardware made available through Treehouse Supplies.

The result?

Greater architectural freedom.

Instead of designing the treehouse around the limitations of ordinary dimensional lumber, engineering can help the structure reach farther between its available support points.

5. Tree Treads — When the Staircase Becomes Part of the Tree

Sometimes a treehouse innovation is hidden underneath the structure. Other times, you can’t possibly miss it.

One of Tree Top Builders’ most striking recent creations is its extraordinary Tree Treads floating spiral staircase.

Rather than constructing a conventional staircase around a tree, the design uses the trunk itself as the central structural element. Individual treads are supported at the trunk with specialized treehouse attachment hardware, producing the appearance of steps floating around the tree as the staircase spirals upward, 35 feet above the ground. 

And this isn’t a short decorative staircase. Tree Top Builders took the concept to an extraordinary height, turning the journey from the forest floor to the treehouse platform into an architectural feature in its own right.

It represents exactly the kind of project that makes treehouse building so interesting. Someone imagines something that hasn’t been done quite like this before. Then the builders and engineers have to figure out:

How do we actually make it work?

Materials, loads, attachment points, tree growth, geometry and installation all have to come together.

The result isn’t simply a staircase.

It’s another example of what happens when imagination meets specialized treehouse engineering.

6. The Floating Treehouse — Engineering the “Impossible”

Some innovations eventually become products. Others remain completely unique solutions to a one-of-a-kind engineering challenge.

The spectacular Floating Treehouse in Oregon is a perfect example.

Design Render by Bryan Perez at Tree Top Builders

When the owners of Parrett Mountain Cellars envisioned an elevated platform suspended between two towering Douglas firs, they wanted something that seemed almost to defy gravity: a wide-span treehouse with a curved walkway, no ground posts and as little visible supporting structure as possible. Achieving that clean, floating appearance presented a serious structural challenge. 

Rather than forcing a conventional treehouse design onto an unconventional site, the Treehouse Supplies engineering team designed around the trees. Project Engineer Joe Salinas, P.E. developed a custom structural strategy utilizing the company’s Heavy Duty Tree Attachment Bolt system and a deck suspension design that concentrated support at just a few carefully engineered anchor points. Detailed load and displacement modeling accounted for both horizontal and vertical forces, allowing the team to reduce the need for bulky framing and supports beneath the platform. 

The result is a structure that appears to hover among the trees.

Just as importantly, the project demonstrates another side of the relationship between Tree Top Builders and Treehouse Supplies. Innovation doesn’t always mean pulling an existing component off a shelf. Sometimes it means bringing together treehouse-specific hardware, structural engineering, years of practical building knowledge and an understanding of how living trees behave to create an entirely new solution. Treehouse Supplies provided detailed structural documentation, hardware placement plans and ongoing engineering support to the local construction crew as the unusual geometry of the trees presented challenges during installation. 

From the initial concept to the completed treehouse, the project took approximately one year, opening in spring 2025. What began as an ambitious idea became a real structure without sacrificing the forest floor—or the illusion that the treehouse is floating above it. 

That may be the best definition of “Always Innovating”: instead of asking whether an unusual treehouse can be built, we start asking what engineering will make it possible.

Read the full ⁠Floating Treehouse engineering case study.

7. Building Our Own Hardware Testing Technology

Of course, calling something innovative isn’t enough.

It has to work.

That’s why one of the most important innovations at Tree Top Builders isn’t something most customers will ever see installed in a finished treehouse.

It’s the equipment used to test the hardware itself.

Tree Top Builders uses specialized load-testing equipment, designed in collaboration with Penn State University, to generate quantitative performance data for treehouse hardware under specific applications and loading scenarios. The same testing capability is used during the development of new hardware for residential and commercial projects. 

The Tab Lab by Treehouse Supplies at Penn State University is a critical tool that predicts the maximum load-bearing capacity of TABs and contributes to sustainable and responsible tree management practices. 

That creates another important link between Tree Top Builders and Treehouse Supplies. A concept can begin with a problem encountered during a real build. A solution can be designed. A prototype can be fabricated. The hardware can then be load tested and refined.

And when a successful product ultimately enters production, it can become available to other builders through Treehouse Supplies. 

In other words, the jobsite can become the R&D department.

Innovation Means Never Compromising on Safety

Of course, innovation only matters if it produces treehouses that are safe, durable and built to last. A treehouse is unlike a conventional deck or backyard structure: its primary supports are living, growing and moving organisms, and the hardware connecting the structure to those trees may be carrying tremendous loads for decades. That makes properly engineered attachment hardware, proven building methods and correct installation absolutely essential.

The rapid growth of online marketplaces has unfortunately made it easier than ever to find inexpensive, generic and imported products advertised as “treehouse hardware,” including products on marketplaces such as Amazon that may closely resemble professional-grade TABs, brackets and structural components. Appearance alone, however, tells you very little about steel grade, weld quality, manufacturing tolerances, load capacity, corrosion protection, quality control or whether a component was ever engineered and tested for its claimed application.

Saving a few dollars on the components holding a structure in the air simply isn’t worth the uncertainty. At Tree Top Builders and Treehouse Supplies, hardware development is informed by actual treehouse construction, engineering and load testing because these aren’t decorative accessories—they are critical structural connections.

Build with hardware whose specifications and intended application you can verify, follow proven treehouse construction practices, and remember that the real measure of a treehouse isn’t simply how it looks when construction is finished, but how safely and reliably it performs years down the road.

Innovation Grows From Experience

There is an important difference between designing treehouse hardware on paper and developing it after years of actually building in trees. Treehouse builders encounter variables that conventional construction rarely presents.

A trunk isn’t perfectly straight. Two trees don’t necessarily move in exactly the same direction. A connection that works beautifully today also has to accommodate years of growth. A beam may need to span farther than originally anticipated. An architectural idea may require a connection that doesn’t exist yet. And an older treehouse may present a structural problem nobody could have predicted when it was built.

Those challenges drive innovation.

Tree Top Builders combines specialized construction experience with professional engineering and quantitative hardware testing. Treehouse Supplies then provides a pathway for many of those ideas, hardware systems and lessons to reach other treehouse builders.

That relationship creates a continuous feedback loop between design, engineering, fabrication and real-world construction.

And the trees keep giving us new problems to solve.

The Other Kind of AI

Artificial Intelligence may be changing the way people design buildings, analyze data and solve problems. But we’ll stick with our definition...

AI: Always Innovating.

It means looking at a 20-year-old treehouse and asking how we can give it another 20 years.

It means looking at a small treehouse and designing a fastener specifically for the job.

It means developing struts and suspension systems when increasingly ambitious structures demand more support.

It means engineering longer spans so treehouses can become larger while remaining elegantly supported in the trees.

And sometimes it means looking at a towering tree and deciding that an ordinary staircase simply isn’t interesting enough.

At Tree Top Builders and Treehouse Supplies, innovation doesn’t begin in a conference room. It begins in the trees. Every unusual trunk, ambitious design, challenging attachment point and seemingly impossible architectural idea gives us another opportunity to learn.

And after decades of building treehouses, one thing hasn’t changed:

We’re always looking up - still asking how we can build it better.