The travel and hospitality industries are undergoing a paradigm shift. Tourists and travelers are turning away from generic hotel rooms in urban areas and looking for unique, experiential, and Instagrammable vacations and getaways. The treehouse rental market is one of the shining examples of this shift. The high-end sector of this market is exploding with new builds, commanding premium nightly rates, and being built and bought by teams of high-investment developers and entrepreneurs. For those rental owners, the sky (quite literally) is the limit, and they are in competition with each other to provide the best, most exclusive, and highest-quality experience to their guests. And when treehouse developers are building to that standard, there is a tremendous, high-margin opportunity for the suppliers that understand the trend.
The great news is that this is not an arms race that requires you to have five brands of 2x4s in your lumber room. These developers, builders, and entrepreneurs are looking for one-of-a-kind items; the builder-grade decks of decades past do not have a chance at competing with the year-round rental market’s top performers. These are the builders and developers scouring the world for their next investment property and looking for an “X factor” amenity, a premium aesthetic finish, or an all-season heating system to make the treehouse rental booking a million times over. To build and supply these items, they need procurement partners who share their same drive for perfection and can not only get them high-grade structural steel cable or thick glass, but also can get it with the specific profile, diameter, or mounting configuration they are asking for, and deliver it fast. This article will deconstruct the highly profitable treehouse rental market and lay out a product procurement and sales plan to make your business the go-to supplier for these forward-thinking builders.
1. The Amenity Arms Race: Supplying the “Wow Factor”
If you read vacation rental reviews on websites like AirBNB and VRBO, you will see that renters are on the hunt for the “wow factor” amenity, and the high-end rental builders are building them at warp speed. Dozens of completely stock cabins with internet access will compete on price for low-season bookings. A rental with a generic deck can post a nightly rate of $100. The same cabin with a private, wood-fired hot tub under the stars competes on experience, not price, and can command a 50% higher nightly rate. For the dealer or distributor, every “wow factor” amenity, feature, and cabin add-on represents a fully self-contained, high-value sales opportunity with profit margins that extend far above the core house.
The Hot Tub & Outdoor Bathing Experience
Arguably the single most powerful property upgrade. It signals luxury, relaxation, and romance. A professional builder will not slap a cheap plastic tub on a deck. Instead, they will build it into the deck a safe, visually pleasing installation.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Structural Reinforcement: A hot tub is heavy as all get-out. The builder is going to need a lot more beefy framing under there to support it. It’s an upsell from “we’re framing the deck with these 2x8s” to “oh crap, are you sure? We’re going double 2x10s, maybe even some LVL beams.” Big lumber is how you roll here.
- Premium Decking: If you are going to build an area around a hot tub, you better make it beautiful. Stock premium decking options, which are basically anything beyond basic pressure-treated stock. Western Red Cedar, Ipe, or high-end composite decking materials with a splinter-free surface that is relatively low-maintenance, are all perfect.
- Privacy Screening Materials: Everyone wants privacy when they use a hot tub. Stock materials specifically for this purpose. That can include lattice panels, horizontal slatted screen components (make sure you have cedar or composite versions), or metal panel systems for a more modern, industrial look.
- Integrated Seating & Storage: Builders will often construct built-in benches, steps, and storage boxes around a hot tub. This requires additional framing lumber, decking, and high-quality, corrosion-resistant fasteners (stock stainless steel screws for this application).
- Outdoor Showers: A natural companion to the hot tub is an outdoor shower. This means that you stock a specific collection of components: shower fixtures that are weather-resistant in popular finishes (matte black or brass, for example), durable wall surfaces like corrugated metal or waterproof composite panels, and drainage solutions.
The Outdoor Kitchen & Fire Feature
Cooking and sitting around a fire pit are primal, shared human experiences. Doing them outdoors makes them inherently more marketable. Moving the living area and kitchen space outside is one of the best ways to extend the usable “living space” of a treehouse rental.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Compact Grills & Pizza Ovens: Partner with a manufacturer of quality, built-in outdoor cooking appliances. You don’t need to stock dozens of units, but at least one display model and a reliable supply chain for these will make you a one-stop shop for builders looking to include these.
- Countertop Materials: Builders are going to need some materials for these outdoor countertops. Be ready to stock poured-in-place concrete forming supplies or large-format, exterior-grade tiles.
- Fire Pit Components: Don’t get this all wrong, the perfect fire pit isn’t just a hole in the ground with a cheap metal ring around it. This is a huge category unto itself. Go beyond a basic steel fire ring and start offering complete fire pit systems to builders. This means gas fire pit kits with burners, igniters, lava rock, and the related hardware. This is a level of convenience and safety that guests expect in a rental property. For wood-burning pits, stock fire bricks and refractory mortar for a safe, permanent fire pit box or fire ring.
- Non-Combustible Surround Materials: This is a critical safety point, since the land around a fire feature will require non-combustible materials. Stock a wide range of pavers or flagstone or gravel or whatever you need for your market to create safe, attractive patios and fire pit surrounds.
2. The Aesthetics of Attraction: Supplying Premium Finishes
A high-end rental property needs to look premium. It needs to look professional. When buyers are searching through the treehouse rental market on the internet (and the internet is their most powerful marketing tool), all they see are photos. Photos are how they make their decision. And when they are spending their vacation money on one of these rentals, nothing photographs better than unique, high-quality, aesthetically pleasing materials. That is a foundational truth understood by the best builders, which is why they will spend more on better materials, which allows them to charge more, book more, and get better reviews, all of which allows the property owner to charge even more. And in the photography arms race of the online rental market, your role is to be the supplier of those photo-ready materials.
Exterior Cladding & Roofing
The exterior is the visual intro. It needs to hold up to the elements, which is why being unique is a bonus but also a distinct challenge. The materials that a high-end rental builder uses on the exterior must be better. Harder. Stronger. Special.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Character Woods: Stop right there with your standard pine siding. Time for Western Red Cedar in various grades and patterns (board-and-batten, tongue-and-groove, and so on). Western Red Cedar is naturally resistant to rot, which is important in the rental business. The looks that it provides are what set this premium product apart.
- Shou Sugi Ban (Yakisugi): Take your marketing budget and start working on an arrangement with a manufacturer of shou sugi ban siding, also known as Yakisugi. The ancient Japanese method of charring wood to create a stunningly beautiful, almost black, and highly durable exterior cladding. You could stock pre-charred planks from a manufacturer, or provide the raw cedar lumber and supply the large torches for builders that are going to DIY their own blackwood cladding. This is high-end product that immediately sets off a “custom, designer” vibe with guests.
- Metal Roofing & Siding: Standing-seam metal roofing has long been seen as strictly for barns and storage sheds. This is wrong and needs to be re-educated. Black metal roofing, or dark bronze, or even a rusted Corten-style, is sharp, modern, and ridiculously durable. Stock panels and all the trim pieces that go along with this. This is an absolute value-add.
- Living Roof Components: If you want to do the absolute eco-luxury statement, this is it. Builders are creating “living roofs” planted with sedum and other hardy plants. This is a total system sale. You have to supply the waterproof membrane, drainage mats, root barrier, and lightweight growing medium. Partner with a landscape supply expert if you have to, but offer a complete package.
Interior Finishes & Fixtures
The interior is where a guest is going to be for the majority of their time. It needs to feel cozy, clean, and a bit luxurious.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Wall & Ceiling Paneling: Drywall is fine, but it is just drywall. Wood is more emotional, which is why this is your primary category. You need to stock high-quality tongue-and-groove paneling in pine or cedar or poplar, and offer high-end pre-finished white “shiplap” products. There is a reason why that “white on white” farmhouse look is so perpetually popular in the rental market.
- Reclaimed Wood: This product screams “authenticity” and “character” above all other interior products. Develop a supply of reclaimed barn wood or other salvaged lumber products and make it available to builders. This can be an accent wall, the headboard of a bed, or just some shelving.
- High-End Hardware & Fixtures: Details. Details. Details. A cheap, shiny chrome faucet just looks like you thought it was beneath a luxury treehouse rental. Curate a collection of plumbing fixtures, cabinet pulls, and door hardware in popular high-end finishes like matte black, champagne bronze, or brushed brass. Details will trip up builders and slow down their production schedule. If you are the supplier that has the related lumber and these plumbing fixtures in stock, you save them a lot of time and hassle.
3. Engineering the Experience: Supplying Immersive Connections to Nature
The treehouse is the great connector. The great promise and unique value of treehouses as rentals are this connection to nature. The best treehouse builders are hyper aware of this, and they are using every possible architectural feature to extend that connection at every opportunity, to blur the lines between inside and out.
Expansive Glazing
A standard, small window is a view. A wall of glass is an experience.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Custom & Large-Format Windows: Develop a strong relationship with a window manufacturer that can produce large, high-quality, and custom-sized picture windows. Those builders that want to build in high-end and do it right will not be limited by “stock” sizes.
- Operable Glass Walls: These systems like bi-fold or multi-slide doors are a huge value-add for a rental and a HUGE selling point for the rental owner, while also being a significant investment for a builder. Become a dealer for a well-regarded brand of these doors, and you position yourself as a supplier for high-end work.
- High-Performance Glazing: With all this glass in a structure that is at risk for a certain amount of high-wind exposure, performance matters. Be able to offer double or triple-pane windows, low-E coatings, and argon gas fill to manage thermal performance. Your clients are going to be in this business for the long haul, and guest comfort matters in every season.
Features for Vertical Views
Looking out of a window is standard. Looking up is treehouse magic.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Operable Skylights: Stock high-quality skylights, with a priority on venting models that can be opened to allow for natural air circulation. A skylight placed over a bed for stargazing is a feature mentioned in every rental review.
- Structural Glass Floors: This is the unicorn-level “wow factor” feature, but with builders as ambitious as the treehouse rental market’s top performers, we are going to see some of this stuff. The ultimate in “wow factor,” for an extra level of luxury, is a small section of structural, walk-on glass flooring built into the structure. Having a source for this ultra-specialized product is the difference between being an average supplier and a legendary one in the eyes of a builder.
Inter-Pod Connectivity
Treehouse rental developers are building more than just one or two properties. For many, “treehouse community” is a big part of the marketing draw, and multi-pod properties connected by rope bridges and tree platforms create an incredible adventure for guests.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Engineered Suspension Bridge Hardware: I am not just making this up. This is a legitimate category, and a highly profitable category for suppliers who can stock it. You need to be able to source structural steel cable, large-diameter load-rated fasteners (thimbles, clamps, turnbuckles), and of course robust netting. This is not your average hardware. It is an engineered safety system, and being a supplier for this is a major competitive advantage. You must offer a complete, safe, and reliable kit to a builder looking to build bridges.
4. The All-Season, Off-Grid Imperative: Supplying Autonomy
The only way a rental property can truly book year-round is to be truly booked year-round. This is a non-negotiable for a property owner that needs that 12-month-a-year income. Another non-negotiable is that many of the most beautiful and sought-after builds are in locations with no utilities, which means self-sufficiency and autonomy are major goals.
Insulation & Heating
Cold sucks. There is no way to make staying cold fun for anyone. If you are providing a vacation rental, you need to guarantee warmth and coziness.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- High-Performance Insulation: Fiberglass batts are for amateurs. Stock high-performance insulation products, which means closed-cell spray foam (partner with an installer to be a reseller), rigid foam boards, or cork or sheep wool or whatever other sustainable products that offer high R-values and moisture-management properties.
- Compact Wood Stoves: A wood stove is not just a heat source, it is one of the most powerful aesthetic pieces of any cabin build. Compact wood stoves are a must-have for those year-round cabins and rentals. Stock a range of small, efficient wood stoves that are optimized for tiny spaces.
- Safety Systems for Heating: The most important part of this. The products that go along with wood stoves (heat shields, ember pads, insulated chimney pipe systems (Class A)) are not accessories, they are a non-negotiable safety feature for your client’s building. Selling the stove without the complete safety system is not a good look for your client.
Off-Grid Power & Water
The ultimate luxury is self-sufficiency.
Your Supply Opportunity:
- Complete Solar Packages: Stop trying to sell component parts. Partner with a solar expert that can supply your clients with complete, pre-sized solar kits for small cabins. This should include panels, a charge controller, a battery bank (offer high-end lithium options), and an inverter. This takes your builder from “how the hell do I power this” to “what does it take to get enough sun for this setup?”
- Composting Toilets: Do NOT assume that these are all outhouses or “rustic.” Stock high-end, zero-odor models that are light-years ahead of the stink-bucket-in-the-woods toilet that many treehouses are associated with.
- Water Systems: Rainwater collection system filters, tanks, and the 12-volt pumps to create a pressurized water system for sinks and showers.
Conclusion: From Commodity Seller to Project Partner
The high-end treehouse rental market is a window into the future of construction and travel. As the travel industry shifts from sterile hotel rooms to one-of-a-kind experiences, your role is to supply the differentiated, high-performance products that those unique properties require. The treehouse rental market is one of the most aggressive, exciting, and high-margin markets in modern construction, and the building material supplier who is willing to create the high-value procurement systems required to take full advantage is reaping the rewards now.
Shou Sugi Ban siding, engineered swing hangers, and complete off-grid solar kits are not just products that are available. Selling those products is a statement. It is a statement that you understand where the market is going. It is a statement that creates a powerful moat around your business and keeps the price-slashing competitors at bay. Anticipating the needs of high-value builders and visionary property developers and having the high-performance components they require to build those properties in stock at your business is the key to becoming an essential supplier and long-term partner for this and other highly profitable markets in the specialty construction industry.
Q1: These specialized materials seem expensive to stock. How do we manage the financial risk? Start with a “showroom and special order” model. You don’t need to stock fifty different skylights. Get a high-quality display up for one or two premium models and establish an SLA for reliable and fast-ship with the manufacturer. This is a showroom product that you sell with the help of product catalogs, samples, and displays, and only commit to a deeper inventory when items prove to be repeat sellers. Reclaimed wood products are also in this “sample and buy” model at first, and with a limited, curated offering that is tested with the market.
Q2: Our sales team is used to selling 2x4s, not off-grid solar systems. How do we bridge that knowledge gap? Go back to the manufacturers and get them to train you. This is free and valuable information and the manufacturer is investing in this training to create demand for their product, so let them. The regional sales rep for your favorite window company or solar kit provider is going to have a ton of training materials and is only too happy to conduct a “lunch and learn” for your team. They will provide all of the important selling points and basic technical information, and if you focus on the concept of “selling systems instead of parts” (the builder doesn’t need to be a solar engineer, but they do need to know that a complete system includes panels, batteries, and an inverter, and that the system allows them to build a cabin anywhere) you are well on your way.
Q3: How do we market ourselves to these high-end treehouse builders? You need to go to them. Build your list of winning projects, and when you supply materials for one of those professional-looking treehouses, get it professionally photographed and create a case study. Then post it on your website and social media and advertise with targeted ads aimed at “custom home builders” or “hospitality developers” in your region. But the most important part of this is to use your existing relationships. The builder that is buying lumber from you today may be quoting their first luxury treehouse rental tomorrow. Make sure they know you are the source for the premium components they are going to need to build that.
Q4: Which product category has the best initial entry point into this market? Premium aesthetic finishes. This is the category that offers the easiest and often most profitable first step into this market. Stocking high-quality tongue-and-groove paneling or exotic siding like Western Red Cedar or a curated collection of matte black hardware requires little-to-no technical expertise compared to off-grid solar systems but immediately separates you. And more than being visible upgrades, these are the types of high-end, tangible features that builders can directly upsell to their clients, which means a clear and lucrative value-add for your builder partner, and a clear increase in margin for you.
Build the world’s best treehouses, together. Contact us to learn how our specialty construction market expertise can help you become a supplier to the next generation of show-stopping properties.
Contact us to become a supply partner for visionary builders.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: +1 503 793 2928
- Website: https://treelofts.com/
