If you buy the materials to build a wooden ladder stand, you will have about the same amount of money invested as you would in a metal stand, but if a wooden stand is what you want then go ahead. This topic has been hashed over several times on here over the last 5 or so years, and a couple of people have posted plans for their homemade stands, but it would take some searches to possibly find them. If you go with salt treated lumber remember a couple of things, you need to use stainless screws or nails or special galvanized materials and that salt treated, just like most any wood, will rot at some point. I know a couple of people that fell while climbing "treated wood" stands that rotted on one end of the steps. One of them almost died from a crushed femur. That is the reason I don't like wooden stands..