Have to agree with what most have said on just buying one. If you want to build the homemade stand right, you're going to spend just as much as you will on a nice store bought one. But if you feel a special satisfaction in making your own, I guess I can see why you'd want to. The biggest advantage to me in making your own would be customizing the shooting platform. I like to have a lot of space to stand on to feel comfortable when shooting from a treestand. I actually contemplated building my own ladderstand out of 4x4 post supports, 2x6 platform framing, and heavy duty hardware but a friend suggested looking at the loggy bayou bowhunter ladder stand. It has a larger platform, or at least one large enough for me to be comfortable while shooting standing. Its not much more than $100 if you can find it on sale.