Last March, a request landed in my inbox at 7:42 a.m. The subject line was literally how to delete a slide. I almost answered with a PowerPoint screenshot and a ton of sarcasm. But this wasn't a deck problem. It was a school district that had approved a KOMPAN playground layout with two slides: a pool slide going into a splash pad, and an Icy Super Slide in the older-kid zone. Now their budget committee had cut $40,000, and they wanted to know which slide could come out.
Actually, let me back up. I'm the quality/compliance manager at KOMPAN. I review every custom layout before it reaches customers—roughly 200 unique projects a year. In 2024, I rejected 11% of first deliveries because something didn't match the approved spec. Usually it's not the equipment itself. It's the stuff around it: spacing, safety surfacing, anchor details. A request to delete a slide is exactly the kind of thing that looks simple and isn't.
I should explain what I do first
At a playground equipment company, quality doesn't stop at the factory gate. For KOMPAN, the product is part of a system: the play structure, the fall zone, the accessible path, and the installation specs that keep it all compliant. My job is to make sure that system works as an integrated whole.
When the school district said delete a slide, I didn't take it personally. I pulled the approved drawings and did what I always do before a change order: I looked for what wasn't on the price sheet.
I've learned to ask what's NOT included before asking what the price is. The same logic applies to removals. What doesn't disappear when you remove a slide?
What 'delete a slide' actually means
If you're looking for a PowerPoint tutorial, this isn't it. But if you're trying to remove a slide from a commercial playground design, keep reading.
A slide isn't a standalone part sitting on a shelf. It's connected to the structure, the fall height, the use zone, and in the case of a pool slide, the water system. You can't just subtract a line item and click update.
For this project, the two slides were very different:
- The pool slide was part of the splash pad package. It had concrete work, water recirculation, and a specific clearance around the landing area.
- The Icy Super Slide was a freestanding slide structure with its own anchors and a defined fall zone. It's one of those bright, curved slides that looks simple but has a clearance radius way longer than people think.
The school district assumed the pool slide was the obvious choice to cut because it had the bigger sticker price. That was the moment I had to show them why transparent pricing matters.
The hidden costs that didn't disappear
In my first year, I made the classic spec error: assumed standard meant the same thing to every vendor. Cost me a $600 redo and a very honest conversation with my manager. Since then, I break every change order into line items.
When I mapped out removing the pool slide, the equipment cost went down by about $18,000. But the concrete pad, the plumbing stub, and the site inspection were already in the contract. Removing the slide didn't cancel those costs. It just made some of them worse, because the pad needed to be capped or redesigned. Net savings: about $9,000, not $18,000.
For the Icy Super Slide, the math was cleaner. It was a freestanding unit with no buried utilities. Deleting it removed the equipment, the anchor posts, and most of the installation labor. Net savings: $17,500.
(Surprise, surprise: the less glamorous slide was the easier one to cut.)
This is where I won't name names, but I've seen competing proposals that hide this. The vendor lists the slide, takes it off, and the invoice drops by the sticker price. A month later, the contractor finds a structural re-engineering fee in the change order. That's the transparent-vs-hidden cost divide.
Almost every KOMPAN product has a detailed install drawing. That drawing is where quality lives. Use it before you sign a change order.
Pricing is for general reference only, as of Q4 2024; regional install costs and KOMPAN catalog prices change. What matters is the process, not the exact number.
The transparent fix
I sent the district a one-page comparison showing both removals side by side, including every cost that would and wouldn't disappear. Then I did something that felt uncomfortable: I didn't recommend the option with the biggest sticker price reduction.
The pool slide was tied to the splash pad's water system. Removing it would create an unused wet area and an awkward transition. The Icy Super Slide, on the other hand, could be removed cleanly and brought back later as a Phase 2 item without tearing up anything. So we recommended deleting the Icy Super Slide.
The district kept the pool slide, moved the Icy Super Slide into their next budget year, and got a revised plan that didn't require a second construction crew. In the end, they didn't so much delete a slide as defer it.
That's the transparent quote in action. It's not about making every number lower. It's about making sure the number you see is the number you actually pay. The vendor who lists all fees upfront—even if the total looks higher—usually costs less in the end.
If you're here because you need to delete a playground slide
The phrase how to delete a slide gets a lot of PowerPoint tutorials. If you're searching for playground equipment KOMPAN offers, the process is different. Here's the short version:
- Pull the approved layout and spec sheet. If you don't have them, ask for the exact model numbers before anything else. A verbal take-it-off is how mistakes happen.
- Find the hidden dependencies. Water, concrete, electricity, shared anchors. If the slide shares a foundation with something else, removal isn't a one-line change.
- Recheck fall height and use zone. KOMPAN products, from the Icy Super Slide to a pool slide, come with clearance diagrams. Use them.
- Update compliance documents. The site still needs to meet EN 1176 (in Europe, from CEN) or ASTM F1487 (in North America, from ASTM International) after the slide is gone. A change order without that review isn't done.
- Get the change order in writing, with line items. If a vendor says we'll just take it off the invoice, ask what happens to the anchor positions, surfacing, and inspection.
This worked for us, but our situation was a commercial install with a certified contractor. If you're dealing with a small backyard project, the calculus might be different.
Also, as of late 2024, KOMPAN's product line and pricing vary by region. Verify current specs and availability before you budget. I learned the hard way in 2020 that standard is not standard. Since then, I've required itemized change orders.
I won't tell you the Icy Super Slide is indestructible, because it's not. But it is engineered to a standard, and that standard shouldn't be a casualty of a change order.
So if you're wondering how to delete a slide, start with the drawing, not the invoice. A quality inspector's job is to make sure that when something disappears, nothing else falls apart. For this school district, what disappeared was a slide from the budget—and what stayed was a splash pad that still worked, a client that understood their own project, and a trust that's worth more than any discount.