Two boys who wanted a backyard cubby house have sparked a lengthy bureaucratic process after a neighbour complained to an Adelaide council about the structure.

Chris Della Vedova said he had not imagined the headaches that were ahead after his sons Zach and Harry asked for a cubby.

"The boys wanted a cubby and you put up a cubby, as you do," he told 891 ABC Adelaide.

"It's a bit off the ground, a-metre-and-a-half off the ground, and we didn't think that would be a problem for anyone.

"But we got a complaint from a neighbour and a letter from the council ... we built it at Easter last year and had a letter from the council in June and then we've been back and forth with them since then."

The Adelaide father had to face Mitcham Council's development assessment panel to defend the unauthorised building work.

"There was a lot of stress associated with it. It's time, it's money, it's not the way you want to spend your days really," he said.

"I guess what I find disturbing is the amount of money that went into it, not from my side but from the council's side, having to do all the reports, back and forth, out taking pictures and so on."

He said it was hard for the two boys to understand what was going on.

"[You wonder] 'Am I going to have to tear this cubby down and then how do you explain that to a seven and a five-year-old?'" he said.

"Even trying to explain to them why we were going to these meetings was difficult [for them] to understand."

The council advised anyone with plans for a backyard structure to be in contact if they were unsure what building rules applied.

Mr Della Vedova finally had the structure formally approved after paying several hundred dollars for a development application.

Father and son share in the building work. ( Supplied: Chris Della Vedova )

"It's done now, that's the good news, I'm happy about that," he said.

The council did not require any changes to be made to the cubby house the man and his sons built.

"I don't think the council's out to get people building cubby houses, I think they just have to respond to complaints," the father said.

"At the end of the day the development panel was a group of reasonable people and said 'No, it's fine'."

The two boys said they loved their backyard cubby house, even though they first asked for a tree house fort, and were happy the saga was over.