Actually, most people put the stairs in pool, ladder on outside of pool, ladder is a safety ladder, it folds up, we just zip tied it down inside of pool, we have no children at home, but the grand kids come over and play in it so we have no worries of any one just getting in pool,(besides we only have 1 left who needs to learn how to swim and he is currently doing that) ladder and stairs were purchased as separate items but can be assembled together. many of your on line pool stores have them, i can't remember cause we bought when we first got our pool 6 years ago.