This bed is awesome and great for the money. Very sturdy.

As far as putting it together. The other reviewers are right. I took some time to put it together but I figured it all. All pieces were there, just the directions were slightly different from what I had. One example is that there are 3 bars along the middle (under the mattress for support) and the directions just showed one. But definitely good to have 3x more support. 

For those who asked if you need a box spring. I would say YES. We have a temperpedic and tried it without one and the front and back sank in and more importantly, the head board does not go all the way down in the back. So if you don't have a box spring your mattress will of course be lower and expose a big gap between the floor and the headboard.