Having bought a couple of these storage benches rated at 200 lbs, I was pleased to see this one rated at 400 lbs so I ordered it. In terms of hardware it comes with the same number of large screws (8) to fix the top and bottom pieces to the sides as the the 200 lb rated benches do. However the holes for the wooden dowels on the side pieces are so large that there is no way that the dowels provide any kind of strength or stability. The only thing that I would say is strengthened is the middle of the bench as there is a wooden piece that fits between the upper and lower pieces. However, due to the oversized holes for the wooden dowels, the side by side tensile strength is suspect and I would not want to rock side to side while sitting on it as it is very shaky. As another poster suggested I am going to get some L brackets to strengthen that part. Without it, I think this is a flimsier than the benches rated at 200 lbs.