The bed itself is composed of very few parts, which includes, the base legs and frame, as well as the bed's base slats and the screws that hold them together. Overall, it took me about a day and a half or rather about 10-12 hrs to put it together on my own because the instructions were a little difficult to read, and it is impossible to put the whole thing together without a drill. As far as I could tell, it just is. You'll need to invest in a drill to secure certain parts together, specifically the base board's wooden crossbar, and again, when securing the slats to the frame.