My husband is quite handy thankfully, but when he got this hose reel put together the first time it blew apart when we turned on the water. We called Suncast as directed (before returning this item call..). They mailed a new part and after a frustrating couple of hours, it works and doesn't appear to leak!  The directions are poorly written. There should have been some packing around it for shipping. Also it needs to be bolted down to avoid "crawling around" while you pull the hose out. I hope it lasts a few years now!