The product was very simple to put together.  The cat liked it on sight!  The stairs are useless so don't even bother putting them on.  We also found that another customer said that if the cat is fairly large, this unit would be too small.  They were right!  We went out and bought a couple of larger (14")wedding cake platforms, glued on some fabric. and voila!  The cat is now able to lay down instead of just perching on the circular platforms.  The unit also needs to be secured to something (we used fishing line and a door handle) because it can fall over when the cat jumps off.