I havent seen a desk of this quality for any less than 500. The desk is sturdy, it has a solid wood center core with a wood veneer top and is finished with a smooth semi-gloss laquer finish(not shiny). It took about 20 minutes to put together, however, beware that it does not come with any assembly instructions, but you can download the PDF instructions from the Wayfair page. Its very easy to put together as you can see from the picture above using an Allen wrench(not included).