It took me 45 minutes to put together. I have read the reviews that it is impossible to do. It took effort and I made two mistakes so I had to undo some stuff, but it is not that hard. My problem is I have two other ways of composting which seem to do a much better job. 1. A spot in the garden I dump the garbage and till it in. 2. A pile of leaves, sticks, grass clippings that I dump the garbage in and turn it over. Neither of these have had bugs, but the tumbler did.