First things first it took me about 4 hours straight to put this together by myself. I’m fairly handy, have put many pieces of furniture together, and know that modifying the tools (use snips to cut the 90 degree angle off a provided Allen wrench to fit a drill) can decrease time. The only help I needed was to have my wife help me lift the completed top bunk onto the bottom bunk and to slide in place after attaching the staircase. I would have been very disappointed to have paid the optional 600.00 for Handy assembly only to watch two guys spend 2 hours or under to assemble and walk with what would have been the savings in buying a piece like this. The savings is in self assemblyinstallation. Very solid piece and nicely done. A couple of pieces were scuffedscratched but were easy fixes. I highly recommend this if you’re in the market for bunks!