My 80 year old mother and I put this up with no help from anyone but my dog :-) It took us several hours, but we did it! There were a few things we had to figure out ourselves, but we are two smart women. We decided to be flattered by the instructions assuming our intelligence. You will need a very tall ladder to get the canopy on (that's not in the instructions). We took the advice from another review and poured a few pounds of pea gravel in each post before putting the base on. If you do so, you will need to tape over the bottom holes so the gravel doesn't come pouring out when you turn it upright. The finished product looks fabulous in our front yard and we anticipate spending a lot of time out here. I write this as I sit in the gazebo at the patio table that fits beautifully inside. We have a good laugh every time we think about the instructions to "dismantle before inclement weather". This baby ain't going nowhere for years!