The platform was not difficult to put together. Took my husband about 30 min. The wood is sturdy and no defects were noted. My only complaint is that the drawers are much smaller than I thought they would be. There is a lot of space to utilize and the drawers don't come near the size what I feel they could. We had been looking for a platform bed with storage that was within our budget and this fit the bill. Overall, we are happy with the purchase.