They are very sturdy. For the price point I’m ok with the messy welding as I can’t feel any shifting goin on, but the one complaint I have it how erect the back rests are. I sat in similar looking and feeling bar stools from “At Home” and they had a more realistic slight recline to them. With as erect these Wayfair back rests are, my fiancé and I both just sit at the edge of the chair to even use just the top of the back rests. I am over 200 pounds, but my fiancé is not even 130 and we vary quite a bit in trunk height as well so at least two pretty differently shaped people that come to the same conclusion.