The planter is easy to assemble even though there are no attached instructions, which is definitely a minus. The surface is not smooth and full of splinters so make sure you have gloves. The posts that hold it all together are way to short for a full insertion of three or four planks, so I ended up inserting only two and three, which can hold less soil (but as you can see I am still far from filling up mine), I used the remaining planks and extra posts to add a fourth section. There were only 8 tops to cover the posts so I couldn't cover all of the posts on my 4 section planter. Overall I am happy with the final look, even though it was not possible to assemble it exactly as advertised. Big plus for free and fast delivery.