The cat tree arrived is sturdy and attractive. The assembly instructions were simple illustrations. Once the pieces were laid out and matched to the illustration the actual assembly took only about 30 minutes. The cat is still unsure, but he's a bottom dweller and a bit leary of heights. He uses the scratching surfaces routinely and is warming up to the rest of it. I would definitely purchase another product from this company. The connections are all metal in metal connections, no plastic screws or connectors.