This bed is a good value and when put together is sturdy enough to handle my rambunctious boys, but it's a bugger to put together.
My only advice is to read every review posted with tips on assembly and set aside a minimum of two hours to assemble. You really need two people to put this together and BEFORE YOU ASSEMBLE ANYTHING make absolutely certain you have each of the support bars in the exact right place with aligned holes for the ladder. If you don't you'll either have to take the entire bed apart at the last step (which is nearly impossible and will set you back an hour) or drill holes into the frame to attach the ladder, which is a huge pain in the butt but easier than taking the bed apart.
One more tip, get a long metal bar to help put the plastic clips into place, they're almost impossible to install by hand and this step is very painful.
A bugger to put together
This bed is a good value and when put together is sturdy enough to handle my rambunctious boys, but it's a bugger to put together. My only advice is to read every review posted with tips on assembly and set aside a minimum of two hours to assemble. You really need two people to put this together and BEFORE YOU ASSEMBLE ANYTHING make absolutely certain you have each of the support bars in the exact right place with aligned holes for the ladder. If you don't you'll either have to take the entire bed apart at the last step (which is nearly impossible and will set you back an hour) or drill holes into the frame to attach the ladder, which is a huge pain in the butt but easier than taking the bed apart. One more tip, get a long metal bar to help put the plastic clips into place, they're almost impossible to install by hand and this step is very painful.