All the joints and steel connections fit snug and require more than the wimpy soft blow hammer they provide. I used a real hammer and a block of wood which was significantly better. The little plastic end caps you get for the ends of the legs are useless and break but who cares, they're not really needed. My only real issue with the shelving unit is the MDF (compressed wood) shelf itself. The steel shelf rails are designed for 3/8\" MDF or plywood and the MDF that is provided is 1/4\" which means the steel rail sticks up above the 1/4\" MDF by 1/8\" and will cause problems down the road. You could potentially damage shelf itself rendering it useless or you could damage something you are storing on the shelf. I almost want to rate the shelf 3 stars but for $73 it deserves 4 stars and I will replace the 1/4\" MDF with 3/8\" plywood or 7/16 OSB.