It all ended up ok, but my husband had to make more than one phone call for help. The pole we bought was not suitable for the house, so we had to return the pole and order the proper one. Also, the house looks like one two story house, but when we called in, they told us it is actually two separate homes that have to be fitted together. My hubby is pretty smart and he had a hard time. Now we are just waiting for the birds.This Purple Martin house is nice once put together - but look out! Lots of assembly!One word of caution - it does NOT come with mounting pole; the likes of which Amazon sells for $100 and up. Yikes!I have had this exact birdhouse for 12 years and am very happy with it but a very high snow storm this winter bent the pole over and then the house crashed to the ground. When I ordered a new pole, I decided to order a new house to the one that took the tumble.As everyone else stated, this takes a few hours to assemble because of the nut/bolt assembly system. It comes knocked down as a series of panels. They fit together very well and as long as you follow the instructions, it goes smoothly. If you are impatient and clumsy, don't get this item as it will make you a blood donor with the many exposed sharp edges during assembly. Once together, it's a very solid and well made item.My first martin house is still in fairly good shape, though the finial is gone. We have a large property and open field in a wet area where bugs abound, so the martins just love this area and you can watch them swooping over the field for hours gulping up bugs. When I mow the field, the martins are in a non-stop dive bomb at my tractor because I kick up so many bugs it's like an all you can eat free for all for the birds.Patience is a virtue in assembly. The end product will make the investment of a few hours well worth it, but it does take time so don't plan on knocking this down in an hour unless you've assembled hundreds of these before. The nuts and bolts are tiny and the assembly is awkward to handle while putting it all together.This will last well over ten years and the only threat to it's longevity is wind and something falling on it.Bought it for a friend at Christmas but he put it half way together. Hasn't been put up yet. I don't have four or five hundred acres of pastures around my house. There wouldn't be to many Purple Martin's around the bottom I live at. It still lays in the box in his shed a quarter put together. Guess I'm gonna go get it back now that I think about it. 1Made of anodized aluminum, easy clean access, made to discourage opportunistic birds, easily expandable, add on another unit and doubles your colony's space. Inviting them and their offspring right back to a clean, safe place to raise the next generation.The only thing is the house didn't have a flyer, pamphlet, or any kind of reading material setting up basic placement or anything. I guess that's too much to ask, with the web and all at your fingertips.I bought the 12 room model (AH-12D). It is missing one small screw and nut - so that was kind of annoying. It takes a long time to put together both levels, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. I recommend using the instructional video in addition to the paper instructions. If you pay attention to the instructions and know how to use a screwdriver and a pair of pliers it's not hard to put together, it just takes awhile so be patient and go slow. I would have given five stars if the screw/nut weren't missing.Nice! It came in a small box and seemed like a hundred sharp pieces of sheet metal that were a little tough to assemble since the holes are in awkward or near impossible places to reach but an hour later it was a beautiful bird house! It’s larger than I expected and I’m happy about that. It’s made to be mounted on their pole but can be reamed to fit a standard heavy duty 1” galvanized pipe. You need to be a little creative but it’s worth it for such a nice end product and for under $100. I hope to see some design improvement (sharp edges, roof mounting holes that can’t be reached with tools should have a snap or better placement and should have crescent holes instead of round) but I would definitely buy again.I asked John Mccain to help me with assembly of this birdhouse and he told me he would rather go back to POW camp than to build this monstrosity. It is like the company held a contest to see how thin they could get the metal , how many parts they could require , and how difficult they could make assembly. If you have big hands be prepared to curse like a sailor while trying to get 1/4" screws through 3 sheets of metal and attach a bolt in the corner of the metal. I had to triple dose my Lexipro while assembling so I did not HULK SMASH this thing. One amazing part required me to put in 12 screws (advising you not to tighten them too tightly) and then required me to then unscrew 6 of them while holding room together and adding rooms. FUN! Add to this assembly the challenge of not cutting my fat fingers to the bone while contorting tin so thin that Coke refused it for canned soda.When completed it is a very nice looking birdhouse. I feel like the blood I spilled in the birdhouse is a sacrifice to the Purple Martin gods so the house will stay full of bird families.If deciding to build another or smashing my thumb with a hammer it would be toss up.The top vent blows off very easily on windy days. Poor design to attach it. When assembling the roof you need child sized fingers to get the screws in as they are too close to the walls. No reason for that. The perches blow off on windy days. They do not attach well enough to stay on after use. Finally, the ring that attaches the house to a pole is plastic and the threads strip out so the screw does not tighten the house to the pool to prevent it from sliding down. I had to use hose clamps to keep the bottom section of the house up against the top section. Likely will not buy another one. I have 7 earlier models of this house and they have some of the similar issues but not to the extent the recent one I purchased has. Why did I buy another? I have them around a 4.5 acre lake and I want a uniform look all around. The first few I put up were okay. Quality has gone down hill since.As you can see it is up there on the pole and yes the Purple Martins did arrive to their destination from South America to my Dad's as they do every year! They are enjoying their new hotel and making babies etc. but my Dad did say it was a little difficult to put together and is a little bit flimsy. Regardless the feathered friends will not be checking out of this hotel/condo until the fall! Thanks so much.For the price, I didn't expect to have to assemble it myself from scratch. They give you a hundred pieces of metal and some bolts, and the parts that matter--such as the mounting collar--are just made of plastic. The metal is very thin and doesn't look as nice as in the picture. I will be returning this as I have better things to do than spend hours assembling a hundred dollar pile of scrap.We bought them to put up on a pole that was almost 25 feet in the air. They were a little too flimsy we thought for up that high with the winds that can blow here. We had to make them sturdier by adding wood to the bottom to add a metal plate. We have put only one up to see how it stands the winter months. They sure look great and I hope they work for us.Lots of little pieces to put together but overall very niceAttractive and fairly easy to assemble. The true test comes in the spring when the Martin colony returns to occupy their new digs.