This stand is constructed with heavy duty metal with a nice outer coating to it. Assembly only took a minute and required no tools.I do have one criticism: there is considerable flex/movement to this stand. When I sit on my hammock, the outer arms are pulled inward by several inches. Somehow I imagined that it would be bolted together and would act like a solid, unified chunk of metal, but that is not the case. The extra movement is a direct result of the tool-less design which makes this unit so easy to assemble.