Cool! I had codex have a go at calculating "effective price" on a few items, that prices in the assembly labor, and then also calculates the delta between price and effective price. Obviously very depended on how you value your time, but here are some items at $30/hour:

BRIMNES storage bed + headboard, Queen $549 + 320 min labor = $709 (delta: +$160 / +29%)

HEMNES 8-drawer dresser $380 + 236 min labor = $498 (delta: +$118 / +31%)

STORKLINTA 6-drawer dresser $250 + 224 min labor = $362 (delta: +$112 / +45%)

SLÄKT storage bed, Twin $450 + 212 min labor = $556 (delta: +$106 / +24%)

BRIMNES 3-door wardrobe $250 + 189 min labor = $344.50 (delta: +$94.50 / +38%)

ALEX drawer unit: $95 + 96 min labor = $143 (delta: +$48 / +51%)

BRIMNES cabinet with doors: $99 + 75 min labor = $136.50 (delta: +$37.50 / +38%)

KALLAX 2x4 shelf unit: $65 + 39 min labor = $84.50 (delta: +$19.50 / +30%)

Formula: effective price = sticker price + (estimated assembly minutes / 60 * hourly value of time).

I was surprised by how similar the % diff is across the board.

(in my experience) if this table included other flat-pack vendors the difference would be stark. Wayfair and the like are far more complex to assemble.

I believe this table needs a column for the disassembly process as well.

I bought and assembled a TUFFING Bunk Bed years ago, and even though the complexity of assembly is reported as 4644 on this web site (which is also suspiciously low), as far as I can tell the only way to disassemble it is to use an angle grinder.

I once bought a paper basket that was made out of two pieces and I managed to assemble it the wrong way. I guess I should multiply those estimates by pi.

If you look at the item number and it begins with an s, it means it's a combination of multiple articles. If you click "what's included" you'll see what articles it consists of. The assembly documents will include the assembly documents for each child article. On the top pax, you can see it actually consists of 20 distinct child articles (some of which require no assembly).

A lot of these pdfs contain steps which are optional or only apply in certain situations. Does that decrease the complexity because there are less steps to do? Or does it increase.. the cyclomatic complexity!

IKEA was cool years ago. Unfortunately the quality reduced enormously and the price raised over it. Yesterday I saw an ad for a table and chairs for the balcony: 70€ (80$ after tax). I bought this model years ago and paid 15€ (17.60$ after tax) for the whole set.

IKEA beds are underestimated: these flimsy POS planks and their insertion is entire artform that was likely engineered to cause pain. The idea here is they are huge, finicky and depend on precise positioning in multiple areas, there is no "easy shortcut" for their structural integrity, everything has to be perfectly assembled.

LÖNSET Slatted bed base King 302.787.13

3h of fun for a mere $140.

I've seen more expensive hobbies.

Love this.

Whoever made this, please make a "proportion" column somehow!

I would like to know which has the most complexity per total volume or weight (it's less surprising that huge items have high complexity).

Fun data sheet! I was curious about most steps per part and it seems to be TROTTEN[1] at 1.07 steps per part (excluding some other products like a toilet brush with 1 part but the steps are actually for a separate add-on to attach it to the wall).

[1]: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/trotten-cabinet-with-doors-whit...

Good idea. Wish I had this before I made a few purchases!

Time estimate is way off for the Smastad loft bed, that thing was such a pain.

Where did you pull this data from?

I’ve paid for putting twin PAXes with doors together. Two pros came in at 9 am and I was wrapping up vacuuming by 10:30. Best money spent ever

I don't believe this. The sundvik series feels way more complex than brimnes but wardrobes have the same complexity score.

Tried 4 different items and none are listed.

MCP where? /s

What's the assembly time based on?

IKEA in general is piss easy to assemble except for leveling stuff where you'd need a laser and often times another person. Some of provided tools (the famous L 6mm hex key made of cheese) and hardware (nails) tend to be very poor... and sometimes it'd need a visit to buy extra hardware - e.g. low-profile head, non-counter sunk screws to attach to the wall.

Repairing furniture or addressing mistakes tend to be fixable by a mix of wood shavings/dust and epoxy in most cases.

So the assembly would depend on previous experience, available tools, and free space.

This is a fantastic way to quantify just how bad a consumer experience this is. Flat pack furniture tends to be very awful compared to alternatives that are also often cheaper and without assembly requirements.

Everything that has come in box from a store like IKEA (or assembled in the back from a box and presented as non-flat-pack) has lasted me less than a decade. I've got a bedroom set that was built out of proper materials and it's almost a century old.

The thing that pushes consumers toward ikea is the consistency and convenience. Most things you can load and cart home by yourself same day. Moving around furniture built by the Amish is a serious logistical challenge by comparison. Maybe you could solo it with a hand truck and some experience, but it's genuinely dangerous to move some things without help. If you aren't moving frequently, the appeal of disposable furniture begins to fade quickly.

The real lesson here is how unbelievably inept the hacker news audience seems to be with any practical task. The idea someone would spend hours assembling any piece of Ikea furniture is absurd. Anything on this list can be build in minutes. I did so even as an inexperienced teenager myself with no help. If it takes you 10 hours to assemble a wardrobe you should have a disability badge.