I thought I was doing good till I read these posts. I was planing on going to 10 hives this year, but after much sawing, gluing, nailing and visiting home depot I wasnt getting the job done. I build 10 hive stands, ten telescoping lids, 8 hive bodies, and 3 bottom boards. I gave up and ordered precut boxes, bottom boards, and inner covers( I struggled with these). I was painting, nailing and gluing and making progress, till the ice hit and its been 30 and will be in evenings for the next 10 days. I know it will April/ May when my bees are here, but its a struggle to get things done with job, family and normal honey-do issues. How do you do these things? are you buying and assembling, or starting everything from scratch?