With so many buying options for hot tubs and spas, if you’ve never owned a hot tub before, there’s a really good chance you’re going to make a mistake on your first hot tub purchase. That mistake could very well lead you to being turned off about owning another hot tub in the future and quite frankly that would be sad. There are so many hot tub facts that you don’t know, and there are so many great benefits to having a hot tub that you should know. We’ve enjoyed ours for years now and it runs year round.
As a matter of fact the whole reason I started Custom Built Spas back in 1999 was because after much time spent searching for just the right hot tub, it finally became clear to me that I wasn’t going to find exactly what I was looking for. Hiring a contractor to build the hot tub was not an option, way to expensive. At the time the minimum to have one build was just under $18,000. That’s when the whole idea of building it myself came to light. After doing a bunch more research on hot tubs, how they worked, how they were put together etc… I felt totally confident that I was skillful enough to build one myself.
Now keep in mind that, at that particular time there was next to nothing available for information on how to build a hot tub, nothing on the internet or anywhere else for that matter. YouTube didn’t exist yet either, so as the saying goes, if it’s to be, it’s going to be up to me. Long story short, that first hot tub was a total success and yes there were some things I would do a little different. But as far as how it operated and how it looked, it rivaled anything else out there that you could have had built or bought. See pics below, and it cost less than $5000 to build. Instant added equity for the home. (only permanently installed hot tubs can add equity to your home, portables add nothing).
As you can see it was a pretty darn good looking hot tub, definitely not a back yard eyesore that you had to hide from people so they wouldn’t see it. So what did it lack? Power, nothing more than it needed a jet pump with more HP. That and a blower that had more output. Those were things that were quite easy change if we had wanted to.
Fast forward to what we build and I teach DIY guys and gals how to build now, it’s kind of like night and day. Not so much the appearance of the hot tubs, they’ve always turned out to be darn good looking units. But our construction processes and equipment used to outfit a hot tub has evolved, (gotten easier) and so has the industry been evolving. If you want a hot tub that kicks butt, no problem. I can show you how to build one that you’ll need to install a seat belts to keep from getting blown of the sitting areas by the jet pump. Or, I can show you how to build a nice relaxing tame unit that has just enough water movement to be soothing and peaceful for you.
More Hot tub Facts
There are things I need to caution you about if you’re looking to buy a hot tub, and what you’ll likely encounter if you talk to a salesmen at a retail hot tub store. If you mention the word performance, you’re going get a whole lot rhetoric like about how powerful their hot tubs are because they have 5hp pumps and everyone else only has 3hp etc… it’s all smoke and mirrors because there are multiple ways a pumps HP is rated. The only important number is running HP or true HP, everything else is what I call B— S— HP, (you get the picture). My information package includes a book called, “Spa Secrets Revealed” where I give you everything you need to know before buying a portable hot tub.
The salesperson might start telling you how comfortable their hot tubs are and that they accommodate X number of people etc… More BS, the average store bought hot tub is shallow, about a 28″ max water depth, (ours is at least 10″ or more deeper), theirs has very little footwell area and forces you to sit in preformed sitting positions. Totally uncomfortable if you like to move around. Our Custom Built Hot tubs can have as much as 4 times more footwell area and you can move around comfortably all you want.
So where I’m going with all these hot tub facts is that if your first experience with a spa or hot tub was not a good one, you’re probably not going to consider another one… sad! If your first experience was in a well performing comfortable hot tub like what we show you how to make, you’re going to want more! (not to mention that we’re also going to show you how to save a ton of money as well).
Below is the hot tub I did for our present home. At the time I built this unit, it was also under $5000. It seats 8 adults comfortably, has plenty of jet power, nice depth, lots of footwell space, strong air blower, color changing LED lighting, it’s well insulated, I enclose it for the winter months so we can use it year round, just more hot tub facts.
Opened up for the warmer months Enclosed for the colder and winter months
Moving along, I want to give you some more hot tub facts to think about. First, building a hot tub is not nearly as difficult as you might think it is. It’s more about taking your time and following my step by step procedure. Having a couple of willing friends to help you will make the process even simpler, (I built mine entirely by myself with no help and I’m not a spring chicken). Second building a hot tub yourself can easily save you a ton of money, you can realize big saving over the cost of some portable units as well. There are portable spas that have price tags of over $12,000 dollars. A DIY hot tub cost can easily be half that cost or even less. Third, permanently installed hot tubs can add equity value to your home where portables add no equity, one of the hot tub facts that most people never think about.
If you’re considering having a contractor build you a hot tub, I can almost guarantee that it’s going to cost you over $15,000. Wouldn’t it be nice to put up to $10,000 of that back in your pocket? Sure it would. The best way to approach a build is do what you can do yourself or with the help of your friends and hire contractors to only do the steps you’re not comfortable doing, like electrical work for most people.
Wrapping things up, I’ve touched on just a few of the more important hot tub facts that you should be aware of. Much more is covered in my information package. I want to emphasize to that if you choose to do this type of project, I’m always available for any help you should need either by phone or by email. Read over some of my customer testimonials and you’ll see I do what I say I will do.
Hope you enjoy this article don’t forget to call if you have any questions.
Gene Trumbull
