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SR Panel: Installation Triumphs and Woes

Panelists share their most difficult, and beautiful, installations

Mark Nelson, owner
Master Spas of West Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Our best Michael Phelps Swim Spa install — complete with custom room. It was a $250,000 job when completed.

The customer says it’s his favorite room in the house. He swims every day with his wife. It’s a dual-temp model with 101 degrees in the spa end and 80 degrees in the swim end, so they enjoy both worlds at one time!

Greg Mruk, store manager
Pool & Patio Center
Coventry, Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, the land is very rarely flat, so the hardest installations usually occur when space is limited and the yard is pitched. Of course, the ideal installation is when you can drive to the site, but most landscapes do not promote that. We use the spa dolly for all our deliveries except ones that require a crane. The spa dolly makes maneuvering the hot tub on its side very simple, and I’m sure most dealers around the country use the same equipment.

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One install that particularly stands out is one where we had to use a pulley system. It resembled a roller coaster track, and our spa dolly was guided down an 80-foot-long slope to the side of a wooden deck that the hot tub was then lifted onto. Not only did we have to harness the weight of the hot tub going down the track with the pulley, but we also needed to place the tub safely on brand new synthetic decking when finally getting it down the track. At the bottom of this slope was also a lake so one wrong move and we’d have a runaway hot tub going into the water.

However a dealer decides to get the hot tub in the final resting point, it should always use safety first and have a crane contact. Most of the time, the customer will spend a little extra to have the tub craned in as a safer delivery method. Using proper padding on newer decking materials is also a must to ensure the customer’s property is respected and no damage is done.

Margaret Bell
Adventure Hot Tubs & Pools
Sarasota, Florida

These pictures are for a condominium built on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico on the west coast of Florida. Surrounds were built off measurements of the floor model. They were delivered by trailer and swung into place via crane. Less back-breaking work, but the measurements had to be exact as well as setting the units.

The most difficult install we’ve done involved three barriers, a fence, an oak tree and a gazebo. There was zero clearance. Only the experience and muscle strength of the two-man delivery made it happen.