Seven Questions Worth Asking Any Hot Tub Dealer

We are a hot tub dealer telling you how to judge hot tub dealers, so read this with the appropriate amount of salt. The questions below are ones we are happy to be asked, which is the point.

Ask to see it running

Full of water, at temperature, jets on, right now. Not powered up dry on a pallet. Not a photograph.

A showroom that cannot show you a filled, heated spa is asking you to spend five figures on faith. Most of the tubs on our floor in Bridgeport are filled and running, which is the only way you can sit in one, and sitting in one is the only way to know whether it fits you.

Ask what certified used means to them, specifically

The phrase is unregulated. It can describe a genuine strip down and rebuild, or a wash and a new set of pillows.

Make them describe the process. Which components get tested under power. What gets replaced versus cleaned. How long it runs on their floor before it goes on sale. What happens if something fails in the first month. A dealer who has a real process will describe it without hesitating, because they are proud of it.

Ask for the delivered total

The sticker is rarely the number. Ask what delivery costs to your address, whether placement is included, whether they will tell you if your gate is too narrow, and what the electrical hookup costs on top.

A dedicated circuit installed by a licensed electrician is a genuine line item, commonly several hundred to a couple of thousand dollars depending on your panel. Any dealer who lets you get to delivery day without mentioning it has done you a disservice.

Ask how many brands they carry

Most dealers carry one or two, which means every conversation ends at the same answer regardless of what you walked in needing.

We carry Bullfrog, HotSpring, Jacuzzi, PDC Spas, Master Spas, Cal Spas, L.A. Spas and Endless Pools on one floor. That is not a boast so much as a reason it is worth driving out here: comparing eight brands in an afternoon is a different exercise from visiting three showrooms that each sell one.

Ask who handles the pad

A spa needs a properly poured, reinforced, level base, and most decks are not framed for the load. Ask the dealer what happens if your patio will not hold it.

If the answer is that you will need to find a concrete contractor yourself, understand what you are signing up for. You become the project manager: the pour has to happen and cure before the delivery window, and if the schedule slips, the slip is yours to manage. We pour pads, build decks and lay turf with the same crew that delivers the spa, specifically because that handoff is where projects go wrong.

Watch how they answer an awkward question

Ask something inconvenient. Does turf get hot in summer. What does this actually add to my electric bill. Is a lounger worth it for someone my height. Will this really seat eight.

The answers matter less than whether you get a straight one. A dealer who says yes to everything is telling you nothing.

Check the things that are checkable

Read the reviews, and read the middling ones rather than the five stars. Look for a physical showroom you can visit. See whether their own published prices agree with each other.

Come and test all of this on us

3289 TX-101, Bridgeport, Texas. Shoes off, coat on, nobody follows you around with a clipboard. Ask us to open a cabinet and show you an equipment bay. Ask what we replaced on a given unit. Ask for a delivered total.

Call 936.333.0770 or email sales@txspaguy.com. We finance in house and we ship nationwide.

Related: Certified-used units on the floor · Book a showing