When you buy something for less, you save money, right? While that statement is true for many purchases, it’s not necessarily true for spa pools. That probably sounds a little confusing, so let us explain.
Low priced spas can be more expensive to run. Often materials are reduced to provide a low priced product. Less insulation means more power to heat the spa water. Less technology means they demand more effort and can use more chemicals and water over the lifetime. Lower build quality and shorter warranties mean you will be replacing them sooner.
The sticker price of a spa pool only tells part of the story because there are ongoing costs and long-term factors to consider when investing in spa pool. In this article we’ll take a look at those considerations and see why the most cost-effective spa pools are often those that you perhaps pay a little more and wait a little longer for.
Spa pools: a cost or an investment?
When you think of buying a spa pool, do you see it as a cost or an investment? If your mind wanders to the money that will immediately leave your account, you’ll inevitably go for a cheaper model.
But if you take a step back and view your spa pool purchase as the investment that it is, you can make a wiser decision: one that can result in you enjoying a more luxurious soaking experience in the short-term and saving cash in the long-term.
Your spa pool purchase is less like buying a backyard accessory and more like buying a car.
- Low priced cars often aren’t as efficient as higher priced models that use technology to reduce their energy needs (think hybrids and EVs.) The cost of powering your vehicle chips away at the upfront savings over time.
- If you choose a cheap set of wheels you’ll often face reliability issues. You can spend more time maintaining it or at the mechanic fixing it, and you might ultimately need to replace your car sooner.
- When you do decide to upgrade your cheap car, you might find that its resale value has fallen off a cliff. Cheap, lower quality products simply lose their value faster.
Spa pools, like cars, should be seen less as a cost than an investment that offers a return. As such you should look past the initial sticker price and consider the costs over the life of the unit, from the moment you purchase to the moment you upgrade or trade in.
You should aim to calculate the return you’ll enjoy on your investment; not just financial, but in terms of the spa pool ownership experience too.
How do you know if a spa pool is a good investment?
While sticker price might be the first and most obvious consideration, identifying a good spa pool investment is about peeling that sticker off to see what lies beneath.
To find out whether your choice of spa pool will prove to be a wise investment, you should take into account the following seven considerations:
Warranty
The warranty is perhaps the most obvious indicator of spa pool quality, as it reveals how much confidence a manufacturer has in their machines. That said, some warranties can be deceiving, only covering certain aspects of your spa, or parts but not labour. You should also be wary if the warranty is longer than the brand is old.
Spare part availability
This is another, less obvious way to tell how much faith a manufacturer has in their product. How long do they offer spare parts for? If they can’t guarantee supply up to 20 years, you will have an issue if your spa breaks down.
Energy efficiency
The main factors that decide how much power a spa pool uses are the quality of the insulation and the quality of the machinery, areas in which cheap spas are often lacking.
Water care technology
Cheap spas can lack water care technology, which means that you’ll need to drain, clean and refill the spa pool more often, typically every couple of months.
Feature list
Getting value for money from your spa pool investment is about using your machine regularly. Cheap spas offer a basic soak, while feature-packed premium spas offer a superior experience that you’ll be excited to enjoy as often as possible.
Trade-in value
Quality spas tend to hold their value for longer. Checking a brand’s trade-in value compared to their sticker price can offer clues as to whether this is a wise investment.
Brand reputation
While you’re online doing research on trade-in value, try to get a sense of the reputation of the brand as well. There’s no better proof of quality than the first-hand experiences of current owners, so check what is being said about the brand on review sites.
Hot Spring: the ultimate spa pool investment
At Hot Spring we’ve always been a brand for those who see their spa pool purchase as an investment in their home, their families and their lives, and who appreciate that a premium spa pool can often end up cheaper in the long run.
We guarantee our shells for 5-7 years and other parts for 2-5 years, all parts and labour included. We provide spare parts for at least 20 years. We offer the most energy efficient spas on the New Zealand market, with running costs as low as $1 a day.
We offer high-end, automated water care technologies like the FreshWater Salt System that makes refilling your spa pool a once-a-year job. A suite of in-spa features deliver the most luxurious soak imaginable. The quality means that trade-in values remain particularly high. And all this is backed by the world’s largest spa pool manufacturer that has been serving Kiwi customers since 1980.
Should you spend more upfront and perhaps wait a little longer for a high-quality, in-demand product? Only you can answer that question. But if you’re ready to find out why more and more Kiwis are seeing the incredible value that a Hot Spring spa pool can bring, head to your local dealer today!
