Do I Need Anything Else Electrical?

[Gebo]

They use a “spa delivery” company of which one of the current spa company owners (the one who sold me the hot tub) used to manage and own. This particular “spa delivery” company does all their hot tub maintenance and repairs as well.

Seems fairly legit from what I know.

 

[JamesW]

I suppose that my main point is that it is easy to make assumptions about what contractors will do.

In the absence of clear communication, everyone (Customers, Contractors, Sellers etc.) has to make assumptions and those assumptions will rarely match, which causes hard feeling and conflicts.

Just because you think that something is logical or should be included does not mean that the other party will agree.

In the absence of clear communications, you have to assume the worst, not the best case.

In any case, that’s why it is critical to actually let the other side know what you expect and for them to let you know as much detail as possible about what’s included, not included, what’s optional, what is extra etc.

Until they actually tell you A, B and C are included and X, Y and Z are not included, then you are just guessing and assuming.

 

[Gebo]

Thank y’all for your input.

 

[phonedave]

Dealer told me they would place my new hot tub, hook up electrical and make sure hot tub functions before they leave.

This seems quite unlikely, because they would have to wait for the hot tub to fill in order to make sure it functions. That is a lot of standing around watching a hose and not doing anything else productive.

My electrician did the final hook up of my hot tub. The installer just dropped it in place and left. In fact after they left, I moved it again on my own, re-leveled the pea gravel, and put it back.

 

[RDspaguy]

seems quite unlikely, because they would have to wait for the hot tub to fill in order to make sure it functions. That is a lot of standing around watching a hose and not doing anything else productive.

The majority of dealers I have worked for sent a crew to help deliver, and left a tech (me) to fill, connect wiring, install filters, cover lift, cover locks, set up steps, install handrails (if you got them), install optional ozone (if you got one), and give you "spa school" after it filled. Put the hose in first and it's usually full by the time you're done cleaning up.
Others who would not connect electrical or used a spa mover for deliveries would send a guy (me), after you got it hooked up, for spa school. But you still have to install the extras either way, which takes a couple hours for one guy whenever you do it. It makes little difference if it's full or empty when I start, assuming you have decent water pressure. But you are correct that a 3-man crew will generally not wait for it to fill. 3 experienced guys can knock out the installs in a half-hour or so and, in that case, would be watching the tub fill, on the clock, for quite a while.
I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, just that it's not the norm, in my experience, for reputable local dealers to drop and run. We joke about being married to them, not forget them as soon as they hit a pad.
Now anything drop-shipped, like homeshow, parking lot or tent sales, and online orders, are an entirely different story. These are often delivered by a hot-shot (contract mover) who hauls whatever for a living and doesn't know the first thing about a hot tub and may not even be aware that's what they put on his trailer. He also may not be able to remove it from his trailer without you hiring a local spa delivery crew to come take it off for you. I have heard of them being pushed off in front of the driveway in those circumstances, and have been the guy called to remove them more than a few times. But that's still a very small fraction if the tubs out there. Though it is one of the reasons I recommend avoiding such sales.

 

[Gebo]

This should be interesting. I’ll let y’all know how it turns out.

 

[phonedave]

The majority of dealers I have worked for sent a crew to help deliver, and left a tech (me) to fill, connect wiring, install filters, cover lift, cover locks, set up steps, install handrails (if you got them), install optional ozone (if you got one), and give you "spa school" after it filled. Put the hose in first and it's usually full by the time you're done cleaning up.
Others who would not connect electrical or used a spa mover for deliveries would send a guy (me), after you got it hooked up, for spa school. But you still have to install the extras either way, which takes a couple hours for one guy whenever you do it. It makes little difference if it's full or empty when I start, assuming you have decent water pressure. But you are correct that a 3-man crew will generally not wait for it to fill. 3 experienced guys can knock out the installs in a half-hour or so and, in that case, would be watching the tub fill, on the clock, for quite a while.
I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, just that it's not the norm, in my experience, for reputable local dealers to drop and run. We joke about being married to them, not forget them as soon as they hit a pad.
Now anything drop-shipped, like homeshow, parking lot or tent sales, and online orders, are an entirely different story. These are often delivered by a hot-shot (contract mover) who hauls whatever for a living and doesn't know the first thing about a hot tub and may not even be aware that's what they put on his trailer. He also may not be able to remove it from his trailer without you hiring a local spa delivery crew to come take it off for you. I have heard of them being pushed off in front of the driveway in those circumstances, and have been the guy called to remove them more than a few times. But that's still a very small fraction if the tubs out there. Though it is one of the reasons I recommend avoiding such sales.

Interesting, my only experience is with the one tub I had delivered. It came from an authorized dealer in the area - not a home show, on line, or delivered via a hot shot trucker. The owner of the dealership delivered with 2 other guys. He even bragged about his custom made trailer that even though he didn't need to carry a lot of weight, the tires were set up for a much heavier load. That way they had a larger contact area, so were less likely to sink into any grass he had to go across.

He and his crew put the tub in place, and then while his crew cleaned up, he did the "tub school" thing, including why it was better to buy chemicals from him than from anywhere else, etc.

He asked if I wanted him to install the cover lifter, but since my electrician was not coming back to do a final install for 4 days, I wanted to leave the tub wrapped until the electrician came, so I told him I would do my own cover install.

Maybe it was because he though I could handle all the setup stuff on my own, he was OK with leaving. His company did follow up by phone the next week to see if all was OK and if I needed anything.

 

[Gebo]

I got more set up/delivery info yesterday. I do have to have the wiring and the Liquid tight from the sub panel already hooked up. They can do that but it is an additional charge.
Gonna get 25 foot roll of Liquid Tight and have the wiring ready for hookup.

Delivery company will call me Monday to finalize everything.