Center of attention: more than ever, consumers want to design their yards around portable spas. This means retailers may realize rewards exceeding those of simply selling spas

Pool & Spa News, August 6, 2004 by Rin-rin Yu

Kathleen Carlson loves portable spas. However, she says their placement often is overshadowed by well-landscaped inground pools. In such cases, "it's like a wart in the backyard," jokes the senior vice president of sales and marketing for Aqua Quip, a multistore company based in Seattle.

Rather than just purchasing a portable spa, many consumers are looking for total upgrades, from adding decks and privacy walls to overhauling their entire backyards.

In 2002 alone, 427,000 spas were sold in the United States, and the number continues to rise, according to PK Data, a marketing research firm in Duluth, Ga. With demand growing for backyard transformations, a retailer who puts a designer on staff or takes the time to learn the art themselves can realize increased revenues.

For those who can't afford the time or expense to do one or the other, outfitting showrooms with photographs of well-designed projects and developing reliable referrals also can help sales soar.

The whole spectrum

Retailers can offer different degrees of design options. By adding a waterfeature behind a spa, creating landscaping and installing proper lighting, they can enhance the look of a unit. Some will visit a prospect's backyard and draw a plan for them. Others stay in-house and outline the design based on a photograph or the customer's description.

"How many hot tub buyers can you picture saying, 'I think I'd like to buy a hot tub from one company, low-voltage lighting from another, masonry from one more company, hire an electrical contractor, and then go down to a landscape nursery and pick out some plants and hire a crew of laborers to put the whole thing together?'" asks Dave McKibben, Retail and Spa Department manager at Patio Pools & Spas in Tuscon, Ariz. "People are looking for that one person, that one answer point."

Having an in-house designer enables you to give customers an added bonus: the ability to actually see what their imaginations have conjured up. "If they can't see it, they can't envision it," says Laurie Milton, co-owner of Milton Spas of Maine in the city of Yarmouth. A former carpenter, she sketches each installation with husband/ co-owner Brace Milton, who has an engineering background. Together they work with the customer to create the most ideal spa setting.

Some retailers offer to design a person's backyard as an incentive to buy a spa. "We tell them, 'If you want, we'll design the trees in there. We'll also pick the pets for your backyard,'" McKibben jokes. "We've been running into more and more of that lately, designing yards with hot tubs."

At the other end of the spectrum, Renee Gibbs emphasizes selling a portable spa independent from backyard design options. "It's important to sell the spa first," says the Las Vegas-based owner of Spas by Renee, who is a licensed contractor and designs nearly all her installations.

"Otherwise, they might say, 'Why should I spend $8,000 on your spa when I can buy one for $3,000 at Home Depot and use your backyard design?'" Gibbs says.

Doing your homework

Retailers who can't afford to hire an in-house designer and decide to learn the art firsthand will soon discover that their industry expertise gives them an edge. For example, architects aren't always aware of the design requirements for a spa, says Milton. Plans often change after a customer sits down with her and Bruce to make a purchase.

"We have 40-degrees-below-zero weather in the wintertime [in Maine]," she says. "The architect has drawn them a beautiful path that takes them out into the flower gardens that are about an eighth of a mile away from the back door. They're not going to use their tub."

Or, she says, the architect has placed the vessel completely recessed at ground level. This makes it difficult for an older person to climb in and out.

Some industry veterans suggest taking architecture courses. Structural design, deck work and woodworking help retailers understand the basic principles of construction landscaping, says Juergen Partridge, owner of Juergen Partridge Ltd., Design & Build in Terra Cotta, Ontario, Canada. He also recommends that a retailer sign up for a horticulture and gardening class to help him or her learn how to beautify spa areas.

Adds McKibben, "It might not even hurt to just get some books, or hook up with some landscapers. Ask them specifically if they've done anything with hot tubs in the past and ask to see some pictures."

Gibbs admits it's difficult to find knowledgeable salespeople with strong design backgrounds. Most choose to work for landscaping companies instead. But someone with a natural aptitude for creativity can easily be taught to use a scale ruler and graph paper to sketch an approximate area, she notes.

Learning from others should be a priority. "I would draw my inspiration from what I've seen people do and just modify that to a different installation," says Doug Gillespie, general manager of California Spas and Fitness in Mississauga, Ontario.

"I've been in the industry for 13 to 14 years," Gillespie adds. "I've seen everything you can imagine in hot tub installations and design."