The number a homeowner wants is a published “$499 delivery and setup” special. That number is not a takeoff. A compact four-person tub dropped on an existing patio with a live 50-amp GFCI ten feet away is not the same job as a large swim spa that needs a crane over the fence, a new pad, a 60-amp disconnect, and sixty feet of trench. The trip is the same. The hours are not.
Open the free bid calculatorPool-plaster calculators price the water surface, the chip-out, and the finish. A hot-tub hang is a different job: the spa, the access path, the circuit, the pad, and the extras that are not in the coupon. Quoting all of that from a published setup special is how the first stuck disconnect eats the field margin.
Each circuit foot is time that never appears on the coupon. A new pad, haul-away, a cover lift, and steps are billed as their own hours. A crane over the fence is an adder that gets forgotten on a brochure special. On the sample rates a large swim spa with a crane, a 60-amp disconnect, a 60-foot run, a new pad, haul-away, a cover lift, and steps prices about $26,392.67 as a turnkey package (22.3 crew-hours). The same shop’s compact driveway hang prices about $9,369.62 (4.5 hours, walk-away $6,371.34).
If you are pricing delivery and setup only — spa unit cost set to zero — the brochure hang is about $1,040.20 (walk-away $707.34) and the crane house is about $8,900.91 (walk-away $6,052.62). Matching the $499 special already loses about $208 on the brochure hang, and it loses about $5,554 on the crane house.
A mid six-person spa carried through a side gate with a new 50-amp 40-foot run, haul-away, and steps is not the compact driveway drop plus 15%. On the sample rates that through-gate job prices about $14,895.81 as a turnkey package (13.2 crew-hours). Setup-only it is about $3,651.10. Treating either as a blended add-on is how the special that looked fine turns into a loss after the first stuck disconnect.
A $48/h installer loaded at 34% payroll burden is $64.32. Margin is a share of the price you send, not a markup on cost. The walk-away price is total cost — below that the job makes nothing before you take a dollar home. Replace every rate with your invoices before you send either number. Set spa unit cost to zero if the tub is already sold and you are quoting delivery and setup only.
This is not an electrical design, a building-code determination, a permit, an engineering stamp, or a recommended market price. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. The tub size, the access path, circuit footage, pad, and haul-away are yours to confirm. It does not price a pool plaster, a walk-in shower, or a water-heater swap.
Charge from the trip, the set, the access path, the circuit or disconnect, the pad, haul-away, loaded labor, overhead, and a margin that is a share of price. A default compact spa on an existing patio with a live 50-amp stub, at the sample rates in this calculator, prices around $9,370 as a turnkey package (4.5 crew-hours). Delivery and setup only — spa unit cost set to zero — prices around $1,040.
Homeowners count a hot tub. Crane access, circuit footage, a new pad, haul-away, and a 60-amp disconnect do not scale with that number. Matching a cheaper special written for a driveway drop is how a backyard crane job becomes a two-day loss. On the sample rates the $499 special already loses about $208 against the $707 walk-away on setup-only for the brochure hang, and it loses about $5,554 on the crane house whose setup-only walk-away is already $6,053.
A large swim spa with a crane over the fence, a 60-amp disconnect, a 60-foot run, a new pad, haul-away, and a cover lift is not a compact driveway drop. On the sample rates that job prices around $26,393 as a turnkey package (22.3 crew-hours), while a compact brochure hang prices around $9,370 (4.5 hours). Setup-only, the crane house is about $8,901 versus $1,040.