Most manufacturers offer their spas without the skirting.You can install either a skirted or unskirted tub in-ground. You can dig a hole and build a box (concrete or cinder block) that the tub will sit in with one side 3' wider for access to the equipment(if your tub is 6'X6' the inside dimension of the box should be 6' X 9'). Build the box so the top of the walls are just below finished grade, depending on your finishing materials. The elevation of the floor should allow the tub to sit on the floor with the lip slightly above the finished height of the walls (not hanging from the walls). Set the tub in place and landscape up to it. Build a removable wooden "deck" over the equipment area. Don't forget to bring power/water to the equipment area. This will only work provided drainage from the bottom of the box is not an issue.I have left the bottom of these boxes gravel.

Hi Racket - I think it's unfortunate because having a SWG and swimming in a salt pool are wonderful! I think it's a great benefit to have chlorine being generated steadily and being able to maintain a steady chlorine level. Moreoever, at least for me, I have never had any combined chlorine which means I have never needed to shock. On the other hand, I do hate dealing with acid and having to dump some into my water over 5-6 days or so. I think it's unfortunate that some pool builders are starting to move away from SWG because it keeps potential pool owners from being able to experience this way of chlorinating a pool. With all due respect, I think it's much too simplistic to say that because one notices a certain type of corrosion or damage only on salt pools that the salt itself is to blame. How can one say that it is NOT because the pool owner was running their pump too long, or setting their chlorinator at too high a level which caused their chlorine level to rise much too high becoming a much more active corrosive agent? (I personally know of people that run their pumps 24 hours a day, for example.) Here's a personal story. I have my SWG set at 35% which allows me to keep my chlorine level at 5-6ppm. I was away on a trip for about a week. When I came back, I was shocked to find out when I checked my water that my chlorine level was up to 11ppm! Well, up until a couple weeks ago, we had about 3 straight weeks of rainy weather here in the Dallas-area. I concluded that it was the lack of sun exposure that caused my chlorine to creep up that much (not as much chlorine burn off from the sun.) I happen to check my water very regularly. Can you imagine the typical pool owner that doesn't, or just takes their water to Leslie's once a month? Or how about pool owners that allow their stabilizer levels to get so low that they aren't able to hold a good chlorine residual and they think the solution is to increase their chlorinator setting to compensate, not realizing that the chlorine they're generating has now become 30x more corrosive because of the low CYA level? I have read stories of salt pools being blamed for corrosion on structures made out of 316L Marine-grade stainless steel. If these stories are true, then salt pools with salt content at 3000ppm is somehow more corrosive than ocean water with salt content 35000ppm? Perhaps. But chlorine at high levels is easily corrosive enough to eat through 316L stainless steel. I'm not ready to blame salt quite yet. Mind you, I'm watching my pool very closely to see if I start to see any ill-effects, but so far, nothing yet. Having said all of this, I do think that SWG manufacturers need to be more upfront with the true care and maintenance aspects of owning a salt pool. It isn't as "care and maintenance free" as they would like the consumers to think!

I'll assume there are floor drains in the spa. Under the covers, in the drain itself, are threaded plugs to relieve any groundwater. Drain the spa and remove those plugs. Add some gravel/crushed stone so as to allow any water build up in the proposed planter, to drain. Some filter fabric over the gravel will keep silt and fines from getting through.

I'm building in SW FL and the pool/spa package is $100k. Pool builders are in demand and booked out for 2 years. I don't think it sounds unreasonable for what is going on these days, specially if they really have to do that much work to the existing pool to tie it all in. I would get a few more quotes to know if that is the going rate at this point in time. If you really want a spa, what about doing a freestanding one? Use it for a few years and then see how the building industry is doing if you still want to go with adding the in ground version. You might realize you hardly use the spa and will have saved yourself a bunch of money!