Terms and conditions for a swimming pool and hot tub installer

A pool and hot tub business needs terms that deal with the dig, the delivery and the water: ground that turns out wetter than anyone expected, a tub that has to be craned over a house, a base built by somebody else, and a customer who blames you for a water level that keeps dropping. I draft those terms for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

In-ground and above-ground pool installers, liner and shell specialists, hot tub and swim spa retailers, and pool plant and servicing businesses in England and Wales. Most of you sell to homeowners and also to hotels, gyms, holiday parks and letting agents. The law treats those two groups very differently, so one set of terms has to be written with both in mind.

What matters in a pool and hot tub installer's terms

Quotes, ground conditions and excavation

The price on a pool quote assumes the hole comes out as expected. Rock, running sand, a high water table, made ground and buried services do not show on a site visit, and nor does the cost of shoring or extra concrete. Your terms should state what the quote assumes about the ground, price the alternatives as variations agreed in writing before the work continues, and deal with spoil: if you cart excavated material away you must be registered as a waste carrier with the Environment Agency. Leave that vague and the argument arrives with the final invoice.

Deposits, stage payments and commercial jobs

Deposits and stage payments are normal when a shell, liner or tub is ordered months before installation. The terms should tie each stage to an event, say what the deposit secures, and state that items ordered specially cannot be cancelled once the order is placed with the manufacturer. For business customers such as hotels, gyms and holiday parks, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you interest and fixed compensation on overdue invoices.

An in-ground pool for a business customer is construction work forming part of the land, so the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 brings in adjudication and payment notices. It does not apply to a residential occupier.

Homeowners, cancellation rights and the headline price

Most domestic jobs are agreed at the customer's home, at a showroom appointment or by email, which engages the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and a fourteen-day cancellation right. Goods made to the consumer's specification are an exception, which matters for a bespoke shell or a cut liner but not for a stock hot tub off the floor. If you want to start inside that period you need the customer's express request, recorded. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 the headline price you advertise to a consumer must include delivery, commissioning and every other mandatory charge.

Delivery, access and the base

Hot tub deliveries go wrong in predictable ways: a crane lift over a house, side access measured optimistically, a fence panel that has to come out, a driveway that will not take the weight, a base poured by the customer's own builder. The terms should put access, permissions and base preparation on the customer, require them to confirm dimensions and levels against your specification, allow you to refuse to site the tub until the base is right, and charge for an aborted delivery. Where you supply a consumer, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 keeps goods at your risk until they have them.

Commissioning, water and what you guarantee

Commissioning is where the complaints start: water balance, the cost of filling and heating, evaporation reported as a leak, staining from metals in a private supply, creases in a liner, covers left off over winter. Your terms should define handover, set out what the customer must do afterwards on chemicals and maintenance, and say how a suspected leak is tested and by whom. Manufacturer warranties on shells, pumps and tubs should be passed through, with registration and servicing conditions made the customer's responsibility, and your own workmanship guarantee stated separately with its limits.

Electrical supply, subcontractors and liability

A tub or pool plant room needs a dedicated supply, and certain electrical and building work must be certified or notified under the Building Regulations, so the terms should record who is providing what and what happens when the customer's own electrician is not ready on delivery day. Allow yourself to use subcontractors, state your insurance, and cap liability to business customers with consequential losses such as lost bookings excluded. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 tests those limits for reasonableness, and nothing can exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

The customer laid the base themselves and it has sunk. Where do I stand?

That turns on what your terms said before delivery. A clause making the customer responsible for a level, load-bearing base built to your published specification, with a right for you to decline to site the tub until it is right, puts the risk where it belongs. Without one you are defending a claim about something you neither built nor inspected.

Can I keep a deposit if a homeowner cancels a bespoke pool order?

Deposits on goods made to a consumer's specification stand on firmer ground than deposits generally, but the term has to be transparent, proportionate to the costs you have actually committed, and drawn to the customer's attention before they order. A deposit you keep in full regardless of what you have spent looks like a penalty charge and may not bind the consumer.

I also service pools and supply chemicals monthly. Is that covered?

The fee covers one set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing. Installation terms and a recurring servicing agreement do different work: one is a single supply and install, the other runs on visit frequency, chemical supply, water testing and notice to cancel. I can draft the servicing terms as a further set where you need both.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a landscaping business
• Terms and conditions for an electrician

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.