Can a Self-Confessed Rubbish DIYer Build a Hot Tub? Meet Matt

This might just be the biggest challenge my DIY hot tub plans have ever faced. And no, I’m not being dramatic. Let me explain.

If you’ve followed the blog or the YouTube channel for any length of time, you’ll know the videos I love making most are the project intros — the ones where we meet a real DIYer at the very start of their build and follow them all the way through to that first warm soak. Well, this one’s a bit different, because the DIYer in question is a mate of mine. And he won’t mind me saying he’s not exactly a natural with the tools.

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Meet Matt

Matt’s a good friend of mine. He lives just around the corner, our sons went to school together and played football together, and he was actually there back when I was digging out my own hot tub all those years ago. I can still picture us sat together on a Saturday morning, watching the lads at their soccer session, while I showed him the progress I’d made on the build that week.

So Matt’s seen the whole journey. He saw the digging, he saw the end result, and he’s watched the whole thing snowball into buildahottub.com and the parts sites along the way. He’s been there for all of it.

There’s just one small wrinkle. Matt is the first to admit he’s not much of a DIYer. I’ve helped him out with bits and bobs around the house over the years — and I used to joke that his baby daughter had a better tool kit than he did, and hers was the Fisher-Price one.

So that’s the challenge. Can someone who’s genuinely not confident with the tools build a proper DIY hot tub using nothing but the standard plans? That’s what we’re about to find out.

What He’s Trying to Build

Matt’s put together an AI render of what he’s aiming for, and honestly, it’s nothing wild. A nice tub, a deck, a pergola over the top — that sort of thing. A lot of what makes it look special is the aesthetics around it rather than the tub itself, which is about as standard as they come.

And that’s the whole point. He’s using the off-the-shelf plans straight off the store at buildahottub.com — the same ones that have now been used over 1,500 times by DIYers around the world. They’re tried, they’re tested, and they’re proven. They’ve just never been tested by skills quite like Matt’s. So if he can pull this off, it’s a brilliant bit of reassurance for anyone sat at home wondering whether they’re “handy enough” to take this on.

The Starting Point

Right now, Matt’s got a patch of garden earmarked for the tub, the deck and the pergola. That’s the canvas. And like every one of these projects, it all kicks off with the big dig.

Matt’s opted to do it by hand. He didn’t fancy churning up his garden with a digger, and access down the side of the house wasn’t great anyway, so he’s going at it the same back-breaking way I did mine. Fair play to him.

Where he’s making life a bit harder for himself is the spoil. When I dug mine, I had spots around the garden where I could quietly tuck the dirt out of the way, so I never had to physically cart it off. Matt hasn’t got that luxury, so he’s bagging it all up and running it to the recycling centre in his car. Bags and bags and bags of it, trip after trip. I did suggest just getting a skip — would’ve saved him a world of pain — but he wanted to do it his way, so who am I to argue.

A quick word of warning if you’re at this stage yourself: the sheer volume of dirt that comes out of one of these holes always catches people off guard. Have a plan for where it’s going before you start digging, not halfway through when your driveway’s disappeared under a mountain of soil.

One thing Matt’s doing dead right, mind. Rather than excavating the whole area, he’s digging out just the shape of the tub — the seats, the footwell, the lot. It means a lot less dirt to shift, and it’s exactly the approach I took with mine. Smart move, and it saves a ridiculous amount of digging.

What’s Coming Next

From here, Matt’s building it out of hollow 8″ CMU blocks. Standard stuff, easy to get hold of, rebar threaded through and filled with concrete. Super strong, super simple, and exactly what the plans call for. Nothing custom, nothing clever — just the standard designs off the store.

He’s already pretty much down to final depth on part of the footwell, with just a touch more to excavate. So the next update should see us pouring the base and starting to think about the good stuff — bottom drains, lights, and all the bits that turn a hole in the ground into an actual hot tub.

Matt’s going to be filming shorts and snapping plenty of pictures as he goes, so we’ll have a proper record of every stage. Make sure you’re subscribed to the YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of it — because if Matt can do this, trust me, so can you.

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Want the plans Matt’s using? They’re the standard DIY hot tub designs over at buildahottub.com — the same ones used 1,500+ times and counting.

Need parts or spares for your own tub or pool? I’ve got you covered: parts4tubs.co.uk for the UK and parts4tubs.comfor the USA. Can’t find what you’re after? Get in touch and I’ll do my best to help.

Can I Help You?

If I can help you in any way I would love to hear from you. You can get in touch using the form below.

Thanks - Andi

 

Hi, Andi here. I own Buildahottub.com and also write all of the articles and info pages on the site. Some years back now, I built my own hot tub but struggled to find the information I needed. So, once my tub was complete, I started this website to help others in their own pursuit of hot tub and plunge pools DIY building information.

Fast forward to 2025, I've helped over 1400+ DIY customers just like you all over the world build hot tubs and pools. Have a good look around the site, there are lots of resources here. Please do get in touch if I can help you. - Cheers, Andi