Pre-Assembled Sauna Delivery & Installation Guide

How your sauna arrives

Every Nuovo Luxury sauna is built complete in our workshop — glazing fitted, benches in, heater wired, walls insulated — and then shipped to you as a single, finished unit. That means no week-long build on your patio, no contractor coordination, and no chance of a part going missing in transit. What it does mean is that we need to lift something the size of a small garden room into your space in one go.

Here are the three stages, in order.

1. Transport

Your sauna travels fully assembled, strapped and protected on a flatbed lorry. For longer runs across Europe it's secured with edge protectors, ratchet straps, and timber bearers — the unit is treated like furniture, not freight.

2. Lift

On arrival, the lorry's onboard HIAB crane (or a separate crane we've arranged) extends its outriggers onto spreader pads, hooks up to the sauna with lifting straps, and swings it into position — over fences, hedges, or directly onto a prepared base.

The site survey — what we need from you

This is the single most important step, and the one buyers most often underestimate. The more accurate the information you send us upfront, the smoother delivery day will be — and the less chance of a wasted-journey charge if the lift can't go ahead because something on site didn't match what we expected.

You don't need to be technical. You just need to be honest about what we'll be dealing with. Here's the full list of what we need:

Lifting equipment explained

There are four pieces of equipment we use to get a sauna from a lorry into a garden. The right one for your install depends on access, distance, weight, and what's in the way. Here's what each does, when it's the right choice, and roughly what it costs.

Reach & distance — the physics bit, made simple

The single most misunderstood thing about cranes is this: the further out you reach, the less you can lift. A crane that lifts two tonnes when its boom is short and vertical might only lift 400kg when fully extended at a low angle.

What this means in practice:

• A HIAB that easily lifts a sauna onto your front driveway might not have the capacity to swing it over a single-storey extension into the garden behind
• A mobile crane that can clear your two-storey house from the front road needs to be carefully positioned so the back garden is within its load chart
• The deeper your back garden, the larger the crane you need — not because of weight, but because of reach

Rough rule of thumb: if your sauna sits behind a single-storey extension or a fence, a HIAB usually works. If it's behind a two-storey house, you're almost certainly in mobile crane territory. If you can drive a vehicle right up to the spot, a telehandler may be cheapest. If you can't fit anything wider than a gate, it's a spider crane.

Don't try to work this out yourself — send us your site info and we'll tell you which equipment your site actually needs.

Access requirements checklist

Here are the access dimensions and conditions we look at when planning a delivery. Use this as a self-check — if you're well clear on most of these, your site is probably straightforward. If you're tight on several, we'll talk it through.

Ground type for outriggers — why this matters

When a HIAB or mobile crane lifts, the entire weight of the load (plus the crane and lorry) is transmitted through four steel feet called outriggers. The ground under those outriggers needs to support that load without sinking. A surprising number of lifts get delayed at the last minute because the surface beneath isn't suitable. Here's what works and what doesn't.

We always use spreader pads under our outriggers to distribute load — but on softer surfaces or sensitive driveways, we may need larger pads or ply sheets, which is worth discussing in advance. If you've recently had a driveway laid, mention it. Most damage is avoidable with the right prep.

Cost expectations

It's impossible to give a single figure because UK delivery and lifting costs vary enormously based on your location, equipment needed, access difficulty, and whether road closures or permits are required. But here are realistic bands to set expectations.

• HIAB delivery (standard residential): Often included in the sauna price or quoted as a low add-on for straightforward sites
• Telehandler add-on: Typically a few hundred pounds for day hire plus operator
• Mobile crane lift: Varies dramatically with reach and duration — small lifts can be modest, lifts requiring road closure or long-reach booms can run into four figures
• Spider crane lift: Specialist hire, priced per job
• Road closure / parking suspension: Council fees apply, plus arrangement time — we handle this for you and pass the cost through

What pushes costs up: tight time windows, weekend lifts, second visits if site info turned out to be inaccurate, long-reach booms, and metropolitan locations with parking restrictions. What keeps costs down: accurate site info upfront, flexible delivery day, weekday lifts, and good ground conditions.

Saunas we deliver this way

Every pre-assembled outdoor sauna in our range arrives via the process described on this page. Here are a few of the most popular models — click through to see full specifications, options, and pricing.

2m Box Sauna — 4-Person

From£7,499

Atlas 2m Barrel Sauna

From£4,999

Halo Cocoon Egg Sauna

From£9,400

Fort Soleil 5-Person Finnish Sauna

From£14,499

Halo Allure 4-Person Sauna

From£12,999

Halo Evolve 2-in-1 Sauna & Hot Tub

From£16,499

Insignia 2-Person Infrared Outdoor

From£4,695

View all outdoor saunas →

Full range

How to send us your site info

We've made this as low-friction as possible. Pick whichever option suits you:

1. WhatsApp a video walkthrough to the number on our contact page — fastest and most useful
2. Email photos and your address to support@nuovoluxury.co.uk
3. Book a video call site survey — we walk through your garden together over a video call, takes ten minutes
4. Request an on-site survey — for larger orders or complex sites, we can come to you (chargeable, often credited against the order)

Commercial & multi-unit delivery

For hotels, spas, glamping sites, gyms, and wellness facilities, the logistics are different. We can arrange:

• Multiple unit deliveries scheduled to suit your build programme
• Out-of-hours lifts — early mornings, evenings, or weekends to work around guests or trading hours
• Coordinated installations with your contractor or site manager
• Full method statements and RAMS for sites that require them
• Insurance documentation covering the lift and our crew on your premises
• Phased delivery if you're installing multiple units across a development

If you're a developer, hospitality buyer, or specifying for a commercial project, get in touch directly — we'll allocate a project manager rather than running it through standard sales.

When it won't work — be honest with yourself

Counterintuitively, the most useful thing we can do is tell you when a pre-assembled sauna isn't the right fit for your site. A few situations where we'll need to have a careful conversation before proceeding:

• Shared access via a neighbour's property — we'd need their explicit permission in writing and an agreed plan for any potential damage
• Overhead power lines directly above the lift zone — these create exclusion zones that can rule out a lift entirely
• Private unadopted roads with weight restrictions — heavy lorries and cranes may not be permitted; check first
• Listed buildings or conservation areas — planning and access constraints can add complexity
• Flats, upper-floor apartments, or rooftop terraces — possible in principle but usually requires bespoke planning and significant crane work
• Sites with no vehicular access at all — fully pedestrianised areas, island properties, or extreme rural locations may need an alternative approach

None of these are automatic dealbreakers. We've delivered into all of these scenarios. But they need planning, not assumptions, so flag them early.

Frequently asked questions