Hot water that is part of the pool, not parked next to it.
Spillover Spas Across Georgia
A spillover spa is a raised spa built into the pool structure. It shares the pool’s water and filtration, and it spills back over its wall into the pool. From the house it reads as one piece of water on two levels rather than a pool with a separate object beside it. Aqualis Pools also takes on projects across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
The Perfect Blend of Beauty and Comfort
What a Pool and Hot Tub Combination Is, and What It Is Not
There are two ways to have hot water beside a pool, and they are alternatives rather than a set.
A spillover spa is built into the pool. One shell, one body of water, one set of equipment, with the spa raised so it overflows into the pool below. It is finished in the same materials as the pool, it is covered by the same barrier where the pool is enclosed, and it is maintained as part of the same system. It is normally cheaper to build this way than to build the two separately, because most of the cost is shared.
A standalone spa runs on its own water and its own equipment. It can be brought to temperature without touching the pool, it can be used when the pool is closed, and it can go somewhere the pool is not. That is a different build and it has its own page: in-ground hot tubs.
What this page previously suggested, and what is worth correcting: a spillover spa is not something you add a hot tub to. It is the hot tub. Building both is possible and occasionally deliberate, but it is two sets of equipment doing one job, and anyone quoting you for both should be able to say why.
The honest guide: if the spa needs to work in January while the pool is closed, you want the standalone build. If you want the spa to look and behave like part of the pool, and you are building or reworking the pool anyway, you want this one.
What the Spa Shares With the Pool
Water and filtration. The spa is filled and filtered by the pool’s system, so there is one water chemistry to manage rather than two. That is a genuine advantage, and it is the true half of what the live page says about maintenance.
Heating, which is the decision that matters. A system can be plumbed so the spa is isolated and heated on its own in a reasonable time, or so it can only come up to temperature along with the pool. Which one you get is settled by the valve and pipework arrangement before the shell is poured, not adjusted afterwards. This is the single question most worth asking a builder, and it is the reason the year-round claim on the current page needs explaining rather than repeating.
The pool’s season. Where the spa runs on the pool’s system with no way to isolate it, the spa’s season is the pool’s season. That is not a fault, it is a trade-off, and it is the main thing a standalone spa buys you.
The barrier. Because the spa sits inside the pool structure, the barrier is shared: the same pool fencing and safety that encloses the pool encloses the spa as well. That removes one problem a standalone spa in an open garden has. It does not remove the others: hot water has sensible limits on temperature and time, and there are people who should take advice before using one.
Design Decisions Made Before the Shell Is Poured
How high it sits. The height of the spa above the pool decides how the water falls and how much noise it makes doing it. A short drop is a trickle; a taller one is closer to a small waterfall.
The sound, which is not a small point. A spillover runs whenever the pump runs, so the sound is a permanent feature of the garden rather than something switched on for guests. Some people want exactly that. If a bedroom window faces the spa, it is worth deciding on purpose rather than discovering later.
Where it sits. Close to the house makes it easier to use in cold weather. Set into a corner of the pool it reads as part of the shape; pushed out on its own it reads as an object. Both are valid and they look nothing alike.
Size and seating. A spa built for eight and used by two is a bigger volume to keep warm for capacity nobody uses. Size it for how it will actually be used.
The finish and the spillover edge. The spillover wall is the most-looked-at surface in the whole build, because it is at eye level and it always has water moving across it. It is decided alongside pool tile and coping rather than after them.
Light. A spa is used after dark more often than a pool is, so pool lighting in the spa and on the spillover face is worth specifying at the same time as the pool’s, while the conduit is still open.
Access around it. A raised spa changes the deck around it: steps, a coping edge wide enough to sit on, somewhere to stand while getting in. That is a pool decking decision made with the spa, not after it.
What a Spillover Spa Costs
Built with a new pool, a spillover spa is an addition to a project rather than a project of its own: the excavation, the shell, the equipment pad and the crew are already there and being paid for. Added to a finished pool later, it is closer to a small build in its own right, because the shell has to be cut into, plumbing has to be run to the existing pad, and the surrounding finish has to be made good.
What moves the number: the size of the spa, how high it sits, how elaborate the spillover edge is, the finish on it, and whether the system is specified with isolation valves and the heating capacity to run the spa on its own.
Where a spa forms part of a larger project, pool financing options are set out on our financing page.
Adding a Spillover Spa to a Pool You Already Have
It can be done, and the honest version is that it is a construction job rather than an addition. The pool shell has to be opened, the spa built and tied into it structurally, plumbing run back to the equipment pad, and the finish made good where old meets new.
Which is why it is normally worth doing as part of work that is already happening. If the pool is due for pool resurfacing, the finish is coming off anyway and the join will not show. If a wider pool remodeling project is planned, the spa is one line on it rather than a separate mobilisation. Adding a spa to a pool that was finished last season is the expensive way to arrive at the same result.
What Our Clients Say
Aqualis Pools is rated 5.0 on Google, from a small number of reviews, and every one can be read on the profile.
Spillover Spas Across Georgia
We build pool and spa combinations for homeowners in Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville, Athens, Auburn and nearby Georgia communities. The full list is on our service areas page, and finished work is in the gallery.
Frequently Asked Questions
A spa built into the pool structure and raised above it, so that water pumped into the spa overflows back into the pool. It shares the pool’s water, its filtration and usually its heating, and it is finished in the same materials, so it reads as part of the pool rather than as a separate object.
A standalone hot tub has its own water and its own equipment, so it can be heated and used on its own, including when the pool is closed. A spillover spa shares the pool’s water and equipment, which makes it cheaper to build alongside a pool and simpler to maintain, but ties it to the pool’s system. They are alternatives. Choosing between them is the decision; you would not normally build both.
Yes, and it is a genuine construction job rather than an accessory: the shell is opened, the spa is built and tied in, plumbing is run to the equipment pad, and the finish is made good. It is meaningfully cheaper when done as part of a resurfacing or remodeling project that is happening anyway.
That depends entirely on how the system is plumbed. It can be arranged so the spa is isolated and brought up to temperature on its own, or so it only heats with the pool. It is decided when the pool is built and it is difficult to change later, so it is the question to ask before signing.
Less than a separate spa, because there is one body of water and one filtration system rather than two. The other side of that is that the spa’s water is the pool’s water: it cannot be treated separately, and anything that affects one affects both.
A well-built spa that matches the pool and the deck adds to how a property presents, and that is a fair thing to say. Whether it adds resale value is debated among appraisers, and some buyers see a spa as one more thing to maintain. Build one because you will use it, not as an investment.
Start Planning Your Spillover Spa
Two answers settle most of this quickly. Do you want to use the spa when the pool is closed? If yes, we should be talking about a standalone build instead. And is this going into a new pool or an existing one? That is the difference between a line on a project and a project of its own.
Call (770) 373-8405 or send us a message.