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Northern Steam
(763) 401-2182 Design Your Sauna

How it works

How We Design and Build Your Sauna

Building a custom sauna with Northern Steam takes five steps, and you are talking to the people doing the work at every one of them. We take on only a few builds at a time so each gets our full attention.

Design Your Sauna (763) 401-2182
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  1. 01

    We come look at the site

    It starts with a conversation and a visit. We walk the property with you, look at where the sauna could sit, how it would get there and where the view is, and ask how you plan to use it: two of you on weeknights, or the whole family on Sunday.

  2. 02

    Design and an itemized proposal

    We draw a design from one of our models or from scratch, and send a proposal with each part of the cost listed. If you want to see the difference between a Tuli and a custom layout, or wood and electric, we price both.

  3. 03

    We build it

    Our own crew frames, insulates, sides and lines your sauna in cedar, then wires and tests it. Most are built in our shop, where weather does not slow the work. Where a finished building cannot reach the spot, we build on site.

  4. 04

    The site gets ready

    While we build, the site is prepared: the gravel pad or piers, and the trench and circuit if you chose an electric heater. We can handle all of it, or you can take on parts yourself. Either way the site and the sauna are ready at the same time.

  5. 05

    Delivery, placement and first fire

    We deliver the finished sauna, place it on its base and connect the heater. Then we go through it together, show you how to run it and look after it, and make sure you are happy before we leave.

What we need from you

Not much. A sense of how many people will use it, whether you lean wood or electric, and where on the property you picture it. Photos of the spot help. If you are not sure about any of it, that is what the site visit is for.

After it is yours

We stay reachable. Customers have called us two years later about a stove part, and we have gone back out to adjust a door or sort out a breaker. A sauna gets used for decades, and we would like to be the people you call the whole time.

Related: delivery and installation, pricing, and our models.

FAQ

Process questions

How long does it take to build a custom sauna?

It depends on the design and how many builds are ahead of yours, so we give you a schedule with your proposal instead of a promise on a web page. We take only a few builds at a time, and we will tell you plainly where yours would fall.

Do you help with site planning?

Yes, and we can do the work too. We help you choose the spot, then install the gravel pad or piers, run the electrical trench, handle the hookup, and deliver and place the sauna. For bigger projects, such as a deck, shower or cold plunge, we coordinate with the trades doing that work.

Can I change the design after we start?

Before the build starts, yes, and that is the right time to do it. Once framing begins, changes to size and layout get expensive. Finishes, lighting and some details can still move, so ask early and we will tell you what is possible.

Tuli sauna interior looking toward the glass door and the stove

Design Your Sauna

Step one is a conversation

Send us the spot you have in mind and how you want to use it. We will come look at it, talk through size and heat, and send an itemized proposal. No pressure, and no invented urgency.

Design Your Sauna Call (763) 401-2182 Or sit in one first at Nordic Escape