People laughed

Theraluxe's first sale started as a Facebook Marketplace post. Co-founder Kari Enns has written about how it went over.

“A $30,000 sauna,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “People laughed. It took half a year to sell.”

She and her business partner, Josh Harder, had put in “$20,000 of our own money” and no outside cash. That first slow sale didn't stop them.

A search that came up empty

The idea came in February 2022. Kari wrote that she and Josh knew they wanted to start a sauna business, but when she googled saunas, she mostly saw barrel saunas. Then she drove past the big homes in North Vancouver and wondered about the people inside.

So she searched for luxury saunas. “Nothing,” she wrote. “That's when Theraluxe was born.”

They didn't have a shop yet. “Our first sauna was built in the pouring rain of a neighbor's backyard, because we couldn't afford a shop,” Kari wrote.

The builder and the storyteller

The two split the work early. “My business partner designed and built the product,” Kari wrote. “I took the photos, built the brand, designed the website, and tried to convince people that a luxury outdoor sauna was worth buying.”

The company's own story page fills in Josh's side. He brought years of woodworking and custom construction, and he “personally designed and hand-built the first saunas himself.” Kari came in with a background in entrepreneurship and brand building.

Customers tend to mention Josh by name. One Google reviewer, who wanted a modern sauna for a rental property, wrote, “Josh pays very fine attention to each detail and that is key in building such a product.”

Built here, shipped a long way

“Every Theraluxe product is thoughtfully designed and built in Langley, British Columbia by our team of skilled craftspeople,” the website says. The lineup now covers outdoor saunas and indoor builds for homes and businesses. Cold plunge tubs round it out. The outdoor models use what the company calls “eight-layer construction.”

Growth came without loans or investors. Kari wrote that the team has grown to 10 people and sells “across Canada and into the U.S.” Her word for it: “Fully bootstrapped.”

Buyers notice the difference from kit models. “The quality is so far past any kit saunas,” one reviewer wrote.

How to see one in person

Theraluxe doesn't run a showroom. The company says “we operate out of our production facility in Langley, BC,” and invites anyone curious to get in touch: “just reach out and we'll be happy to arrange something.”

Owners seem to use theirs a lot. “We use our sauna about 5 times a week,” one reviewer wrote, adding that they “still love the design and look of it in our garden.” Picturing one in your own yard? The website has a tool to design your sauna in 3D. After that, give the shop a call.

Photos: Theraluxe Home Wellness.