Bruce Ruotsala believes in the health benefits of taking a sauna – and it’s not just because he is in the business of building and selling them.
“It all comes from from the fact that I love saunas. I’ve used saunas forever and I know it’s a big up and coming thing in this country,” Ruotsala said.
With so much experience using them and watching his father John work in the business for decades, Ruotsala uses what he’s learned to help match his clients needs with the perfect experience.
“A lot of what I’m doing is through having that knowledge,” he said. “I’m as much selling a service as I am selling a product.”
Ruotsala said he’s lived in a home with a sauna for as long as he can remember and estimates he takes about four to five saunas a week.
“I tend to use it before bed because it’s relaxing and enjoyable,” he said. “It would be every day if I had the time.”
He said he can build ones for indoor and outdoor use, but “the ones we’ve personally built have been more for outside,” Ruotsala said.
John sold sauna heaters and accessories for decades out of storefront in the NeWest Mall in New Ipswich. But when Ruotsala took over the business, Finn Country Sauna, in 2017, he wanted to take it to the next level.
“I started doing complete packages,” Ruotsala said
He works with manufacturers in Canada and Europe and then with his clients to give them exactly the sauna experience they are interested in.
“There can be a lot of construction. It all depends on the client,” Ruotsala said.
There are packages that he can order straight from the manufacturers, but he will also modify it to give his customers just what they’re looking for. He said every company has a little bit of a unique style and it’s always interesting to see how different ones compare to a European built sauna.
The saunas mostly use Nordic spruce and red cedar, while Ruotsala said cedar is the more traditional wood to use and “often that’s the way I lean,” he said.
He said it can take as little as a week to a few weeks to install one, depending on the modifications and the placement of the sauna. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Ruotsala has seen a huge uptick in business. He said the River Valley/Hanover region has been where a lot of business has come from since March, as people are escaping the cities and moving into second homes in that area. And with restrictions limiting what people can do, Ruotsala said people have been more interested in installing a sauna.
While Ruotsala is running a business in which he sells a specific product, he also shares advice and knowledge so his customers can have the best experience possible, even after the construction is completed.
“Different saunas work for different people,” he said.
Ruotsala said the construction side of things isn’t necessarily his forte, so he uses local carpenters to help with the installation to provide a complete service.
“I work with people as needed,” he said.
Ruotsala estimates his sales have at least doubled from 2019, but has seen the effects of COVID-19 in terms of the availability of getting products in a timely fashion.
For Ruotsala, he believes everyone should give a sauna a try because in addition to the health benefits, there’s a great social aspect to it.
“Your best visiting happens in the sauna,” he said.
For more, visit https://finncountrysauna.com/ or email Ruotsala at sales@finncountrysauna.com.