Should I Pay For Treadmill Assembly? (Yes, Here's Why)

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A treadmill for the home is the ultimate convenience. If you want to get some exercise then the machine is just there. There are all types of treadmills available and nearly all of them require some assembly. If you’ve seen some of the diagrams you need to follow to assemble one, you can see that it’s quite complicated. So is assembly worth paying for?

The advantages of paying for treadmill assembly

To assemble some treadmills require some diy experience in my opinion as they need some screwdrivers and wrench’s to put together. You would ideally need two people and I would spend the whole day on it unless you pay for someone else to do it. That someone would be a professional who’s done it many times before.

You’ll have your treadmill taken to and assembled in the exact room you want it. It will probably only take a few hours and the experience of the professional means they will know which screws to tighten and when. They may be able to explain some of the maintenance procedures you’ll need to go through as well. Ask him about tightening and loosening the belt using the bolts at the back because you’ll need to know.

A lot of the maintenance requires that you undo screws to lubricate the belt and your assembler may be able to explain this as they assemble the machine. He will test the treadmill and make sure everything works as it should. If anything goes wrong immediately then it’s not your fault and you or the technician can call the manufacturer and let them know.

If there are any parts missing the professional will know straight away. If you were doing it yourself it may take you a while to realize, if you ever do. They will have all the equipment they need to carry out the assembly, whereas you may not. I have my own treadmill professionally assembled every time. So there are the advantages but there are some disadvantages too.

The disadvantages of paying for treadmill assembly

The cost must be prohibitive for some. It could be around $300, if you’ve bought the treadmill for $1,500, for example, then you’re looking at a big proportion of your total cost for buying the machine in the first place. The cost is mainly taken up by the labor. Having someone spending half a day to do it is a big commitment for the company and needs to be paid for.

If you didn’t need to pay for the assembly you may be able to get a better treadmill and we always recommend getting the best you can afford. As we’ve said before the assembly diagrams can run into many pages and are complicated. It’s also never clear as to which part of the treadmill to assemble first and this is important so you’re not interfering with other parts.

If you’re assembling it yourself you will get to intimately know your treadmill so if it goes wrong or starts squeaking you’ll have a better idea as to what to do. You will know how to take off the motor cover, reset the machine and the screws you need to undo to take care of the deck and belt. This will be important if you use your treadmill a lot and it lasts a while.

Using a treadmill assembly service

When you buy the treadmill you should be offered a way to get it installed. The retailer or manufacturer should have a price list of different possible installations and how much they cost. Sometimes you get a curb side delivery, in home, or installed in the room of your choice. As you rise in the level of service you want, so does the price. You could always choose a separate treadmill assembly service.

1. Amazon treadmill assembly

Amazon have over 15,000 ratings for their treadmill assembly service and 93% of them are 5 stars. They give you a choice of people in your area, they arrange a time that’s convenient for you and it get’s done. They even clean up the area afterwards. They do say that the treadmill has to be in the room you want it installed in. So that may involve some heavy lifting on your part.

Click here for Amazon treadmill assembly

2. Walmart treadmill assembly service

This appears to be carried out by a company called “Angi” on behalf of Walmart. They advertise a price of $89 which is very reasonable. They offer a happiness guarantee and have $10,000 of damage protection should anything go wrong. They have over 2,000 reviews with an average of 4.8 stars. Walmart are one of the biggest names so you should be in good hands.

Click here for Walmart treadmill assembly service

3. Best Buy treadmill installation

The difference between Best Buy and the other two are that they will take the treadmill into the room of your choice, that includes upstairs. This is in addition to the assembly. They charge $199 for everything, this is a price I would normally expect for treadmill assembly. As with Walmart, it looks like they use a different company to do it called “Geek Squad”.

Click here for Best Buy treadmill installtion

Summary

I’ve said on many pages across this site that I believe it’s worth paying for treadmill assembly. I think the pros outweigh the cons. Despite the cost, and as long as you’ve got the treadmill you want, then paying for assembly is the last part of buying a treadmill and having it installed. This is especially the case if you find Ikea flat pack furniture difficult to assemble!

I would certainly get some tips from the person who’s assembling it as to how to maintain the treadmill and the parts you need to keep an eye on. They could be a great source of information. Bear in mind some treadmills like cheap and manual ones will probably be quite easy to assemble so some research is needed on your part as to how hard it could be.

Thinking of buying a treadmill? Here’s my favorite, I always recommend it when asked.