If you’re thinking about installing artificial grass in your yard, you’ve probably heard about its benefits. Depending on your water usage, an artificial lawn can pay for itself in a few years to a few months. It eliminates mowing, weeding, and the need for expensive weed-killing and grass-growing chemicals. Even so, you may be asking,
“That sounds great, but what about the up-front cost?”
In this post, we’ll show you how to calculate your up-front cost of installing artificial grass and find an artificial grass solution that works for you.
How To Calculate Your Up-Front Artificial Grass Cost
In short: Multiply the total square-footage of your installation area by the price per square-foot of the grass you’ve selected, or by the quoted installation price per square foot.
Square-footage
The first step in calculating the up-front cost of installing artificial grass in your yard is to determine the area of your installation site in square feet. Artificial grass is almost always priced by the square foot, so you’ll want to have this number handy when planning your project.
For details on turf pricing standards and trends, see our post >> How Artificial Turf Is Priced
Application
This is the fun part! Next, determine your application, or how you intend to use the grass. Your application will determine how durable or specialized your turf needs to be. Matching the right grass with your application is crucial to ensuring a cost-effective and maintenance-free artificial lawn, so we recommend taking your time and discussing your options with our turf experts.
Our grasses range from $0.99 to $3.89 per square-foot, depending on a number of factors including the durability and features of the grass. Our grasses vary broadly in the amount and type of material used to manufacture them, and are priced by material quantity. You’ll never find us marking up grass just because it’s high-tech or top-tier.
Infill
Though often overlooked, infill is a critical component in any artificial grass installation and has a lot to do with application. It’s a sand-like material that primarily supports the grass blades and weighs down the grass to discourage wrinkle formation. Our premium infill, Herofill, is recommend for any installation where you foresee foot traffic. This is because other infills can become compacted with foot traffic, forming a dust that’s potentially unhealthy to inhale.
Herofill comes in 50-pound bags, at about $22 per bag. The exact amount of infill you’ll need is determined by the amount and type of traffic you foresee, but the typical range is between 1 and 2 pounds per square-foot. That works out to about $0.44 per square-foot.
Installation
When it comes to artificial grass installation, you have options. You can install with our install teams or just do it yourself!
First, our install teams have extensive experience with all types of installations and are experts in their craft. The price of our installation services varies from city to city and can be anywhere from $7-$11 per square foot of grass installed. This includes both the price of grass, infill, and the installation itself. For a more precise figure, we encourage you request a quote. With Purchase Green, it’s free, convenient, and there’s no obligation.
– Or –
Just do it yourself! This installation process costs nothing, aside from the time and effort you put into it, of course. If you’ve got some basic tools, extra time and energy, artificial grass is actually pretty easy to install yourself. We have tons of literature and videos and a staff of experts on the topic standing by to help you make it happen, so take a look and see if you’re up to it!
Puting it Together
Now that you know how many square feet of grass, what type of grass, and whether you want to install professionally or DIY, the process of estimating your up-front cost is simple.
If you’re going with professional installation, this formula can give you an upper and lower range of expense until you’re able to get a more precise estimate:
Lower estimate: feet squared of grass X $7/square-foot of grass
Upper estimate: feet squared of grass X $11/square-foot of grass
If you’re up for the challenge of doing it yourself, the process is even easier.
(feet squared of grass X $#.##/square foot of selected grass.) + (feet squared of grass X $0.44/square-foot of grass)
As an example, a 1,500 square-foot lawn installed professionally would cost $10,500 (1,500 X $7) at the least and $16,500 (1,500 X $11) at the most.
As a DIY project, that lawn would cost $1,485 (1,500 X $0.99) with our most economic grass and $5,835 (1,500 X $3.89) with our most premium grass.
NOTE: You’ll also want to choose from the many accessories available to ensure your grass performs as intended, but we haven’t included these costs because they vary broadly from project to project and usually aren’t a significant expense. These accessories include seam tape, seam glue, nails, bend-a-board and a turf broom.
In Conclusion…
Yes, there are a lot of variables to consider when calculating your up-front artificial grass cost. We hope that this post has given you the tools you need to make informed decisions and find the best value. If it seems a little overwhelming, fear not! Our trusted turf experts are standing by, ready to provide help and guidance. Give us a call or visit one of our stores to talk to them! We look forward to helping you create an amazing landscape!
