Artificial Grass Installation Cost NSW 2026 - Get Free Quotes

What Synthetic Turf Costs in NSW

Installed prices run $75 to $180 a square metre, which covers the turf, the base, the labour and the finishing. A small courtyard of thirty square metres lands at $2,500 to $5,000, while a full residential lawn of a hundred square metres or more reaches $7,500 to $15,000. The spread within that range is wide because two jobs of identical area can involve very different amounts of groundwork. Broader yard projects are priced at backyard landscaping costs.

The split between product and preparation is roughly even on most jobs. Turf itself is $25 to $120 a square metre depending on grade, and base preparation is $40 to $70, which means the material everyone shops for accounts for about half of what they pay. Quotes that look cheap almost always economise on the half you cannot see. Comparing two prices per square metre without knowing the base specification tells you very little. Getting two or three quotes on the same written brief is the only way to see which half of the price each installer is economising on.

Removing what is there adds a separate line that varies enormously. Stripping an existing lawn runs $10 to $25 a square metre, while breaking out concrete or lifting pavers costs $40 to $90 because of the machinery, the labour and the volume of material going to a tip. A courtyard over old concrete can cost more to prepare than to surface. Establish what is underneath before comparing anything. Quotes that vary by more than about twenty percent on the same area almost always differ on excavation depth.

Small areas cost more per square metre than large ones. Machinery hire, delivery, minimum labour charges and the offcut waste from a roll all spread across whatever area you are doing, so a fifteen square metre courtyard prices well above the rate a two hundred metre lawn attracts. That is normal pricing, not opportunism. Combining several small areas into one job improves the rate meaningfully. Combining a courtyard and a side passage into one visit spreads the fixed costs across a larger area and improves the rate on both.

The Base Underneath

The base is the part of the job that determines whether the surface still looks right in eight years. A proper installation excavates to a depth of around 100 millimetres, lays and compacts a crushed rock or road base layer, then screeds a fine bedding layer, meaning it is raked and levelled to an exact height, before any turf goes down. Each of those steps costs money and time. Skipping any of them shows within two seasons.

Compaction is where cheap jobs cut corners most often. Base material has to be compacted in layers with a plate compactor or roller, because a base tipped in and raked flat will settle unevenly under foot traffic and rain, producing the dips and waves that make older synthetic lawns look obviously fake. Compaction cannot be assessed after the turf is down. It is the single most important thing you cannot inspect later. Running this alongside a broader yard project lets one excavation and one disposal run cover both, and that wider scope is priced at landscaping costs.

Falls and levels matter as much as compaction. Water has to run somewhere, so the base is graded to shed water toward a drain, a garden bed or a fall away from the house, and a flat base with nowhere for water to go holds it under the turf. Getting the falls right is a survey exercise, not a judgement call. Establish how water will leave the area. Look for a plate compactor on site, since a hand tamper produces very different results.

Weed membrane sits between the base and the turf on most installations. It suppresses anything trying to grow up through the surface and helps separate the bedding layer from the base, though it is not a substitute for removing existing growth properly beforehand. Cheap membrane tears while the crew is working on top of it. Find out what membrane weight the quote allows for.

Depth of excavation is the number to ask for explicitly. A quote specifying 100 millimetres of excavation and a stated base material is describing real work, while one that says base preparation with no numbers may mean anything from a proper build to a layer of sand over existing dirt. That single line explains most price differences. Any installer confident in their method will give the figure without hesitation.

Product Grades Compared

Budget turf at $25 to $45 a square metre suits areas that see little use and little sun. The yarn is lighter, the pile density lower and the warranty shorter, which is acceptable behind a shed or in a rental where the surface only needs to look reasonable for a few years. Budget yarn flattens noticeably faster under regular foot traffic. In a main lawn it disappoints within three or four years. An installer who volunteers the excavation depth before being asked is usually the one worth shortlisting.

Mid range turf at $45 to $70 is where most residential installations sit. Better yarn, higher density and a more durable backing produce a surface that holds its appearance under normal family use and carries a longer warranty, and the step up from budget is more noticeable than the step up to premium. This is the sensible default for a family lawn. Most reputable installers recommend from this band.

Premium turf at $70 to $120 buys density, blade shape and colour realism. Several yarn colours together with a brown thatch layer at the base, mimicking the dead growth in real lawn, plus varied blade profiles and more stitches per row, produce something that reads as grass at close range and not merely from across the yard. Whether that is worth the premium depends on how visible the area is. A front lawn justifies it more readily than a side passage. A screeded bedding layer is what produces a flat surface, and skipping it leaves every stone in the base telegraphing through.

Pile height is the specification people misunderstand most. Longer is not better, because a long pile flattens under traffic and looks matted, whereas 30 to 37 millimetres suits most residential lawns and shorter piles around 20 to 25 millimetres perform better in high traffic areas. Sports and putting surfaces use much shorter pile again. Match the height to the use, not to how it looks in a showroom.

Get samples and leave them outside. Colour looks different under Australian sun than under showroom lighting, and leaving three samples in the actual location for a week tells you more than any brochure. Walk on them barefoot as well. How a product feels underfoot matters if children will use the area. Warranty length tracks yarn quality closely, so an eight year term and a fifteen year term describe genuinely different products.

Reading a Specification

Face weight is the most useful single number on a specification sheet. It measures the grams of yarn per square metre excluding backing, so a higher face weight means more material in the surface, better density and better recovery from traffic. Products around 1,200 to 1,600 grams suit residential use. Anything substantially below that is a light duty product whatever the marketing says.

Backing quality determines whether the turf stays flat and drains properly. A dual layer backing holds the tufts securely while letting water through, whereas cheaper single layer products can delaminate, meaning the layers separate, particularly where they get hot. How closely the backing is perforated determines the drainage rate. The drainage rate, quoted in millimetres per hour, is the figure to request.

UV stabilisation is what stops the colour fading in an Australian summer. Products sold for this market should carry UV treatment through the yarn rather than as a surface coating, and warranty terms are the practical proxy for how confident the manufacturer is. Standards work relevant to materials and testing is published by standards.org.au. Fading is the most common long term complaint on cheap product.

Infill, the sand or granule spread between the blades after laying, affects feel, drainage and heat. Silica sand is the common option and holds the blades upright while adding stability, rubber crumb appears mostly in sports applications, and some suppliers offer coated sands that claim cooling properties. Not every installation needs heavy infill. Find out what is proposed and why, since it affects both the price and the surface. Handling three samples side by side makes density differences obvious in a way a specification sheet never does.

The Installation Process

A typical residential installation takes one to three days depending on area and groundwork. Day one is removal and excavation, day two is base construction and compaction, and the turf is laid, joined, infilled and brushed on the final day, with larger or more complex sites extending that. Weather delays are common on the excavation stage. Wet ground cannot be compacted properly and a good installer will wait.

Joins are where poor workmanship shows first. Rolls come in fixed widths, so any area wider than the roll needs seaming, and a well made join with the pile running in the same direction and properly bonded seam tape is close to invisible while a poor one opens up and shows a line. Pile direction has to be consistent across every piece. Look at a previous job that has joins in it. Density is what separates products that recover from traffic from those that lie flat within a season.

Perimeter fixing keeps the edges down permanently. Turf is secured to timber, composite or aluminium edging, or pinned into the base with galvanised pins at close spacing, and edges that lift are the most common defect on a cheap installation. The detail differs by boundary type. A turf edge meeting a garden bed is handled differently from one meeting concrete.

Infill is spread and brushed in as the final step. The sand drops between the blades, weighs the surface down, holds the pile upright and protects the backing from UV, and the brushing is what stands the fibres up so the surface looks right. Skipping or skimping on infill is a visible shortcut. The surface looks flat and feels loose underfoot. Wet weather delays at this stage are worth accepting, since compacting saturated ground creates a base that settles later.

Access affects both price and method. A site a bobcat can reach handles excavation and base material efficiently, while a rear courtyard reached through a house means every barrow of spoil out and every barrow of base in, which adds hours to a job that looks small. Tell the installer about narrow gates and steps when you first make contact. Courtyard and balcony work is priced at balcony and courtyard garden costs.

Drainage and Wet Weather

Water leaves the surface through perforations in the backing and into the base beneath. That works well where the base is free draining and graded to shed water, and poorly where the base is compacted clay with nowhere for water to go, which makes drainage a base question and not a turf question. A good product on a bad base still puddles. Establish how the site drains at present.

Existing drainage problems get worse under synthetic, never better. An area that holds water after rain will hold it under turf, and the surface hides the problem while the smell and the softness underfoot make it obvious, so any existing issue needs fixing during the base work. That may mean a subsurface drain to a legal discharge point. Deal with it during the excavation, while everything is exposed.

Sydney's summer storms test drainage more than steady winter rain does. Intense short downpours put more water through a surface in twenty minutes than a week of drizzle, and a base that copes with ordinary rain can flood under a storm cell if the falls are wrong. Design the falls around the heavy event, not the average one. Recovery time after rain is a fair question to ask an installer. Sydney summer storms concentrate more water in twenty minutes than a week of winter drizzle does.

Around pools and wet areas the detailing matters more. Chlorinated splash-out, constant wetting and the transition to hard surfaces all need thinking through, and the edge detail where the turf meets the pool coping, the capping stone around the edge, is a common failure point on a poor installation. Confirm the product is rated for pool surrounds. Not all backings tolerate constant chlorine exposure.

Heat in a NSW Summer

Synthetic turf gets substantially hotter than natural grass in direct sun. Natural lawn cools itself by transpiring moisture while synthetic has no such mechanism, so a surface in full afternoon sun through a Sydney summer can become uncomfortable to walk on barefoot. This is the most common regret among people who install it in a hot, unshaded position. It is worth understanding before committing.

Colour and infill both affect how hot a surface gets. Lighter coloured yarn absorbs less, some coated infills claim measurable cooling benefits, and a shorter pile with less exposed backing generally runs cooler than a long dense one. None of these eliminate the difference. They reduce it at the margins without solving it.

Shade is the effective solution and it changes the calculation entirely. An area shaded through the afternoon by a tree, a pergola or the house itself behaves quite differently from one baking in full west sun, which is also why synthetic performs so well in the shaded spots where natural grass fails. Track where the shade falls at nine, at one and at four before you settle on a position. Morning sun and afternoon sun are not the same problem. Households with young children should treat afternoon shade as close to a requirement rather than a preference.

Hosing the surface cools it quickly and briefly. A few minutes of water drops the temperature noticeably for a period, which is useful before children use the area on a hot afternoon, though it does undercut the no watering argument somewhat. Most households do this occasionally, not as a routine. It is worth knowing the option exists.

Pets and Play Areas

Dogs are one of the strongest arguments for the surface. There is no mud, no digging up of grass, no worn tracks along fence lines and no bare patches from urine, which addresses most of what makes a dog-owning household's lawn look tired. The surface does need hosing down from time to time. Urine drains through but the residue needs flushing to prevent odour.

Pet specific products and infills exist and are worth asking about. Antimicrobial infills and higher permeability backings both help with odour management, and a base built with extra drainage capacity handles the volume better than a standard one. The premium over a standard product is modest. For a household with two large dogs it is generally worth paying.

Play areas have their own requirements around fall protection, the cushioning that limits injury when a child comes off equipment. Where equipment is involved, impact attenuation matters and there are specific underlay products designed for it, which is a different specification from a decorative lawn. A standard turf installation is not a soft fall surface. Say so upfront if play equipment is going on or near it. Two large dogs justify the pet specification comfortably, while one small dog generally does not.

Children's play areas benefit from the consistency more than the appearance. A surface that stays usable through winter, does not turn to mud, and does not need recovery time after heavy use is the practical argument for synthetic in a family yard. Heat is the counterweight in summer. Shade over a play area counts for more here than anywhere else in the yard.

What Upkeep It Needs

Low maintenance is not no maintenance, and the gap between those two surprises people. It needs periodic brushing to stand the pile up, debris removal so leaves and organic matter do not break down into the infill, and occasional hosing to clear dust and keep the surface fresh. That is perhaps an hour a month. Against weekly mowing it is still a substantial saving.

Brushing is the maintenance that actually matters. Foot traffic flattens the pile over time, and brushing against the grain with a stiff broom or a power brush lifts the fibres back up, which is what keeps the surface looking new instead of matted. High traffic paths need it more often. Neglecting it is what makes older installations look tired.

Organic debris is the enemy of a synthetic lawn. Leaves, seeds and fallen fruit break down into the infill, hold moisture and eventually create a growing medium for weeds and moss on top of the surface, which is why blowing or raking regularly matters under trees. Areas under deciduous trees need real attention. Clean surfaces stay clean with very little effort. A stiff yard broom does the job on a small area, and a powered brush earns its hire fee annually on a large one.

Sand levels drop away gradually across the years. Brushing, hosing and traffic all migrate sand gradually, and a surface that feels loose or looks flat frequently just needs infill rather than replacement, which is a cheap intervention against a costly one. Note down which infill the installer used. Matching it later is easier if you know.

Weeds appear on the surface, never through it. Windblown seed lands in the infill and germinates in accumulated debris, so a clean surface has almost no weed pressure while a neglected one develops it, and treatment is simple where it does occur. This is quite different from a natural lawn. Ongoing garden care generally is covered at seasonal garden maintenance costs.

Against a Natural Lawn

The upfront figure is several times higher and the running cost several times lower. A hundred square metre natural lawn installed as turf runs a fraction of the synthetic equivalent, while mowing, fertilising, watering, weed control and periodic repair add up every year for as long as you own the property. The crossover point is usually somewhere around year eight to twelve. Where you land depends heavily on how much you currently spend.

Comparing honestly means valuing your time as well as your money. Mowing a lawn fortnightly through the growing season is real hours, and households who pay someone to do it can put a firm number on the saving, while those who do it themselves are trading weekends for dollars. Both ways of counting are legitimate. Turf pricing for the comparison sits at garden returfing costs.

Water restrictions and drought change the calculation in some areas. A natural lawn that cannot be watered through a restricted summer browns off and may need repair afterwards, which is a recurring cost synthetic does not carry, and in parts of the state that happens often enough to matter. Coastal areas with reliable rain differ from inland ones. Local water reliability belongs in the arithmetic. Households already paying for fortnightly mowing reach that crossover several years sooner than those doing it themselves.

Lifespan is the term that decides the whole comparison. A good synthetic installation lasts fifteen to twenty years while a poor one looks tired at six, so the whole of life case depends on installation quality far more than on the technology. That is another argument for spending on the base. A cheap installation makes the economics look bad because it is bad.

Environmental considerations run both ways and are worth weighing. Synthetic saves water and eliminates fertiliser and mower emissions, while natural lawn supports soil life, cools its surroundings and is not a plastic product requiring eventual disposal. Waste and disposal guidance sits with epa.nsw.gov.au. Neither answer is obviously right for every property. Households preparing a property for sale often find the visual consistency worth the spend, as covered at pre-sale garden makeover costs.

Where It Genuinely Suits

Deep shade is where synthetic wins most decisively. No grass variety sold in this state thrives on less than three or four hours of direct light, so a narrow side passage, a courtyard between buildings or the strip along a south facing fence will never sustain natural lawn regardless of preparation. A synthetic surface resolves that permanently. Repeated failed reseeding costs more over five years.

High traffic paths are the second strong case. The track everyone walks to the shed, the run along a fence line where a dog patrols and the area under a trampoline all fail as natural lawn because the wear is continuous, and no variety recovers from constant traffic. A synthetic surface holds up in those spots indefinitely. Repairs are priced at lawn repair costs.

Small courtyards frequently favour synthetic on practical grounds. A twenty square metre area is awkward to mow, difficult to drain, hard to get equipment into and rarely worth maintaining as living lawn, while the same area in synthetic looks consistently good with almost no effort. The higher rate per square metre matters less on a small area. Front yard applications appear at front yard landscaping costs. Repeatedly reseeding a shaded strip costs more across five years than surfacing it once.

Rental and investment properties suit synthetic for a different reason. A landlord cannot control how a tenant maintains a lawn, and a surface that looks acceptable regardless of attention removes a recurring source of dispute and inspection failure. The upfront cost is capital, not ongoing expense. Tenanted garden arrangements sit at rental property garden maintenance costs.

Where synthetic suits poorly is worth stating plainly. Large open sunny areas, properties where the garden is the feature, households that enjoy gardening and sites with unresolved drainage problems are all better served by natural lawn or by planting. Native plantings suit difficult ground and are covered at native garden installation costs. Not every problem area needs a grass-shaped solution.

Warranty and Lifespan

Product warranties typically run eight to fifteen years and cover fading and fibre loss. Read what the terms actually promise, since most cover UV degradation beyond a stated threshold rather than general wear, and they usually require the product to have been installed to the manufacturer's specification. That last condition matters more than people notice. A poor installation can void the product warranty entirely.

Workmanship warranty is separate and is the one that covers most real problems. Lifting edges, opening joins, uneven base settlement and drainage failure are installation issues rather than product defects, and the installer's own warranty is what stands behind them. Get its term and its scope in writing. An installer still trading in five years is what makes it useful.

Realistic lifespan depends far more on base quality than on product grade. A mid range turf on an excellent base outlasts a premium turf on a poor one, which is the single most useful thing to understand before allocating a budget. Fifteen to twenty years is achievable. Six to eight is what a cheap installation delivers. Reinstatement at the end of a tenancy is expensive enough that written consent is worth having.

Replacement at end of life is a cost worth anticipating. The turf comes up and a new surface goes down, and where the base is still sound that second installation costs considerably less than the first because the groundwork is already done. Disposal of the old material is part of it. A good base is an asset that outlives the surface on top of it.

Approvals and Property Rules

Most residential synthetic turf installations need no approval at all. Replacing a lawn with a comparable surface at ground level is generally treated as landscaping rather than building work, though the position changes where the installation involves structural elements, significant level changes or retaining. Councils vary in how they treat it. A quick call to the local council before a large job costs nothing and settles the question.

Strata and community title properties are the common exception. Anything on common property, on a balcony or visible from outside generally needs owners corporation approval, and some schemes have by-laws addressing artificial surfaces specifically, which should be checked before a deposit is paid. Building managers will usually confirm the position quickly. Retrofitting approval after installation is far harder than obtaining it beforehand.

Rental properties need the landlord's written consent. This counts as a permanent alteration and not a reversible one, so a tenant installing it without permission risks being made to reinstate at their own cost when the lease ends. Landlords usually agree where the tenant funds it. Get the agreement in writing before any work starts. Excavation experience counts for more than turf experience, since the base is the part that fails.

Bushfire prone areas warrant a specific conversation. Synthetic products behave differently from living grass in an ember attack, and properties in designated bushfire prone land carry construction requirements that may affect what can be installed close to a dwelling. Guidance for property owners is published by fire.nsw.gov.au. Ask the installer directly what fire rating the product carries.

Heritage listed properties and conservation areas occasionally impose conditions. Where a front garden contributes to a streetscape character, a council may take a view on replacing lawn with a synthetic surface, particularly in areas with formal heritage controls. In practice this affects only a small number of properties. Where it does apply, checking early avoids an expensive reversal.

Choosing an Installer

The trade has a wide spread of capability and no licensing requirement to filter it. Synthetic turf installation is landscaping work rather than licensed building work, which means anyone can offer it, and the difference between a crew that builds bases properly and one that lays turf over rolled dirt is invisible on day one. A crew's excavation record tells you more than their turf record does. How many installations they complete in a year is a fair question.

Insurance is a fair question on any job involving excavation. Machinery, spoil removal and work near boundaries all create risk, and public liability cover is what stands behind damage to fences, services or neighbouring property. Ask to see the insurer's certificate confirming the policy is current. Any established landscaping business hands that over on request.

Underground services need locating before anyone digs. Water, gas, electrical and irrigation lines all run through residential yards at shallow depth, and striking one during excavation is dangerous and expensive, which is why a competent installer checks before breaking ground. Consumer protections that apply to the work generally sit with fairtrading.nsw.gov.au. Find out what their process is for identifying services.

References from several years back are more useful than recent ones. Any installation looks good in its first month, so a customer three or four years in can tell you whether the base held, the joins stayed closed and the colour lasted. That is the only real test available to you. Most established installers keep a list of older jobs they are happy to reference.

Sydney Metro Costs

Metropolitan installation costs run ahead of the rest of the state, and the reasons are the familiar ones of wages and the cost of running a crew across a sprawling city. Product prices are broadly national since turf comes through national distribution, so almost all the geographic variation sits in labour, access and disposal. What moves a Sydney quote most is what has to come out before anything goes in, since a courtyard over old concrete costs far more to prepare than a suburban lawn a bobcat can reach. Tip fees on removed material add to that difference.

Inner suburban terraces present the most expensive conditions. No rear access means every barrow of spoil goes out through the house and every barrow of base comes back the same way, which can add a full day of labour to a courtyard that measures twenty square metres. Installers who work these properties price it honestly. A quote given without seeing the access is not reliable.

Apartment and rooftop installations bring structural questions houses do not. Load limits, waterproof membranes, drainage outlets and strata approval all apply, and a base cannot simply be excavated where there is a slab beneath, so the build-up differs entirely. Specialist experience counts for a great deal on these jobs. Confirm the installer has done rooftop work before.

Disposal costs feed directly into Sydney quotes. Removed lawn, soil, concrete and pavers all go to a facility at a gate fee, and heavy material such as broken concrete costs meaningfully more to dispose of than green waste. That line should be visible in the quote. Check whether disposal sits inside the price or lands afterwards.

Regional NSW Costs

Regional labour rates run below Sydney, though delivery and installer availability both work against that. Turf comes in rolls from metropolitan distributors, so freight appears in regional quotes, and fewer specialist installers means less competition and longer lead times in smaller centres. Find out which distributor the rolls are shipping from. Freight on a large order is a real line, not a markup.

Inland heat makes the temperature question more pressing. Western and north western New South Wales run hotter for longer than the coast, which pushes surface temperatures higher and makes shade and orientation more important than they are in Sydney. A north facing unshaded lawn inland is the worst case. Assess the position honestly before committing.

Water reliability strengthens the case in drier districts. Where restrictions are common and a natural lawn browns off most summers, the recurring cost of repair and reseeding tilts the whole of life comparison toward synthetic. That effect is much weaker on the coast. Local conditions matter more than any general rule here.

Installer availability is the practical constraint outside the major centres. Fewer specialists means longer lead times and sometimes a travelling crew, and a business quoting from three hours away carries that travel in the price whether it is itemised or not. Find out whether they work your area regularly. Fencing and boundary work frequently coordinates well, priced at garden fence installation costs.

What to Look Out For

Ask what excavation depth and base material every quote includes, because that line explains most of the price difference. A proper build excavates around 100 millimetres, lays and compacts crushed rock in layers, then screeds a fine bedding layer to level, and base preparation is roughly half the installed cost while being all of the long term performance. A quote saying base preparation with no numbers may mean anything from a real build to sand over existing dirt. Compaction cannot be inspected once the turf is down, which makes it the thing you have to get right on trust.

Understand that a premium product on a poor base still fails. A mid range turf laid on excellent groundwork outlasts a premium turf on a thin one, so if the budget is tight the money belongs underneath instead of in the specification sheet. Fifteen to twenty years is achievable from a good installation while six to eight is what a cheap one delivers. That difference is what decides whether the whole of life comparison against a natural lawn works at all.

Check where the sun lands at midday and mid afternoon before fixing on a spot. The surface runs considerably hotter than living grass in direct sun because it cannot transpire, and a west facing unshaded lawn through a Sydney summer becomes uncomfortable underfoot, which is the most common regret among people who install it. Lighter yarn, shorter pile and some coated infills reduce the effect at the margins without eliminating it. Shade is the only real solution, which is also why synthetic performs so well in the shaded spots where grass fails.

Fix any drainage problem while the ground is open instead of covering it. An area that holds water after rain will hold it under turf, where the surface hides the puddle while the smell and the softness underfoot give it away, and retrofitting a subsurface drain afterwards means lifting everything you just paid for. Ask how water currently leaves the area and how the new base will grade. Sydney storms test falls harder than steady rain does.

Get both warranties in writing and understand which covers what. The product warranty typically runs eight to fifteen years against fading and fibre loss, usually conditional on installation to the manufacturer's specification, which means poor workmanship can void it entirely. The installer's own workmanship warranty is the one covering lifting edges, opening joins and base settlement, and those are the failures that actually occur. Its value depends on the installer still trading when you need it.

What to Look for in a Quote in NSW

An artificial grass quote should name the product by brand and line, state its face weight and pile height, and set out the excavation depth, base material and compaction method separately from the turf. It should show removal and disposal of the existing surface as its own line, specify the infill type and quantity, describe the edging system and confirm how joins will be handled. Both warranty terms belong on the document. What the base actually consists of, and who pays to cart the old surface away, explain most gaps between quotes at similar rates.

Every installer needs the same brief, or the three numbers you receive describe three different jobs. The area with rough dimensions, what is currently there, the access route including gate widths and level changes, the sun the area receives, any drainage problems and what the space will be used for all shape what should be quoted. A few images of the space and the way in save a round of clarifying questions. Two figures resting on different assumptions tell you nothing about which operator is better value.

Ask to see a job they installed several years ago, not last month. New synthetic turf looks good regardless of who laid it, while a four year old installation shows whether the base was built properly, the joins were made well and the edges have stayed down. That single request tells you more than any showroom visit. Most established installers are pleased to point you at older work.

Four things want nailing down before anyone starts: the base build, the product grade, the drainage and both warranties. Get the excavation depth and base material specified in writing, choose a grade that matches the use, resolve any existing drainage problem as part of the groundwork, and hold both warranty documents. Where the answer turns out to be a natural lawn instead, comparative pricing sits at garden returfing costs and wider design at landscaping costs. With those four agreed, a synthetic lawn is a twenty year surface.