Artificial grass Cost Calculator

How this calculator works

Every figure in this calculator is the one published in the cost table on our artificial grass guide. Pick the option that matches your job and the calculator returns that published range, adjusted for your region - it does not model anything the guide does not already say.

That is deliberate. A calculator whose rates drift from the page it sits under is worse than no calculator, because two numbers on the same site disagree.

What it cannot know: access, the condition of what is already there, and anything structural. Those are what separate three real quotes from each other.

Why the groundworks cost more than the grass

The turf is the part everyone pictures, but on most jobs it’s the smaller half of the bill. A fitter has to dig out the old lawn, cart the spoil away, then build a base that stays flat for years – a compacted layer of type 1 stone topped with sharp sand, screeded level. That excavation and base-building is labour and materials you never see once the grass is down, and it’s the bit that decides whether the lawn ripples or sits crisp.

Then there’s the grass itself. Pile height, stitch density and the quality of the yarn all pull the per-square-metre price around, which is why the ranges in the table above are so wide. A dense, shorter pile takes heavy use and springs back; a tall, sparse budget grass looks lush in the roll and goes flat by its second summer. The backing matters too – a good one holds its shape and lets water through.

Joins are where cheap installs give themselves away. Every roll is a fixed width, so a wider lawn needs seams glued and pinned with the pile running the same way, or the line shows. Most fitters then brush in a kiln-dried sand infill to weigh the grass down, keep the blades upright and stop the surface moving underfoot. Leave it out and you’ll feel the difference.

Drainage is usually built into the base rather than charged as a line item, but it’s not free. On free-draining ground the sand and stone let water soak straight through. On heavy clay, or where the lawn sits below a patio, you may need a soakaway or a fall worked into the base – and that’s extra digging.

Shape is the other quiet cost. A plain rectangle is quick; curves, tree bases, raised beds and steps all mean cutting the grass to fit and edging each border, which is slow work. And on a very small lawn the day still has to be paid for – access, spoil removal and a minimum call-out often mean a tiny garden costs more per square metre than a big one.

DIY or fitted: doing it yourself saves the labour, and on a small, square, well-draining lawn it’s a realistic weekend job. The catch is the base. Get the compaction or the falls wrong and you’re lifting the lot to redo it, so the saving only holds if you’re confident with the groundworks, not just the rolling-out.