Artificial turf cost calculator.

Rolls, strips and the offcut that serves another zone

Synthetic lawn carpet is sold in fixed roll widths rather than loose square feet. In supplier specifications read on October 19, 2026, Go Turf and Netting World list 15 ft roll widths (with Go Turf stating a maximum roll length of 100 ft), while The Turf Yard lists both 12 ft and 15 ft roll widths. The calculator keeps one grain direction across the whole job: every strip, and every offcut it reuses, runs along the zone length, and no leftover is turned sideways to fill a gap.

When a zone is wider across the roll than a single roll width, the calculator places full-width strips first (adding 1 side seam between each pair of strips) and leaves at most one narrower strip of width w_l along the edge. How you handle that narrow strip—and whether you have a second or third zone that can use the leftover offcut—determines your roll footage, waste, and seam count:

• Full-length narrow strip (full-length mode): If no existing offcut in the pool is at least as wide and long as the narrow strip, the calculator cuts a full-length pull of length l from the roll, rips it to width w_l, and places the remaining width (the roll width minus w_l) of length l into the offcut pool for narrower or shorter zones.
• Split end-to-end pieces (split mode): When no existing offcut fits the narrow strip, the calculator checks how many pieces of width w_l fit side by side across the roll width without exceeding your allowed head-seam limit: the piece count m is the roll width divided by w_l, rounded down, and never more than your head-seam limit plus 1. It pulls a shorter roll section of length l ÷ m, slices m pieces of width w_l from that single pass, joins them end to end with m − 1 head seams, and places any remaining strip of width the roll width minus m × w_l into the offcut pool.

The Turf Yard’s calculator, run on a 20 × 25 ft zone (read October 19, 2026), shows this exact split on a zone measuring 20 ft wide across the roll by 25 ft long (500 sq ft net) on a 15 ft roll. One 15 × 25 ft strip covers the first 15 ft of width and leaves a 5 × 25 ft narrow strip. In full-length mode without splitting, that 5 × 25 ft strip takes a second 25 ft pull of the 15 ft roll—50 linear ft in total, or 750 sq ft bought, with 250 sq ft of waste (a 0.333333 waste share of the purchased roll) and 0 head seams. In split mode with 1 head seam allowed, two 5 ft widths fit side by side inside the 15 ft roll and the calculator cuts two 5 ft wide pieces from a half-length pull: you buy 37.5 linear ft in total, or 562.5 sq ft of roll, reducing waste to 62.5 sq ft (a 0.111111 waste share) at the cost of 1 side seam and 1 head seam. By contrast, Mighty Turf’s planning guide (read October 19, 2026) adds a flat 10% (0.1 share) of extra turf for seams and waste instead of a strip layout.

When your yard has more than one rectangular zone, an offcut from a wider zone can supply a narrower zone at zero extra roll purchase. In the default two-zone configuration on a 15 ft roll in full-length mode, Zone 1 is 25 ft long by 20 ft wide (500 sq ft) and Zone 2 is 20 ft long by 6 ft wide (120 sq ft), for a net area of 620 sq ft. Zone 1 takes a 15 × 25 ft full strip plus a 5 × 25 ft narrow strip cut from a second 25 ft pull (50 linear ft, or 750 sq ft bought), which leaves a 10 × 25 ft offcut in the pool. Because Zone 2 (6 × 20 ft, 120 sq ft) fits inside that 10 × 25 ft offcut along the same grain direction, the calculator cuts Zone 2 directly from the offcut: 120 sq ft of offcut is reused, total roll bought stays at 750 sq ft (50 linear ft, 130 sq ft waste, 0.173333 waste share), with 1 side seam and 0 head seams. Similarly, when pairing a 20 × 20 ft zone (400 sq ft) with a 10 × 10 ft zone (100 sq ft, 500 sq ft net total) in full-length mode on a 15 ft roll, the 20 × 20 ft zone leaves a 10 × 20 ft offcut that covers the 10 × 10 ft zone completely (40 linear ft, 600 sq ft bought, 100 sq ft reused, 100 sq ft waste, 0.166667 waste share). On a single 35 ft wide by 20 ft long zone (700 sq ft) in split mode with up to 2 head seams allowed, two 15 ft strips cover 30 ft of width and the remaining 5 × 20 ft strip splits into three pieces across a 15 ft roll (46.67 linear ft, 700 sq ft bought, 0 sq ft waste, 2 side seams, 2 head seams). And if any strip exceeds the 100 ft maximum roll length—such as a 120 ft by 15 ft run (1,800 sq ft)—the calculator adds 1 head seam where the 100 ft roll ends and the remaining 20 ft piece begins, with 0 sq ft of width waste.

Price the area you buy, not the area you cover

Pricing turf carpet on net yard area understates your material bill whenever roll width rounding leaves unlaid offcut. In this calculator, the turf line is multiplied by the gross roll area you actually buy (or by the linear feet of roll when you select per-linear-foot pricing), whereas the four site-work lines—old lawn removal, base preparation, weed barrier, and installation labor—are multiplied by the net square footage of the zones:

• Turf material ($ per sq ft bought, or $ per linear ft): your rate applies to the square feet of roll bought in square-foot mode, or to the linear feet of roll in linear-foot mode. For a material-only benchmark, Netting World (read October 19, 2026) lists synthetic turf rolls at $2.45 to $3.75 per sq ft for material only, before any base work, infill, or installation labor. On a 30 ft long by 15 ft wide zone (450 sq ft, fitting one 15 ft roll with 0 sq ft waste) priced per linear foot at $40 per linear ft, the 30 linear ft of turf costs $1,200.
• Old lawn removal, base preparation, weed barrier, and installation labor ($ per sq ft of net area): each rate applies to the net area, summed over your active zones.
• Infill ($ per bag): Bag count is the net area times the infill pounds per sq ft, divided by the bag weight, rounded up to whole bags. Supplier pages read on October 19, 2026 give the rate per square foot: Mighty Turf lists 1 to 2 lb per sq ft for general turf (and 2 to 3 lb per sq ft for putting greens), Go Turf lists 2 lb per sq ft, and The Turf Yard’s calculator uses 1.6 lb per sq ft on Lucky 77 and 2 lb per sq ft on Lush Primo and Putting Green (while Lush 70 and Lush 80 appear in its roll catalog). The 50 lb bag weight is our editable default, derived from a Mighty Turf calculator run that ships 20 to 30 bags; it is not a Turf Yard figure. With 2 lb per sq ft spread from 50 lb bags, the 620 sq ft default layout takes 25 bags, the 450 sq ft layout takes 18 bags, and a 1,000 sq ft layout takes 40 bags.

Six rate boxes, two meanings for nothing: a box left empty keeps its line missing and holds back both per-square-foot totals, while a typed 0 records the line as covered with no separate charge. In our fully priced 1,000 sq ft test vector—a 25 ft long by 40 ft wide zone on a 15 ft roll in full-length mode, which requires three 25 ft pulls (75 linear ft, 1,125 sq ft bought, 125 sq ft waste, 0.111111 waste share, 2 side seams, and 40 bags of 50 lb infill)—entering $3/sq ft for turf ($3,375 on 1,125 sq ft bought), $1/sq ft for old lawn removal ($1,000), $2/sq ft for base preparation ($2,000), $0.25/sq ft for weed barrier ($250), $4/sq ft for installation labor ($4,000), and $15 per bag for infill ($600) produces a complete total of $11,225 for this example, a result of the rates typed in, not a market price. Divided across the 1,000 sq ft net yard, that equals $11.225 per net sq ft; divided across the 1,125 sq ft of roll bought, it equals $9.98 per purchased sq ft; and the 125 sq ft of roll waste accounts for a 0.033408 share of the $11,225 total.

Installed bands, quoted with their source

Alongside your own line-item sum, the calculator multiplies your net square footage by two dated published installed bands read on October 19, 2026, always shown with their publisher and year rather than as an unattributed market average:

• QuoteIQ, read October 19, 2026: states that artificial turf costs $8 to $18 per sq ft installed in 2026.
• Mighty Turf, read October 19, 2026: puts installed prices at $6 to $10 per sq ft, drawn from 2026 Southern California installer bids.

On the default 620 sq ft net layout, those two net-area bands span $4,960 to $11,160 under QuoteIQ ($8–$18/sq ft, 2026) and $3,720 to $6,200 under Mighty Turf’s 2026 Southern California bids ($6–$10/sq ft). On the 1,000 sq ft worked vector, where the example rates typed in (not market prices) total $11,225 ($11.225 per net sq ft), the QuoteIQ band is $8,000 to $18,000 and the Mighty Turf SoCal band is $6,000 to $10,000. Notice why a simple per-square-foot band is incomplete on its own: multiplying net area by $8 to $18/sq ft or $6 to $10/sq ft ignores whether your zone widths leave 0 sq ft of roll offcut (as on a 15 × 30 ft = 450 sq ft zone) or 250 sq ft of roll offcut (as on a 20 × 25 ft = 500 sq ft zone cut without splitting).

Water you stop applying, in gallons and dollars

Replacing an irrigated lawn with synthetic turf stops regular sprinkler applications on that area. To convert avoided irrigation depth into gallons without guessing a regional water bill, the calculator relies on the conversion published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science School (read October 19, 2026): 1 in of water across 1 acre (43,560 sq ft) is about 27,154 gallons, which is 0.6234 gallons per sq ft-inch (27,154 / 43,560). Clemson Cooperative Extension’s watering guide (read October 19, 2026) gives 0.5 in on sandy soil to 1 in on heavy soil for a drought-stressed lawn, used here only as an example depth per watering:

Annual Gallons Avoided = Net Area (sq ft) × Inches per Watering × Waterings per Year × (27,154 ÷ 43,560)

Annual Water Savings ($) = (Annual Gallons Avoided ÷ 1,000) × Water Rate ($ per 1,000 gal)

Payback (years) = max(0, (Complete Turf Total − Natural Lawn Alternative) ÷ (Annual Water Savings + Annual Maintenance Difference))

In the default 620 sq ft layout at 1 in per watering and an illustrative schedule of 20 waterings per year, the lawn stops using 7,729.79 gallons per year; on the 450 sq ft layout watered 10 times at 0.5 in per watering, that is 1,402.58 gallons per year. On the fully priced 1,000 sq ft vector ($11,225 total) at 1 in per watering and 20 waterings per year, avoided water is 12,467.40 gallons per year. When you also enter $10 per 1,000 gallons from your water bill ($124.67 per year in water savings), a $2,000 natural lawn alternative, and $300 per year in avoided lawn maintenance, the combined annual water and maintenance savings pay back the upfront difference above the $2,000 natural lawn alternative in 21.72 years. If annual water and maintenance savings are both $0 (or if any required field is left blank), the calculator hides the payback year figure rather than dividing by zero.

Artificial turf cost questions

Where this estimate stops