Landscaping
Landscaping Sod Calculator
Calculate turf for a job with preparation, delivery timing and establishment counted.
Result
Sod is perishable. It should be laid within a day of delivery and watered immediately, so ordering early or over-ordering heavily is a real cost rather than a safe margin.
Get a Free Business AuditWhat moves the number
- Area plus cutting waste.
- Ground preparation, which is most of the labour and all of the result.
- Whether the customer can water it in, which decides whether it takes.
Where this one goes wrong
Laying turf for a customer who will not water it. New turf needs consistent watering to establish, and a lawn that dries out in the first fortnight fails. Say so in writing before the job.
Questions
About this calculator
Who is responsible if the turf fails?
It depends on whether it was watered, which is why the aftercare instruction should be written rather than mentioned. Most turf failures are establishment failures rather than product failures.
How much of a turf job is preparation?
Usually most of it. Grading, clearing and preparing a seedbed takes far longer than laying, and a quote weighted toward the turf material underprices the work.
When is the best time to lay turf?
When it can be kept watered and temperatures are moderate. Mid-summer laying is possible and demands far more watering, which the customer has to be committed to.
The formula
pallets = area including waste / coverage per pallet
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How to use this calculator
- Length (ft) (ft). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 50 ft.
- Width (ft) (ft). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 30 ft.
- Coverage per pallet (sq ft) (sq ft). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 450 sq ft.
- Waste allowance (%). Curves and awkward corners waste more than a straight rectangle does.
- Cost per pallet ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $220.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to pallets needed, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Length (ft) | 50 ft |
| Width (ft) | 30 ft |
| Coverage per pallet (sq ft) | 450 sq ft |
| Waste allowance | 8% |
| Cost per pallet | $220 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Pallets needed main result | 4 |
| Area | 1,500.0 |
| Area including waste | 1,620.0 |
| Estimated material cost | $880 |
For 1,500.0 sq ft plus 8% waste you need 4 pallets, costing about $880.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only cost per pallet, this is what happens to pallets needed. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Cost per pallet ($) | Pallets needed |
|---|---|
| $110 | 4 |
| $165 | 4 |
| $220 example above | 4 |
| $330 | 4 |
| $440 | 4 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Length (ft) (ft)
- Measured in ft, starting at 50 ft.
- Width (ft) (ft)
- Measured in ft, starting at 30 ft.
- Coverage per pallet (sq ft) (sq ft)
- Measured in sq ft, starting at 450 sq ft.
- Waste allowance (%)
- Curves and awkward corners waste more than a straight rectangle does.
- Cost per pallet ($)
- A money amount, starting at $220.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Pallets needed | The headline result. A number. |
| Area | A decimal figure. |
| Area including waste | A decimal figure. |
| Estimated material cost | A money figure. |
Seasonality is not in this
Coverage and material figures assume the area you enter. Slope, access for machinery, existing growth and the time of year all affect both quantity and labour, and none of them appear in a calculation like this.
Keep going
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