Artificial Turf Price Guide: A Full Cost Breakdown Per Square Foot

A professionally installed artificial turf lawn in the Los Angeles area runs roughly $8 to $15 per square foot, which puts a standard 1,000 square foot yard somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000. What that range does not tell you is where the money actually goes, and that is what decides whether two quotes on the same yard are describing the same job. This page breaks a real 1,000 square foot installation down to the line item.

Key Takeaways

• Turf itself is under a third of the total. Base material, labor, infill, and disposal make up the rest.
• Labor is the line that varies most between companies, and it is the one that decides how the lawn performs.
• A quote that prices only the turf is incomplete. Edging, infill, weed barrier, and dump fees are real costs that appear somewhere.
• Ask for the breakdown, not the total. Two quotes that differ by thousands are usually describing two different builds.

What This Breakdown Assumes

No two lawns are identical, so the figures below are built on a defined, typical project rather than on your yard. It assumes a front or back yard of 1,000 square feet (25 by 40 feet), easy access to the work area, a good quality turf at 1.75 to 2 inches in height, a standard rectangular shape with no steep slopes or unusual excavation, and a Los Angeles metropolitan location. Change any one of those and the number moves.

Treat this as a worked example that shows the structure of a quote. Material costs and dump fees move over time, so use the per square foot ranges as a guide and get a current quote for your own yard.

Materials

Materials come to about $4.61 per square foot on this project, or $4,612 for 1,000 square feet.

Item	Per sq ft	1,000 sq ft
Synthetic grass (turf runs $1.95 to $3.50+; 8 to 12% waste not included)	$2.95	$2,950.00
Base material: class II road base or decomposed granite	$0.43	$434.00
Edging / bender board	$0.13	$128.00
Accessories: nails, staples, stakes	$0.19	$192.00
Weed barrier	$0.15	$153.60
Weed killer	$0.03	$25.60
Special infill mix, zeolite and Wonderfill at 1.5 lbs per sq ft	$0.73	$729.60
Total materials	$4.61	$4,612.80

The turf is the visible part and roughly a third of the cost. Which product you pick moves this line most, and our artificial grass product range shows what separates one grade from another. Everything else on that list is what holds it flat, keeps the blades upright, and stops weeds coming through, which is why a quote that lists only turf is not comparable to one that lists all of it.

Labor

Labor is where quotes diverge most, and it is worth understanding what the spread represents.

Crew	Per sq ft	1,000 sq ft
Premium priced experienced crew	$4.60	$4,600.00
Competitively priced experienced crew	$3.39	$3,390.00
Budget crew	$2.30	$2,300.00

The figures below use the middle line, a competitively priced experienced crew at $3.39 per square foot, or $3,390. The gap between the top and bottom of that table is about $2,300 on a 1,000 square foot yard. That gap buys correct excavation depth, a base compacted in layers, proper grading so water runs away from the house, and seams that do not show. Those are the things that fail two years later, and repairing them means lifting the turf back up. If you are weighing doing the work yourself, we compare both routes in DIY versus professional turf installation.

Operational Costs

These are the costs of running the job that never appear on a materials list but are always paid by someone.

Item	Per sq ft	1,000 sq ft
Dump fees: two trips at $250	$0.56	$560.00
Fuel: dump runs, foreman and owner visits	$0.11	$112.00
Delivery of turf and accessories	$0.11	$112.00
Total operational	$0.78	$784.00

Dump fees are the item most people are surprised by. Removing an existing lawn produces a lot of material, and disposal is charged by weight. It is also why small yards cost more per square foot: two dump runs cost the same whether the yard was 300 feet or 1,500.

The Full Project Total

Line	Per sq ft	1,000 sq ft
Installation subtotal	$8.79	$8,786.80
Overhead at 10%: workers comp, liability insurance, advertising	$0.88	$878.68
Profit at 10%	$1.07	$1,073.94
Project total	$10.74	$10,739.42

That lands at $10.74 per square foot, in the middle of the $8 to $15 range quoted across the industry. We publish the overhead and profit lines because they exist in every quote you will receive, whether or not the company shows them to you. A business without insurance and workers compensation is cheaper for a reason, and that reason becomes yours if somebody is injured in your yard.

How to Compare Two Quotes

Compare the specification rather than the total. Our guide to what impacts the final price covers the variables that move a quote most. Ask each company for the turf face weight and pile height, the base material and its compacted depth, what infill they are using and how much per square foot, whether edging is included, and whether removal and disposal of the old lawn are in the price. A quote that cannot answer those is not a quote, it is a number.

Watch for add-ons in particular. Some of the larger companies quote an attractive turf price and then add edging, infill, and accessories afterwards. We give one price for the whole project with the turf you have chosen.

Get a Real Number for Your Own Yard

Everything above is a worked example, not your quote. For a real figure we need your square footage, whether it is a front or back yard, how accessible the area is, which turf height you want, and your location, since dump fees and material costs vary across the region. We offer free estimates, take a short video and measurements on site, and can usually quote the same day.

Lawn Kings has installed synthetic grass across Los Angeles County for more than 20 years and is a licensed California contractor, CSLB #944369.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does artificial turf cost to install today?

Artificial turf installation currently runs about $8 to $15 per square foot, putting a 1,000 square foot lawn between $8,000 and $15,000. This page breaks that number down to the line item so you can see where it goes. A real quote needs your square footage, site access, and how much existing lawn has to be removed.

What is included in an artificial turf quote?

A quote should cover removing the existing lawn, capping sprinklers, grading, base material and compaction, edging, the turf itself, infill, seaming, and cleanup. Ask for those as line items. A quote that lists only turf and labor is usually hiding how thin the base work is, and the base is what decides whether the lawn stays flat.

Why do artificial turf quotes vary so much?

Quotes vary because turf grade, base depth, and site conditions vary. Face weight and backing quality can double the material cost. Difficult access, slopes, drainage corrections, and heavy lawn removal all add labor. Two quotes on the same yard that differ sharply are usually describing two different builds, so compare the specification rather than the total.