How much turf do I need?
Turf is sold by the square metre, so the sum is your lawn area plus a bit for cuts. The maths is not what makes a turf job go sideways. Turf is a perishable product with a delivery date, and everything else has to be ready before it arrives.
Measuring an odd-shaped lawn
Break the yard into shapes you can measure and add them up, because almost none is a rectangle.
- Rectangle, length × width
- Triangle, ½ × base × height
- Circle, 3.14 × radius × radius
- A curve, measure it as the rectangle that contains it and let the waste allowance cover the offcuts
Take off beds, paths and the shed pad, but only if they're over a couple of square metres. Chasing 0.4 m² around a downpipe costs more time than the turf is worth.
A worked example
A back yard 12m × 7m, with a 3m × 2m shed pad coming out of it.
- Gross, 12 × 7 = 84 m². Less the shed pad, 6 m² = 78 m² of lawn
- Plus 5% for cuts, 81.9 m²
- Slabs at 0.5 m² each, 164 slabs
- Pallets at 50 m² each, 2 pallets
- Underlay at 50mm over the 78 m², 3.9 m³ of sandy loam
Order the underlay by the square metre of lawn, not by eye. Two pallets of turf and no soil is a job that stops dead in the driveway.
Turf is perishable, so plan the day around it
Lay it within 24 hours, and same day in summer. Turf is cut fresh, usually the morning it's delivered, and starts dying the moment it's rolled. A stacked pallet in the sun heats from the middle out and the centre slabs come out yellow.
If it can't go down straight away, break the pallet down, spread the slabs in the shade green side up, and keep them damp. That buys you a day, not a weekend.
A full pallet of turf is heavy, and heavier if it's rained on the farm. Check the truck can reach the drop point before delivery day, because moving it twice by barrow is a morning gone.
Prep, then underlay, then lay
Kill or strip the old grass first, turf laid over living kikuyu gets grown through. Rake out the rubble, spread 50mm of underlay (sandy loam screeds flat and drains), level it and firm it lightly. Every dip you leave under the turf is a dip you'll be scalping with the mower for years.
Then lay it.
- Start along the longest straight edge, a fence line or a path
- Stagger the joints like brickwork. Rows that line up leave a visible seam line down the lawn
- Butt the slabs tight, and never stretch them. Stretched turf shrinks back as it dries and leaves gaps that weeds find first
- Cut around beds and taps with a spade or an old bread knife, against the edge
- Roll or tamp lightly to press the roots into the soil, not to flatten it
- Water it in immediately, as you go if it's hot. Slabs laid at 9am and watered at 3pm are already stressed
Soak it daily for the first fortnight, then back off. Keep off the lawn until a corner stops lifting when you tug it, two to three weeks.
Turf or seed?
Turf is a lawn on the day. Seed costs a fraction as much and is a lawn in six to twelve weeks, with a thin weedy one in between.
| Turf | Seed | |
|---|---|---|
| Usable | 2 to 3 weeks | 6 to 12 weeks, longer in cool weather |
| Season | Any, avoid extreme heat | Warm-season grasses need warm soil, cool season go in autumn or early spring |
| Slopes | Fine | Washes off, turf it instead |
| Weeds | Turf shades them out | Open ground for weeks, and weed pressure is the main reason seed jobs fail |
Typical Australian sowing rates, and the bag is the real number.
| Seed | Rate |
|---|---|
| Couch | 10 to 15 g/m² |
| Kikuyu | 10 to 20 g/m² |
| Perennial ryegrass | 25 to 35 g/m² |
| Tall fescue | 35 to 50 g/m² |
One to know before you quote: buffalo isn't sold as seed in Australia. The named buffalo varieties are grown vegetatively, so buffalo is a turf job or it's nothing. Zoysia seed exists but establishes so slowly that it's almost always laid as turf too.
Which grass for the yard
| Type | Shade | Wear | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | Best of the four | Good | Broad leaf, the usual pick for a yard with trees or a fence line that shades half of it |
| Couch | Full sun only | Best recovery | Fine leaf, great under traffic, browns off through a cold winter and wants more mowing |
| Kikuyu | Poor | Very good | Cheap and fast, and it will invade the garden beds, so quote the edging with it |
| Zoysia | Handles part shade | Good | Slow to establish, dense and low input once it's in, likes humid coastal |
Shade and traffic pick the grass, not price. A couch lawn under a jacaranda thins out in a season and the customer remembers who laid it.
Artificial grass calculator, strips off a roll
Artificial grass is bought as strips off a roll of a set width, so the sum is strips, not square metres. The calculator above is for real turf. For synthetic, work out how many strips cover the width, times the length, and that's the lineal metres you order.
Roll widths aren't one size. Read at two Australian sellers, 1.8 m, 2 m, 3.71 m and 4 m rolls are all on sale, and one of them says it plainly, “All our synthetic turf varieties are sold by the lineal metre, but priced by the square metre.”
The same 12 m × 7 m yard, no shed pad, 84 m², on a 4 m roll.
| Strips run | Strips | Lineal metres | You pay for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Along the 12 m | 2, covering 8 m | 24 | 96 m² |
| Along the 7 m | 3, covering 12 m | 21 | 84 m² |
Turning the strips saves 12 m² and a join down the middle of the lawn. Try both ways for every roll width the seller has, because a width that divides your yard evenly beats a cheaper grass that doesn't.
- Lay every strip with the pile leaning the same way. A strip turned round shows as a different shade at the join.
- Order the sand infill with it. The three products read ask for 8, 10 and 12 to 15 kg a square metre, so 84 m² takes somewhere between about 670 kg and 1.26 tonnes. The rate is on the product.
- The base is most of the job. Crushed rock compacted flat, or a concrete slab, and it has to drain.
Sources read 26 October 2026, Paul Munns Instant Lawn, Toorak (2 or 4 m, 12 to 15 kg per m² infill) and Forever Green (3.71 m, 10 kg), and Bunnings, Tuff Turf Multi Tuff (1.8 m, 8 kg/m² infill).
Quoting a turf job
Price the prep separately, so the customer sees the difference between "lay turf" and "make a lawn". Turf, underlay and delivery are the easy lines. Old lawn removal, spoil cart-away, levelling and access decide whether the day pays.
Worked out the turf. Now price the job.
Yamate turns your metres and hours into a quote the customer can accept on their phone, then an invoice, then a payment, with GST handled and payment reminders sent once you switch them on.
Try Yamate free → Free to try · no card · sign in with a link, no password to rememberTurf & grass seed FAQ
How much turf do I need for 100 square metres?
With 5% waste for cuts that's 105 m², about 210 slabs at half a square metre each, or 3 pallets. Plus 5 cubic metres of underlay soil at 50mm.
How many pallets of turf do I need?
Your lawn area plus waste for cuts, divided by what your farm puts on one pallet, rounded up. At 50 m² a pallet, 100 m² with 5% waste is 105 m², so 3 pallets. Farms stack different amounts, so ask yours, type it into Pallet size, and order by the square metre.
How long can turf sit on the pallet?
24 hours, and same day in summer. A stacked pallet heats from the middle and the slabs in the centre yellow off. If it can't go down, break the pallet apart in the shade and keep it damp.
How much underlay soil do I need under turf?
Fifty millimetres is typical, which is 5 cubic metres over 100 m². Sandy loam is the usual choice because it screeds flat and drains. It's the thing most people forget until the turf is already on the driveway.
Should turf joints be staggered?
Yes, like brickwork. Rows that line up leave a seam you can see down the lawn for months. Butt the slabs tight and never stretch them, because stretched turf shrinks back and opens gaps.
When should I water new turf?
Immediately, and as you go if it's hot. Then a good soak daily for the first two weeks before you gradually back off. Keep off the lawn until a corner stops lifting when you tug it.
Is it cheaper to seed or turf a lawn?
Seed costs a fraction as much and takes six to twelve weeks to be usable, against two to three for turf. Seed also needs the right season, doesn't suit slopes, and leaves open ground for weeds while it establishes.
How do I work out artificial grass?
In strips off the roll, not square metres. Count how many strips of the roll width cover your yard, times the length, and try the strips both ways. A 12 m by 7 m yard on a 4 m roll is 96 m² run along the 12 m, or 84 m² run along the 7 m.
Can you grow buffalo grass from seed in Australia?
No. The buffalo varieties sold here are grown vegetatively, not from seed, so a buffalo lawn is laid as turf. Couch, kikuyu, ryegrass and fescue are all available as seed.
Other calculators you'll want
General information for Australian trades, and an estimate only, not tax, financial or legal advice. It is not engineering, building or design advice either. A calculator works out a quantity from the figures you enter, and anything that needs sign-off still needs your engineer, certifier or building surveyor. Slab sizes, pallet coverage and sowing rates vary between turf farms and seed suppliers, so confirm both with yours before ordering, and use the rate printed on the seed bag. Establishment times depend on season, soil and watering. This calculator is a materials estimate to help you order and quote, not a horticultural specification.