How much does turf cost per square metre?

At TopTurf in Leigh we cut lawn turf to order and deliver next day, so it arrives fresh rather than sitting in a yard. We sell one grade at one price: premium lawn turf at £4 per m2. That is the whole price list.

Turf is normally supplied in rolls that cover roughly one square metre each (about 1.64m long by 0.61m wide), which makes the maths straightforward: one roll is one square metre of lawn. Add about 5% to your measurement for cuts and shaping and that is your order.

Grade is the main driver across the market. A basic garden grade is a passable general lawn, while a premium hard-wearing grade uses a stronger ryegrass mix that copes better with kids, dogs and general wear, so most yards charge more for it. TopTurf only cuts the premium grade, and it is £4 per m2 whatever the job.

Quantity matters too. Small orders naturally cost more per metre than a full garden's worth. Season plays a part as well: turf is busiest in spring and early autumn, which are also the best times to lay it.

Freshness is the thing people underrate. Cheap turf that has been rolled up too long yellows and heats up inside the roll, so a low headline price is a false economy if it turns up half dead. Cut-to-order stock avoids that.

Turf needs a firm, level bed of decent soil to root into. For a new lawn you want at least 100mm of good topsoil across the whole area, more if you are building up from bare subsoil or rubble.

Topsoil is sold by volume. A bulk bag is about 0.7m3 and covers roughly 7m2 at 100mm deep, or about 14m2 at 50mm. Topsoil weighs around 1.5 tonnes per cubic metre, so a bulk bag is close to a tonne of soil.

TopTurf sells screened topsoil at £70 a bulk bag. Screened soil is the right grade for a lawn bed because the stones are taken out and it rakes level. If the levels need building up first, do the deep fill with whatever cheap material suits and keep the screened soil for the top 100mm the grass roots into.

Delivery is charged on top of the materials and starts at £20, confirmed on your postcode and the size of the load when you order.

Bear in mind a bulk bag of soil is around a tonne, so make sure the driver can get close to where you want it and that there is firm ground to set it down on.

Measure the area in metres. For a rectangle it is just length times width. For an odd-shaped garden, split it into rectangles and triangles, work each one out, then add them together.

Add about 5% on top for the offcuts you lose trimming turf to fit around curves, borders and paths. For very awkward shapes with lots of curves, allow closer to 10%. It is always better to have a roll spare than to run one metre short.

As a worked example, a 50m2 lawn plus 5% for cutting-in is about 53m2, which is £212 for the turf at £4 per m2. If that same lawn needs 100mm of fresh topsoil, that is roughly seven bulk bags on top.

If you are confident prepping the ground, rotavating, levelling, firming and laying, buying supply-only is the cheapest route and the numbers above are all you need.

If you would rather not, TopTurf offers supply-and-lay with the laying handled by Barrow Landscaping, so one order covers the turf, the delivery and the laying. That takes the guesswork out of ground prep, which is where most DIY lawns go wrong. Either way, get turf laid within about 24 hours of it arriving so the roots do not dry out or cook in the roll.

At TopTurf it is £4 per square metre for premium lawn turf, cut to order for next day delivery, before delivery charges. Elsewhere prices vary by grade and order size, with hard-wearing premium grades at the dear end of the market.

Measure the area in square metres (length times width for a rectangle, or split odd shapes into smaller rectangles and triangles), then add about 5% for offcuts around curves and borders. One roll of turf covers roughly one square metre, so a 40m2 lawn needs about 42 rolls.

Not automatically, but the grade and the freshness both matter. A garden grade is fine for a normal lawn, while a premium grade uses a tougher grass mix for busy family gardens. The bigger risk with very cheap turf is that it has been cut and rolled for too long, so it arrives yellowing. Cut-to-order turf laid within 24 hours gives the best result.

Often yes. Turf needs at least 100mm of good soil to root into, so if your existing ground is thin, compacted or full of rubble you will need topsoil to build up the bed. A bulk bag covers roughly 7m2 at 100mm deep, and screened topsoil is the grade to use directly under a lawn.

Within about 24 hours. Turf is a living product and once it is rolled up it starts to heat and yellow, especially in warm weather. Ordering cut-to-order stock for next-day delivery means it turns up fresh, but you still want the ground prepped and ready so you can lay it straight away.