Order of work
- Call 811 (in the US) a few days before you till or dig, so buried cables and pipes get marked. Mark sprinkler heads and lines too.
- Clear the ground: kill or strip the old turf and weeds, and pick out rocks, roots and construction debris.
- Rough grade: fill low spots and slope the ground away from the house, about 1 ft every 50 ft.
- Spread topsoil and compost to the depths in the plan, then rototill 4–6 in deep when the soil is dry enough to crumble.
- Fine grade and firm: rake smooth, rake in the starter fertilizer, then roll or water and let the soil settle. Fill any dips the roller shows.
- Plant: for seed, spread half lengthwise and half across, rake it ⅛–¼ in deep, roll, and cover thinly with straw. For sod, lay it the day it arrives, like bricks with tight joints, with no small pieces at the edges, then roll it lightly.
- Water: sod within 30 minutes of laying and daily for two weeks; seed lightly once or twice a day until it’s 2 in tall, then deeper and less often.
Tools you’ll need
- Rototiller (rent one for big lawns)
- Landscape rake and a bow rake
- Wheelbarrow and a flat shovel
- Broadcast spreader for seed and fertilizer
- Lawn roller (water-filled)
- Sharp utility knife or old serrated knife to cut sod
- Hose and a sprinkler that reaches every corner
About this planner
A new lawn is mostly soil work. Before any seed or sod goes down there’s topsoil to bring in, compost to till in, starter fertilizer, a slope to grade away from the house and a roller to rent, and for seed, straw to keep it moist. This planner works all of it out from your lawn’s size, prices every line, compares bagged soil with a bulk delivery, counts sod as full pallets plus loose pieces, and draws the lawn to scale with every piece of sod or both seeding passes, plus a section at the edge of a walk.
It follows university extension guidance: 4–6 in of good soil under the grass, compost tilled into the top 4–6 in, a fall of about 1 ft every 50 ft away from buildings, sod laid like bricks with the soil 1 in below walks, and about one bale of straw per 1,000 sq ft over new seed.
How to use it
- Enter the length along the house and the width out from it. For an L-shaped yard, plan each rectangle and add the lists.
- Choose seed or sod. For seed, pick the grass type and the bag size; for sod, the pallet size your sod farm sells.
- Dig a test hole and pick the topsoil to add so you end up with 4–6 in of loose, dark soil. Add compost to improve heavy clay or sand.
- Open Your local prices, enter your store’s and sod farm’s prices, and print the project sheet.
How the quantities are worked out
Lawn area = length × width
Topsoil = area × depth × 1.15 (settling); compost = area × 1 or 2 in
Bags = cu ft ÷ bag size, rounded up; bulk = cu yd rounded up to the ½ yd, + 1 delivery
Seed (lb) = area ÷ 1,000 × seeding rate; straw = area ÷ 1,000 bales, rounded up
Sod = area × 1.05 → full pallets, then 16 × 24 in pieces (2.67 sq ft) for the rest
(one more pallet instead when the pieces would cost as much)
Starter fertilizer = area ÷ 5,000 sq ft per 15 lb bag, rounded up
Fall away from the house = width × 1 ft per 50 ft
Water for 1 in = area × 0.623 gallons
Sources: at least 6 in of good soil, compost incorporated into the top 4–6 in, seed covered ⅛–¼ in deep, about one bale of straw per 1,000 sq ft with half the soil still showing, and watering the top inch until seedlings are 2 in tall, from Iowa State University Extension (How do I establish a new lawn from seed?). A root zone of at least 4 in, a fall of 1 ft every 50 ft, rolling with a 200–300 lb roller, soil 1 in below walks, a running-bond (brick) pattern, no small pieces at the edges, and watering within 30 minutes, from Michigan State University Extension bulletin E-2911. Tilling in 1 in of compost and then a second inch, from University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Establishing Lawns from Sod). Sod piece and pallet sizes and 5–10% extra from Sod Solutions. Starter fertilizer coverage from the Scotts Turf Builder Starter label. Seeding rates match our grass seed calculator and soil volumes our topsoil calculator.
Worked example
These are the planner’s starting values and the results they produce:
| Lawn length | 50 ft |
|---|---|
| Lawn width | 30 ft |
| Plant with | Grass seed |
| Grass type (seed) | Tall fescue |
| Seed bag size | 7 lb |
| Sod pallet size | 450 sq ft |
| Topsoil to spread | 2 in: fill low spots and thin soil |
| Compost | 1 in, tilled in |
| Buy the topsoil and compost | Whichever is cheaper |
| Soil and compost bag size | 1 cu ft bag |
| Grass seed, per bag | $30.00 |
| Straw, per bale | $8.00 |
| Sod, per pallet | $200.00 |
| Sod, per loose piece | $2.50 |
| Starter fertilizer, per 15 lb bag | $25.00 |
| Topsoil, per bag | $4.00 |
| Bulk topsoil, per cu yd | $35.00 |
| Compost, per bag | $7.00 |
| Bulk compost, per cu yd | $40.00 |
| Delivery fee, per load | $75.00 |
| Lawn roller rental, per day | $30.00 |
| Bought | Item | Buy | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screened topsoil, bulk10.65 cu yd for 2 in over 1,500 sq ft, 15% extra for settling, rounded up to the ½ yd | 11 cu yd | $385.00 | |
| Compost, bulk4.63 cu yd for 1 in tilled into the top 4–6 in, rounded up to the ½ yd | 5 cu yd | $200.00 | |
| Soil deliverytopsoil and compost from one supplier, one fee; 16 cu yd may take two trucks, so ask | 1 load | $75.00 | |
| Starter fertilizer, 15 lb bagsone bag covers 5,000 sq ft; raked into the soil just before seeding | 1 bag | $25.00 | |
| Tall fescue seed, 7 lb bags10.5 lb at 7 lb per 1,000 sq ft, the new-lawn rate | 2 bags | $60.00 | |
| Straw (not hay), balesone bale per 1,000 sq ft, spread thin so half the soil shows | 2 bales | $16.00 | |
| Lawn roller, 1-day rentalfirm the seedbed, then roll once more after seeding | 1 day | $30.00 | |
| Estimated materials total | $791.00 | ||
Tips before you buy
- Plant cool-season grass (fescue, bluegrass, rye) in late summer or early fall and warm-season grass (bermuda, zoysia, centipede) in late spring. Sod can go down any time the ground isn’t frozen, if you can water it.
- Dig a few test holes before you order topsoil. If you already have 6 in of loose, dark soil, you only need compost and a good tilling.
- Use straw, not hay. Hay is full of weed seeds.
- Order sod for the morning you’ll lay it, and have helpers ready. Rolled-up sod heats up and can die within a day.
- On a slope, lay sod across the slope and start at the bottom; stake pieces on steep spots so they don’t slide.
- Bulk soil is almost always cheaper for a whole lawn. Bags only win on small patches, where the delivery fee is most of the bill.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to seed or sod a 1,500 sq ft lawn?
With the planner’s default prices, a 50 × 30 ft lawn with 2 in of topsoil and 1 in of compost costs about $791 from seed (11 cu yd of topsoil, 5 cu yd of compost and a delivery come to $660 of that) and about $1,590 with sod (four 450 sq ft pallets at $200 and a second delivery). The soil is the same either way; sod costs more but gives you a finished lawn the same day.
How many pallets of sod do I need?
Take the lawn area, add 5% for cuts, and divide by the pallet size. A 1,500 sq ft lawn needs 1,575 sq ft: three 450 sq ft pallets (1,350 sq ft) plus 85 loose 16 × 24 in pieces, or a fourth pallet if that costs less than the pieces.
How much topsoil do I need for a new lawn?
Enough to give the grass 4–6 in of good soil. Spreading 2 in over 1,500 sq ft takes 250 cubic feet, or 10.6 cubic yards with 15% for settling, which weighs about 11.7 tons. Over builder’s fill, 6 in takes 31.9 cubic yards.
How much straw do I need for grass seed?
About one bale per 1,000 sq ft, spread thin so you can still see half the soil through it. A 1,500 sq ft lawn takes 2 bales. Use straw, not hay, which carries weed seeds.
How much grass seed do I need for a new lawn?
It depends on the grass: 1,500 sq ft takes 10.5 lb of tall fescue (two 7 lb bags), 3 lb of Kentucky bluegrass or 2.25 lb of hulled bermudagrass.