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Turf Cost UK 2026: Prices per m² and Turf Calculator
Lee Burkhill: Award Winning Designer & BBC 1's Garden Rescue Presenters Official Blog
Beginner level
How much is turf? It is one of the first questions people ask me when they are planning a new lawn, and the real answer is that it depends heavily on how much you buy. Turf suppliers price on a sliding scale, so ten rolls can cost twice as much per square metre as a hundred. Delivery, quality, preparation and whether you lay it yourself all change the final figure.
Quick Answer
Rolled turf in the UK costs about £3.30 to £5.40 per square metre delivered when you buy 40 rolls or more, and up to £10 per roll for very small orders. A typical 50m² lawn needs about £235 to £300 of turf if you lay it yourself, or roughly £750 to £1,750 for a landscaper to prepare and lay it. Grass seed for the same lawn costs around £10 to £30.
To simplify this, I checked current prices from three UK turf suppliers and the latest trade labour rates on 7 October 2026, and built them into the calculator below. Enter your lawn measurements, and it will tell you how many rolls to order and what the turf, seed, and landscaper options are likely to cost.
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Turf Calculator: How Many Rolls and How Much Will It Cost?
Measure the longest length and the widest width of your lawn in metres, choose the shape, and press calculate. For irregular shapes, measure the smallest rectangle the whole lawn fits inside and choose square or rectangle. The calculator adds your chosen allowance for cutting and rounds up to whole rolls.
🌿 Garden Ninja Turf Calculator
Prices are estimates based on UK supplier and trade prices checked in October 2026. Always confirm with your supplier.
The turf price range uses the cheapest and dearest per square metre prices I found for your order size, delivered. The landscaper figure is a rough guide for preparing and laying on a simple, level site, and it can be higher if old turf needs removing, the ground needs levelling, or topsoil has to be brought in.
How Much Does Turf Cost per m² in the UK?
For a typical garden order of 40 to 100 rolls, expect to pay around £4.25 to £5.40 per square metre delivered. Larger orders of 100 rolls or more drop to around £3.30 to £4.90. Small orders of 10 to 19 rolls are much more expensive, often £9 to £10 per roll, because the delivery cost is spread over fewer rolls. Here are the prices I checked on 7 October 2026.
🌿 UK Turf Prices per m² (checked 7 October 2026)
| Supplier | 10 to 19 rolls | 40 to 99 rolls | 100+ rolls | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolawn Medallion | £10.24 | £5.41 | £4.91 | Free named day to most of mainland UK, plus a 6.5% fuel surcharge |
| Topsoil Direct Garden Turf | £9.35 | £4.26 to £4.49 | £3.47 | Free on weekdays to most of mainland UK |
| Mitchell Turf Grade A | £4.65 (15 roll minimum) | £4.65 | £3.30 to £4.35 | Calculated at checkout |
Prices change with the season and fuel costs, so treat these as a snapshot and check the supplier’s own site before ordering. Garden centres and DIY stores also sell turf by the roll, usually at a higher price per roll but without a minimum order, which can work out cheaper if you only need a few rolls to patch an area.
For comparison, Checkatrade’s June 2026 cost guide puts budget turf at £2 to £3 per square metre, mid range at around £5 and premium at £7 or more, before delivery. Those are typical trade material prices, so the per roll price a homeowner pays for a small delivered order is usually higher.
What Affects the Price of Turf?
Quantity is the biggest factor, as the table shows. Beyond that, a few other things push the price up or down.
Quality and seed mix come next. General purpose turf, a hard wearing mix of Ryegrass and Fescues, is the cheapest. Premium and fine ornamental turf, with a higher share of fine Fescues and Bents, costs more, and specialist products such as shade tolerant turf or wildflower turf can cost two to four times as much per square metre. For most family gardens, a good general purpose turf is the right choice.
Freshness matters for value even though it does not show on the price tag. Cheap turf from a garden centre forecourt may have been sitting rolled up for days. It is often thin and yellow, needs far more water to establish and sometimes fails altogether, so it can end up costing more. I always recommend turf delivered within 24 hours of cutting, and I explain how to check it in my guide on how to lay turf.
Delivery and location also play a part. Many suppliers include free delivery to most of mainland UK, but charge extra for Saturday delivery, timed slots, remote areas, the Highlands and islands, and a fuel surcharge. A pallet of turf is heavy, so check whether the driver can reach your property and whether the rolls will be left at the kerb.
Turf Prices by Type
Not all turf is the same product, and the type you choose changes the price per square metre as much as the supplier does. Here is how the main types compare and who each one suits.
General purpose or utility turf is the cheapest and by far the most popular. It is usually a blend of Perennial Ryegrass and Fescues, grown to take children, dogs and garden furniture. If you want a green, hard wearing family lawn and you are happy to mow it once a week in summer, this is the one I would buy. Most of the prices in the table above are for this type.
Premium or ornamental turf contains a higher share of fine leaved Fescues and sometimes Bents, which gives a denser, finer finish closer to a bowling green. It costs more, often 20 to 50% above general purpose turf, and it needs more care: regular feeding, scarifying and a closer, more frequent cut. It is worth it for a formal front lawn that is looked at more than it is walked on, and wasted on a lawn that doubles as a football pitch.
Shade tolerant turf is grown from Fescue and Meadow Grass mixes that cope with less light. It costs noticeably more and is not stocked by every supplier. Even shade turf struggles in dense, dry shade under trees, so in those spots a shade seed mix or a planted alternative is often better value. Wildflower turf and meadow mats are a different product altogether, priced at several times the cost of lawn turf, and they are designed to be cut once or twice a year rather than mown.
When is turf cheapest?
Turf prices do not swing much through the year, but demand does. Spring is the busiest season, and popular delivery days book up weeks ahead in April and May. Autumn is quieter, it is the best time to lay turf in any case, and you are less likely to wait for a delivery slot. Some suppliers run offers in late summer and autumn, so it is worth checking before you order.
Is cheap turf worth it?
Sometimes. Cheaper turf from a well known grower, cut fresh and delivered the next day, can be excellent. What I would avoid is very cheap turf of unknown age sold off a forecourt pallet. It is often cut thin on poor soil, it has usually been rolled up for days, and in my experience it needs far more water to get going and is more likely to yellow and fail. A failed lawn costs you the turf twice, so a few pence more per roll for fresh turf from a reputable supplier is money well spent.
Cost to Lay Turf: DIY vs a Landscaper
Laying turf yourself saves most of the cost. Preparation is hard physical work, but it is not technical, and most people can prepare and lay a 50 square metre lawn over a weekend. Here is how the two options compare for a typical 50 square metre lawn on a site that needs the old grass removing.
🌿 Example: Turfing a 50m² Lawn
| Cost item | DIY | Landscaper |
|---|---|---|
| Turf (55 rolls with 10% extra, delivered) | £235 to £300 | Included or similar |
| Turf cutter hire for one day | Check local hire prices | Included |
| Compost, pre-turf fertiliser | £30 to £60 | Included |
| Topsoil (if needed, 2 to 3 tonnes) | £100 to £250 | Included |
| Waste removal (skip or bags) | £80 to £250 | Included |
| Labour | Your weekend | £500 to £1,500 (£10 to £30 per m²) |
| Typical total | £450 to £850 plus hire | £750 to £1,750 or more |
Labour figures are based on Checkatrade’s guide to turfing costs, which puts laying real turf at £10 to £30 per square metre and landscape gardener day rates at £180 to £280. Expect quotes at the upper end if the site has poor access, steep slopes, lots of old turf or rubble to remove, or needs drainage. Ground levelling is often charged separately, at around £20 per square metre.
When comparing quotes, look closely at what is included. A forum reader pricing up a returfing job found quotes for the same lawn varied hugely, mainly because some included a sub-base and membrane that a normal lawn doesn’t need. A lawn needs good topsoil, not hardcore. The best quotes spell out how deep they will dig, whether they’ll treat weeds, how much topsoil is included, and how they’ll level and firm the ground.
Extra Costs to Budget For
The turf itself is often only half of the bill. These are the extras that catch people out.
- Removing old turf: a turf cutter makes light work of anything over a few square metres. Hire shops rent them by the day.
- Waste: old turf and soil are heavy. Stacking old turf upside down to rot into loam saves the cost of a skip.
- Topsoil: new build gardens often need 5 to 10cm of extra BS3882 topsoil. Bulk bags are far cheaper than small bags for more than a few square metres.
- Soil improvers and fertiliser: compost to dig in and a pre-turf fertiliser to rake in before laying.
- Tools: a landscaping rake, a long plank and a sharp knife or half moon edger.
- Watering: a sprinkler and enough hose to reach every corner, plus the water itself if you are on a meter.
- Edging: metal lawn edging costs extra but saves years of trimming.
To work out topsoil, multiply length by width by depth in metres. A 50 square metre lawn needing 10cm of topsoil needs 5 cubic metres, which is about 6.5 to 7.5 tonnes. That is a lot of barrowing, so budget the time as well as the money.
Turf Roll Size and Thickness
Most UK turf is sold in rolls of one square metre. The standard roll is 61cm wide and 1.64m long, which is the size used by Rolawn, Mitchell Turf and most other suppliers. Some growers and garden centres still sell the older imperial roll of one square yard, which covers only 0.84 square metres, so check before you compare prices, because ten yard rolls cover 1.6 square metres less than ten metre rolls.
Turf is usually cut between 12mm and 25mm thick. Rolawn Medallion is cut at around 12.5mm, and Mitchell Turf at 25mm. Thinner turf is lighter, cheaper to deliver and roots quickly. Thicker turf carries more soil and holds moisture longer, which helps in dry weather. A one square metre roll typically weighs 15 to 20kg depending on how wet it is, so a delivery of 50 rolls is close to a tonne.
How Much Turf Do I Need?
Work out the area of your lawn in square metres, add 5 to 10% for cutting and waste, and round up to the nearest whole roll. Use 5% for a simple rectangle and 10% for curves, irregular shapes and lawns with lots of edges.
- Square or rectangle: length x width.
- Circle: 3.14 x radius x radius. A circle 6m across has a radius of 3m, so 3.14 x 3 x 3 = 28.3m².
- Oval: 3.14 x half the length x half the width.
- Triangle: half the base x the height.
- Irregular: split the lawn into simple shapes, work each out and add them together, or measure the smallest rectangle the whole lawn fits inside.
For example, a 10m by 5m rectangular lawn is 50 square metres. Add 5% and round up, and you need 53 rolls. If the same lawn has curved edges, add 10% and order 55 rolls. Leftover rolls are never wasted, because stacked grass side down they rot into excellent loam for top dressing.
Is Turf More Expensive Than Grass Seed?
Yes. Turf costs roughly five to twenty times as much as grass seed for the same area. Good lawn seed sown at 35 to 50g per square metre works out at around 20p to 60p per square metre, against £3.30 to £5 or more for delivered turf. For a 50 square metre lawn, that is around £10 to £30 in seed against £235 to £300 in turf.
🌿 Turf vs Seed Cost for a 50m² Lawn
| Grass seed | Rolled turf | |
|---|---|---|
| Material cost | £10 to £30 | £235 to £300 |
| Ground preparation | Same | Same |
| Ready for light use | 8 to 12 weeks | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Best time | Late August to September, or April to May | Any time the ground is workable |
| Extra costs | Bird protection, more weeding | More water in the first month |
What you are paying for with turf is time and certainty. It gives you a lawn ready for light use within a month and can be laid outside the sowing seasons. Seed is cheaper and lets you choose a mix for shade or a fine lawn, but needs more patience and care, as my guide to how long grass seed takes to grow shows. My guide on how to sow grass seed covers that route, and my guide to the best grass seed compares mixes.
Ways to Save Money on a New Lawn
The cheapest lawn is one that only needs laying once. Spend your budget on preparation before anything else, because cheap turf on well prepared soil will outperform premium turf laid on compacted clay every time.
Beyond that, order the right amount in a single delivery to get the best price break and avoid paying delivery twice. Lay it yourself if you are able, and ask a friend to help on the day, as two people can lay turf far faster than one. Stack old turf to rot down rather than paying to remove it. If budget is tight and you can wait, sow seed instead, or consider a smaller lawn with more planting around it. My guide to alternatives to lawns has some ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions About Turf Costs
How much is turf per m² in the UK?
Rolled turf costs about £4.25 to £5.40 per square metre delivered for a typical order of 40 to 100 rolls, based on UK supplier prices in October 2026. Orders of 100 rolls or more can drop to around £3.30, and very small orders of 10 to 19 rolls can cost £9 to £10 per roll because delivery is spread over fewer rolls.
How much does it cost to turf a 50m² garden?
Turf for a 50 square metre lawn costs around £235 to £300 delivered, including 10% extra for cutting. With compost, fertiliser and waste removal, a DIY job usually totals £450 to £850. A landscaper will typically charge £750 to £1,750 or more to prepare and lay it, depending on access, levelling and old turf removal.
How many rolls of turf do I need?
Measure the lawn area in square metres, add 5% for a simple rectangle or 10% for curves and irregular shapes, then round up. Most UK turf is sold in one square metre rolls, so a 50 square metre lawn needs 53 to 55 rolls. Check whether your supplier sells metre or yard rolls first.
Is turf more expensive than grass seed?
Yes, turf costs roughly five to twenty times more than seed. Seed for a 50 square metre lawn costs around £10 to £30, while turf for the same area costs £235 to £300 delivered. Turf is ready for light use within a month, while seed takes eight to twelve weeks before it can take light use.
How much does a landscaper charge to lay turf?
Landscapers in the UK typically charge £10 to £30 per square metre to lay turf, according to Checkatrade’s 2026 cost guide, with day rates of £180 to £280. Levelling, old turf removal and topsoil are often extra. Always ask for a written quote that lists the preparation included.
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Working out the cost of a lawn is a good habit to carry into the rest of the garden. My online garden design courses show you how to plan the whole space on paper first, so you know where your budget is going before you buy a single plant or paving slab.
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Summary: Turf Cost in the UK
In October 2026, delivered turf costs about £4.25 to £5.40 per square metre for most garden sized orders, falling to around £3.30 for 100 rolls or more and rising to £9 or £10 per roll for small orders. A 50 square metre lawn costs £235 to £300 in turf, £450 to £850 as a full DIY job, or roughly £750 to £1,750 with a landscaper.
Use the calculator above to get figures for your lawn, add 5 to 10% for cutting, and put your money into good preparation. When you are ready to lay it, follow my step by step guide on how to lay turf, then my new turf aftercare guide for the first eight weeks.
Happy Gardening!
Lee Burkhill
Lee Burkhill, known as the Garden Ninja, is an award-winning garden designer and horticulturist with over 30 years of gardening experience and 15 years as a professional garden designer. A qualified RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) professional, Lee specialises in sustainable garden design and practical horticultural advice. He designs and presents on BBC1’s Garden Rescue and in leading gardening publications. Lee combines three decades of hands-on gardening knowledge with professional design qualifications to help gardeners create beautiful, functional outdoor spaces.
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