How to figure artificial turf by the roll, not the square foot
The yard that took 750 square feet of turf
The side yard's 16 feet wide and 25 feet deep. You walk it twice to be sure. 400 square feet.
The homeowner wants it done before the dog tears up what's left of the grass. You tell her you'll have a number tonight.
At the kitchen table you do what everybody does. 400 square feet, plus ten percent for waste. You price it on 440 and send it.
Delivery day. The roll comes off the truck 15 feet wide. Your crew runs the first drop down the length of the yard and it fits. Almost. Along the fence there's a strip a foot wide with nothing on it.
You can't buy a one foot roll. You can't turn a scrap sideways to fill it either, because the blades all lean one way and a piece laid crossways shows from the street. The only fix is another full drop, 15 feet wide and 25 feet long.
So the yard you priced at 440 square feet takes 750. The difference comes out of your pocket.
What stings is that it didn't have to. Run the rolls across the yard instead of down it and two shorter drops cover it with 480. Same yard. Nobody laid it out before the number went out.
Sometimes the grain has to run one way so it looks right from the back door. Sometimes it doesn't. Either way, that choice was worth 270 square feet, and it got made on delivery day instead of at the kitchen table.
Sketch the 15 foot drops before you price
Lay the strips out on paper first, fifteen feet at a time, the way the roll comes off the truck. Whatever's left over is your waste, and it's almost never ten percent.
Put that waste inside your rate. The homeowner sees 400 square feet. Show her 750 and she'll ask you to stitch the scraps together.