Turfing that starts with the ground, not the turf.
New lawns in Doncaster from £22 per m² including strip-out, levelling, fresh topsoil and laying. Not turf-only. Drainage sorted for clay gardens. One to two days, one person.
A finished lawn on a real job in Sprotbrough/img/sprotbrough-lawn-finished.jpg · 1800×1012
You'll see turf advertised at £8 a square metre. That's the turf. It's a fair price for a roll of grass, and if you lay it on the mess that's already there you'll have a lumpy, patchy lawn that holds water by Christmas. My £22/m² is the whole job: strip out the old lawn or whatever's there, dig and level the ground with the machine, bring in screened topsoil, rake and firm it, and lay the turf so the joints are tight and the levels are true.
On most Doncaster gardens the ground needs work. New-build gardens in Rossington, Cantley and Woodfield have subsoil and builders' rubble a spade's depth down, with a skin of topsoil over it. Older gardens in Bentley and Armthorpe are clay that's been walked on for fifty years. If your lawn floods, turf alone won't fix it; a land drain or a layer of sharp sand worked into the top 100mm will, and I'll tell you which.
The lawn Joanne left a review about was one of these: a garden that had never drained, stripped, drained and re-laid. She said it was the best quote she had, which I'll take.
from £22/m²
Typically 1–2 days on site
What moves the price:
- Size: £22/m² is for lawns around 50m² and above. Small front lawns cost a bit more per metre
- What's coming out: old turf is easy; a patio, decking or a rubble-filled new-build garden isn't
- Topsoil depth: some gardens need 50mm, some need 150mm
- Drainage: if the lawn floods, a land drain is £1,150 upwards on top, and it's the reason the new one will work
Strip
Old grass and weeds off with a turf cutter or the excavator bucket, rubble picked out, spoil away.
Level and drain
Ground reduced or built up to the levels you want, falling gently away from the house. Drainage or sand on clay.
Topsoil
50 to 100mm of screened topsoil, raked to a fine tilth, heeled and raked again so there are no soft spots.
Lay
Fresh-cut turf laid the day it's delivered, staggered joints, boards to walk on, edges cut in, watered before I leave.
The same garden at the start, before it was stripped, levelled and turfed/img/sprotbrough-lawn-beginning.jpg · 1600×1067
A few more, start to finish.
Another Sprotbrough garden before work started/img/sprotbrough-lawn-2-beginning.jpg · 1200×800
The same garden finished/img/sprotbrough-lawn-finished-2.jpg · 1200×800
A third angle of the finished lawn/img/sprotbrough-lawn-finished-3.jpg · 1200×800
A different finished lawn, tight joints and a clean edge/img/sprot-lawn-finished-4.jpg · 1200×800
Turf rolls laid out ready to go down on a job in Scawsby/img/turf-scawsby-progress.jpg · 1200×800
The finished lawn in Scawsby/img/turf-scawsby-finished.jpg · 1200×800
How much does it cost to turf a garden in Doncaster?
From £22 per m² including strip-out, levelling, topsoil and laying. A 60m² back garden is around £1,700. If you just want turf laid on ground you've already prepared, I'll do that for less, but I'll look at the ground first.
When's the best time to lay turf?
Autumn and spring are ideal: warm ground, regular rain. Summer's fine if you water it every day for a fortnight. I lay through winter too as long as the ground isn't frozen.
Can you fix a lawn that's always waterlogged?
Yes, and turf on its own won't. A French drain or a sand-slit system under the new lawn, run to a soakaway or gully, is the answer. It's most of the wet gardens I see in Bentley, Thorne and Armthorpe.
Do you do artificial grass?
No. It gets hot, it needs a base like a patio, it doesn't drain like grass and it goes to landfill after twelve years. I'll do you a real lawn that drains.
One person accountable, start to finish.
I'm Jack. I price it, I'm on the tools for it, and it's my name on it. Twelve years on site, a first-class degree in construction management, SMSTS and First Aid, and I operate the excavator myself. Where a job wants more hands I bring in people I've worked with for years and I run them. I cover Doncaster and everywhere within about half an hour of it: Bessacarr, Bawtry, Tickhill, Armthorpe, Thorne, Sprotbrough, Mexborough and over into Rotherham. More about me.
- 5.0 stars on Google6 reviews from real customers
- Fully insuredPublic liability
- SMSTS and First AidLegally qualified to run a UK construction site under CDM
- BSc (Hons) Construction Project Management, First ClassSheffield Hallam University, degree apprenticeship
- CIOB Certificate of ExcellenceChartered Institute of Building
- Twelve years on siteUK and Australia, £10m+ delivered as project manager
- Three full back to brick house renovationsTwo in Scawsby, one in Sprotbrough
- All aspects of groundworksAnd I operate the plant myself
Want a price for turfing & lawn preparation?
Send a few photos and your postcode. I'll usually come back the same day.