Who to hire for a lawn to replace

What to do before anyone arrives

1. 1Measure the area and note how many hours of direct sun it gets. Shade tolerance is the difference between a lawn that establishes and one that thins out within a season.
2. 2Work out where the water goes. Turf laid on a site that puddles will fail there every year.
3. 3Decide on irrigation before the turf goes down, because retrofitting it means lifting the lawn.
4. 4Check whether the old lawn is a running grass such as kikuyu or couch. If it is, it will come back through unless it is properly removed or killed first.

What to ask when you book

• What preparation is included — removal, levelling, soil, and to what depth?
• Which variety, and why that one for this aspect?
• What is the watering schedule for the first month, and is a warranty conditional on it?
• Is irrigation included or is that separate?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

• Area.
• Removal and disposal of the old lawn.
• Soil and levelling — the underspecified part of most cheap quotes.
• Turf variety.
• Irrigation.
• Access for a truck and a bobcat, or whether everything is barrowed.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Not licensed work.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

• NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
• VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
• QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
• WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
• SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
• TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
• ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
• NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for a lawn to replace

A landscaper or turf supplier who does installation. The turf is the cheapest part of the decision — what matters is removing the old lawn properly, getting the levels and the drainage right, preparing a suitable soil profile, and choosing a variety that suits the sun the site actually gets.

Why did my new turf die?

Most often watering in the establishment period — new turf needs far more water, far more often, than established lawn, and a fortnight of neglect in summer is fatal. The other two common causes are laying over poor or compacted soil with no preparation, and choosing a sun-loving variety for a shaded site.

Who to hire for

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