Turf is one line item. A real material order has eight. TurfBrain calculates all of them — from the strip layout, automatically — so you never show up to a job short on adhesive or heavy on base rock.
Try It FreeMost turf estimating tools (and most spreadsheets) calculate one thing well: how many square feet of turf you need. But placing an order for a turf installation job requires a lot more than that.
A typical residential install needs: turf rolls at specific lengths, base rock or decomposed granite (in tons, not square feet), infill at a specific weight per square foot, seam tape by the linear foot, seam adhesive by the tube, bender board or edging by the linear foot, landscape staples by the box, and weed barrier by the square foot.
Miss any of those, and you're making a mid-job material run. Order too much, and it sits in your shop. Get the base rock formula wrong, and you're either short (crew is standing around) or heavy (you paid for material you didn't need).
Every material quantity is derived from your actual layout — the yard polygon, the strip placement, and the perimeter measurements. Change the shape, and every number recalculates.
Turf rolls: Number of strips, each with exact dimensions. Not “order 650 square feet” — the actual pieces your crew will cut: 15' × 22.4', 15' × 18.9', etc.
Base material: Calculated using sq ft ÷ 100 × 1.4 for a standard 3-inch compacted depth. This includes the compaction factor that the simplified area × depth ÷ 27 formula misses. The result is in tons, ready to order from your supplier.
Infill: Calculated at your specified rate (lbs per square foot) across the actual turf coverage area. Whether you're using silica sand at 1.5 lbs/sf or zeolite at 2.5 lbs/sf, the total is calculated to the pound.
Seam tape: Calculated from the linear footage of seams in your strip layout. A two-strip job has one seam. A five-strip job might have four. The tape quantity matches the actual layout, not a flat estimate.
Seam adhesive: Number of tubes based on seam linear footage at standard coverage rates. Rounded up — you never want to be one tube short.
Bender board / edging: Calculated from the perimeter of your yard polygon. Accounts for the actual path around the turf area, including cutouts.
Landscape staples: Box count based on turf area at standard staple spacing.
Weed barrier: Square footage matching your turf coverage area.
A material takeoff isn't just about ordering. It's about knowing your cost.
When every line item has a quantity AND a unit price (your supplier pricing, entered once and saved), the total material cost for the job is calculated automatically. Add your labor rate and overhead, and you have a real job cost — not a guess.
That's how you price confidently. That's how you protect your margin. And that's how you avoid the “we'll absorb it” habit that quietly eats 5-8% of every job.
The takeoff updates every time you adjust the layout. Move a strip, the seam tape recalculates. Change the yard shape, the base rock adjusts. Swap the infill type, the cost per square foot changes.
No formulas to maintain. No spreadsheet cells to check. The layout IS the takeoff — they're the same calculation, not two separate processes stitched together.
Draw the yard. Get the full takeoff — turf, base, infill, tape, adhesive, edging, and staples. All from the layout.
Start Free Trial