What the sod for a lawn costs
Pieces, then pallets, then prices. A lawn 50 by 40 feet is 2,000 square feet; with 10% for the cuts it takes 825 slabs of 16 by 24 inches, which is 4.85 pallets of 170. At the reference price of $230.00 a pallet, five whole pallets come to $1,150.00, with 25 slabs over. Four pallets and 145 loose slabs would be $1,352.10, so the fifth pallet is the cheaper way to buy the last 0.85.
The pallet price is The Grass Outlet's for a 450 square foot pallet of St. Augustine in January 2025. Every price on the page is a box: type your farm's pallet price and its price for a loose piece, and the table works all three ways of buying again and picks the cheapest.
What a pallet costs
It depends on the grass more than on anything else. The prices The Grass Outlet listed for a 450 square foot pallet:
| Grass | A pallet | A square foot |
|---|---|---|
| St. Augustine | $205–240 | $0.46–0.53 |
| Bermuda | $220–240 | $0.49–0.53 |
| Zoysia | $315 | $0.70 |
Purdue Extension's sod guide put Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue at $1.50 to $3.00 a square yard in 2013, about $0.17 to $0.33 a square foot, before installation. A loose piece costs more than one off a pallet; we read no shelf price for one, so the $2.98 a slab here is our estimate, about twice the pallet's price a square foot.
What else is on the list
Two rows under the sod, both priced beside them. The soil, if your ground needs it: Penn State Extension works a 1 to 2 inch layer of compost into the top 4 to 6 inches, and at 2 inches this lawn takes 12.5 cubic yards, $522.50 delivered at the reference prices. It starts unticked, so the cost at the top is the sod alone until you tick it. And sod staples, for any area you mark as a steep slope — two a piece, sold in boxes of 100 and 500.
What is not here
Labour. We found no figure for laying sod we could cite: the national ranges in cost guides come with no source, and a number that is wrong everywhere is worse than a quote you get. What this page gives you is the material in that quote, which is the half you can check. Delivery is the farm's to price; three or more pallets will not fit in a pickup. We are not connected with any farm, store or supplier named here.