Are you unsure about whether installing artificial grass yourself is a good idea?

Maybe you’ve heard that hiring an artificial grass specialist is the way to go, but you like the idea of cutting down on costs. Many of our customers have had the same idea. However, when they find out how much work is involved, most of them usually change their minds!

Also, to ensure your artificial grass lasts its full lifespan (15 – 20 years), the levels need to be perfect and joins need to be carried out to a high standard to avoid tripping hazards.

There is an art to installing fake grass, and if it’s not done correctly, it could lead to costly mistakes! It’s also not as straightforward as it seems, and you will need specialist tools.

However, there’s technically nothing to stop you carrying out the installation yourself. As an artificial grass specialist, I’ve listed some of the pros and cons of both options, below.

Installing artificial grass yourself

Yes, regardless of what I said above, you CAN successfully install artificial grass yourself!But it is a lot of work, and you have to be aware of what can happen if you don’t install it properly.

The pros:

• You’ll be cutting down the costs of labour, as opposed to hiring a specialist to do the work for you
• The responsibility of the outcome of your lawn is entirely yours
• The installation is done to your timescale – no having to wait around for someone else
• You won’t have to worry about dealing with strangers on your property

The cons:

• It’s very labour-intensive
• More work goes into it than first meets the eye
• Getting it wrong could be very costly
• You’ll need specialist tools* to complete the job – which can vastly reduce the money you’ll save
• It’ll take time to learn how to do it correctly
• You’ll have to hire a skip to dispose of all the waste and materials
• Joining the grass requires a lot of skill and patience – and this is trickier the larger your garden is

Hiring an artificial grass specialist

Now, let’s look at how hiring an artificial grass specialist compares.

The pros:

• All the hard work is done for you
• You can benefit from a specialist’s expertise and knowledge
• They’ll be able to give you advice and options for the perfect garden
• You won’t have to buy any specialist tools
• There’s no need to hire a skip – it should be part of the service
• Many specialists have their own grass range for installations
• You’ll have ultimate peace of mind that your lawn will be installed correctly

The cons:

• It’s more expensive to hire a professional
• You’re putting your trust in a company to do a good job
• The job will be completed to their schedule – when they can book you in
• You may need to take time off work if the only access is through your house

Advice from an artificial grass specialist

We would highly recommend hiring a professional to carry out your fake grass installation. Otherwise, it can be very costly if it goes wrong. With the technical side of fitting the edging and joining the grass, it’s advised that you hire a specialist to avoid having to rectify any mistakes later.

Also, it’s worth noting that if the ground needs levelled out (for instance on a slope), it can be very labour intensive. A specialist will take care of all of this and dispose of any waste with a skip.

If you’re doing the job yourself, it can also spread out over several weekends, and obstacles may occur once the ground has been dug up, so can lead to complications a specialist will know how to handle.

We had a customer who had tried to install artificial themselves in their front garden. It was a medium-sized area, around 16 square metres. The customer thought it would be pretty straightforward. However, once they’d dug up the ground and were ready to install the sub-base, they decided to call us instead.

The reason? They simply hadn’t realised how labour-intensive it would be – as well as time-consuming! The customer needed the lawn installed for his daughter’s wedding, and time was creeping up on him. He was worried he wouldn’t get it done on time, and that it wouldn’t look as good as a professional installation.

We happily took over the installation, and built up a new sub-base to ensure good drainage. We then compacted the levelled off the ground correctly, before fitting artificial grass. The customer was very happy with the end result.

Conclusion

I hope this blog has helped to give you a better idea of how installing artificial grass yourself compares to hiring an artificial grass specialist. It may seem like you’re saving money to install yourself, but you have to ensure you don’t make any mistakes, otherwise it could end up costing you a lot more.

You’d also need your own specialist tools, and it can be very labour-intensive – possibly even taking up several weekends! That’s why hiring a specialist takes all of the pressure off, and lets you sit back and relax.

Do you have any questions about professional artificial grass installations? Let me know in the comments’ section. I’d love to hear from you, and I promise to reply!