How much does 1,000 square feet of artificial turf cost?
A 1,000 square foot artificial turf install in the Inland Empire runs roughly $9,000 to $14,000, or $9 to $14 per square foot. That price covers demolition, hauling, four inches of compacted base rock, weed barrier, turf, infill, seaming, and edge nailing. Access, demo, and drainage move the number more than the turf itself.
Last updated: July 2026
A thousand square feet is roughly a 25 by 40 backyard. It is the most common size we quote in Hemet and San Jacinto, and it is almost always the whole back lawn of a tract home built between 1998 and 2006.
The turf is not the expensive part. People are surprised by that.
Where the money actually goes
On a 1,000 square foot job we haul out somewhere near 12 to 15 tons of soil and old sod, then bring back 12 to 14 tons of Class II base rock to replace it. Two loads out, two loads in. That is a dump fee, a truck, and most of a day.
| Line item | Share of a 1,000 sq ft job | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| Demo and haul-off | 15 to 20 percent | $1,400 to $2,400 |
| Base rock and compaction | 20 to 25 percent | $2,000 to $3,200 |
| Turf material | 25 to 30 percent | $2,500 to $3,800 |
| Infill | 5 to 8 percent | $500 to $1,000 |
| Install labor, seams, edging | 25 to 30 percent | $2,500 to $3,600 |
What pushes a job to the top of the range
Gate width. If the side yard gate is 32 inches, everything moves by wheelbarrow, and a wheelbarrow holds about 250 pounds of rock. Twenty-eight tons of material through a 32 inch gate is a different job than the same yard with a 10 foot RV gate.
Then there is drainage. Older Hemet and Valle Vista lots were graded to sheet water toward the side yard, and half of them stopped doing that after somebody poured a patio slab in 2011. If water pools in the back corner now, it will pool under the turf later. Correcting that means a French drain, which adds $1,200 to $2,500.
Pet yards
Dog yards get zeolite infill instead of plain silica. Costs more, holds ammonia instead of letting it cook off at 108 degrees in August. Worth it. See our pet-friendly turf page for the build detail.
Does a bigger yard cost less per square foot?
Yes, up to a point. Mobilization, dump runs, and the compactor rental cost the same whether we do 400 square feet or 1,400. A 400 square foot front yard often prices out near $15 per square foot. At 1,000 we are usually at $10 to $12. Past 2,000 it flattens out.
So the honest answer for a small side yard is that you are paying for the truck showing up, not the grass.
What we will not cut
Base depth. We run three to four inches of Class II compacted in two lifts to 90 percent. There are crews out here doing two inches in a single lift and finishing a yard in one day.
Their yards look identical to ours on handover day. Ask again in four years, when the traffic paths have dished out an inch and the seams have opened.
Turf we install carries a 16-year manufacturer warranty against UV breakdown. That warranty is worthless on a bad pad.
Most 1,000 square foot installs take us two to three working days. We work across San Jacinto, Hemet, Menifee, and out to the Coachella Valley, and the estimate is free and written per square foot before anybody touches a shovel.
If we did your yard, mention the city and the service in your Google review. That is how your neighbors find us.