Last updated: July 2026
Does "grass where it's possible" apply to a Hemet backyard?
Grass works in an Inland Empire yard when the yard has shade, drainage, and an owner who will water it through a 110 degree August. Most do not. That is why we install artificial turf on the majority of Hemet and San Jacinto yards, and real sod on the rest.
Sean Payton told reporters he expects more NFL fields to go back to natural grass "where it's possible." Two words are doing all the work in that sentence.
Green Bay can grow grass. Phoenix rolls a tray of it in and out of the building between games. A 900 square foot backyard with west sun, a block wall on three sides, and no tree cover sits a lot closer to Phoenix.
When we still put down real sod
We install sod. Some weeks it is on the truck as often as turf.
North facing yards in the older Hemet neighborhoods off Florida Avenue hold grass fine. Shade from a mature ash, a pad that drains toward the street instead of ponding at the slab, and an irrigation system that already works. Those are the jobs where we talk a customer out of turf.
Steve says it plainly on the walkthrough. If the yard already grows grass without a fight, do not pay us to tear it out.
But the yards we get called to look different. Dead fescue that went brown in June, three rotor heads throwing at each other, and a homeowner who has been paying to irrigate a lawn nobody sits on.
Artificial turf vs natural grass on an Inland Empire yard
| Factor | Natural grass (sod) | Artificial turf |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Lower the day it goes down | $9 to $14 per square foot installed, residential |
| Summer water | Daily irrigation through July and August | Hose rinse as needed |
| Mowing and edging | Weekly in growing season | None |
| Full sun performance | Thins and browns without heavy water | Holds color, reads hot underfoot in direct afternoon sun |
| Shade tolerance | Needs it in the desert half of our area | Indifferent |
| Coverage | Lives as long as it is watered | 16-year manufacturer warranty on the turf |
| Dogs | Urine spots and dig holes | Drains through, no bare patches |
What "possible" costs on a residential job
The stadium version of this argument is about knees and cleat release. The backyard version is about the base.
Our turf builds run four inches of Class II base compacted in two lifts to 90 percent, graded to fall away from the house at roughly a quarter inch per foot. Seams are glued and nailed, and infill goes in at about two pounds per square foot, brushed against the grain so the blades stand up.
Skip the second compaction lift and the yard reads soft in year three. That is the shortcut that makes people distrust turf, not the turf itself.
The HOA question
Newer tracts around Winchester and east Menifee still ask for a product sample and a drainage note before approving a front yard swap. We send the spec sheet with the bid so the approval is not sitting on the homeowner.
So which one goes in your yard
Shade and drainage, we will quote you sod. Full sun, dogs, or a yard that has already killed two lawns, we quote artificial turf. We wrote up a two year side by side comparison from a San Jacinto job if you want the longer version, and our Hemet turf page covers what installs look like on that side of the valley.
Payton is right about the caveat. He is talking about a field with a full grounds crew and a budget. Most of the yards we walk have neither.
The turf we lay in July gets walked on in July. That is the entire argument.