How to measure your lawn for turf
An accurate measurement is the difference between one clean delivery and an expensive second trip. Here's how to measure any lawn — even the awkward ones — and get a reliable figure in square metres.
What you'll need
A measuring tape or wheel is ideal. A 30 m tape is worth borrowing for the job. No tape? You can pace it out — an adult stride is close to 0.75 m, so count your steps and multiply. It's not surveyor-accurate, but paired with a sensible wastage margin it's close enough to order.
Step 1: sketch the lawn
Draw a rough bird's-eye view of your yard on paper or your phone. Mark the lawn areas and leave out anything that isn't turf — paths, decks, the shed, garden beds. You're only paying for grass, so measuring around obstacles saves real money.
Step 2: break it into simple shapes
Almost every lawn can be split into rectangles, with the occasional triangle or circle. Divide yours into the fewest simple shapes possible and measure each one:
- Rectangles: length × width.
- Triangles (corners, wedges): 0.5 × base × height.
- Circles (round features): 3.14 × radius².
Write each measurement straight onto your sketch so nothing gets lost.
Step 3: handle slopes correctly
A sloped lawn has more surface area than it appears from above, because you're covering the incline, not the flat "footprint". Measure along the surface of the slope with your tape following the ground, rather than measuring the horizontal distance. For steep or terraced yards, measure each level as its own rectangle and add them together.
Step 4: add it all up
Total every shape to get your lawn area in m². Then add your wastage percentage — 5% for simple shapes, up to 10% for curvy or obstacle-heavy yards. That final number is what you order.
Step 5: sanity-check with the calculator
Enter each section into the turf calculator as a separate area. It keeps a running total, applies your wastage, and tells you how many pallets that works out to — a quick way to confirm your hand measurements before you call the supplier.
Common measuring mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Measuring the whole yard, including paths and beds | Only measure grass; subtract non-turf areas |
| Ignoring the slope | Follow the ground surface, not the flat distance |
| Forgetting wastage | Always add 5–10% for cuts and offcuts |
| Rounding down to save money | Round up — running short costs more than a spare slab |