Weeks 1–3: quoting and specification
A site visit, measurements, a discussion about drainage and access, and a written quote. This is the stage to ask the questions that matter: excavation depth, aggregate type and depth, where water will exit, edge fixing method, infill type and quantity, turf face weight and UV warranty. Expect to see samples, and expect to be talked out of the longest pile in the range if your yard has a dog and two children.
Access is assessed here too. If the only route to the backyard is a 900mm side gate, everything — spoil out, aggregate in, turf in — goes through it by wheelbarrow, and that shows up in the labour line of the quote.
Week 4: scheduling and materials
Turf is ordered and cut to your dimensions. Locally manufactured product typically has short lead times; imported stock depends on what is in the warehouse. Confirm the start date, arrange a place for the skip, and check whether you need to move anything — a trampoline, a clothesline, a raised bed.
Day 1: demolition and excavation
The loudest day. Existing lawn and topsoil come out to 100–150mm, spoil is carted away, and the sub-grade is shaped to fall towards the drainage outlet. Your yard will look considerably worse than when it started. This is normal.
Day 2: base construction
Drainage coil or scoria layer goes in if the design calls for it. Aggregate is spread and compacted in lifts, each pass with a plate compactor or roller. The fine bedding layer is screeded and compacted to a flat, firm finish. By the end of this day the yard looks like a tidy grey pad, and 90 per cent of the durability of the installation has been determined.
Day 3: laying, seaming and infill
Rolls are brought in, laid out with consistent pile direction and left to relax. Then cutting, seaming on tape, trimming to the perimeter, mechanical fixing to the edge, and infill brushed in and worked down through the pile. The transformation happens in a couple of hours and is the reason installers get sent photographs by delighted clients that afternoon.
Day 4 onwards
Site tidy, a brush-up, and a walk-through covering maintenance and warranty documentation. The surface is usable immediately — no establishment period, no watering-in, no keeping off it. That immediacy is one of the underrated advantages of choosing artificial grass new zealand installers can lay in a working week rather than a growing season.
What can extend the timeline
Sustained rain during excavation, because you cannot compact a saturated sub-grade. Unexpected services found during digging. Poor access. And drainage discoveries — occasionally excavation reveals why the lawn failed in the first place, and the fix has to be designed before the base goes in.
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