How many square feet is a pallet of sod?

Between 400 and 700, and the farm decides — there is no standard. 450 sq ft is common in the north, 500 in the south. Ask before ordering: the difference between 400 and 500 across four pallets is a whole extra pallet.

How much sod waste should I allow?

Five per cent on a rectangle. Ten to fifteen where the lawn curves around beds or a drive, because every curve is cut from a straight piece and the offcut is usually too narrow to use. Sod cannot be ordered late — the farm cuts to order and the next cut may be days away.

About 2.5 lb per square foot when freshly cut and wet, so a 450 sq ft pallet weighs over half a ton. That is why it comes on a truck with a forklift, and why the pallet has to be dropped where you can reach it with a barrow.

How long can sod sit before it is laid?

A day in warm weather, two or three in cool. Stacked turf composts itself: the middle of a pallet heats, and the grass yellows and then dies from the inside. Order it for the morning you are laying, not the week before.

Sod Calculator

With lawn length 50 ft, lawn width 30 ft, waste for shaping 5 %, square feet per pallet 450 sq ft, sod comes to 1,575 sq ft — sod to order. It is reached in 5 steps, the last of which is 1500 * (1 + 5 / 100), and each one is printed on the page with its numbers filled in. The formula is the one published by Turfgrass Producers International, not an approximation fitted to it.

Rolls and pallets of sod for a lawn, from the area and the roll size the farm cuts, with the waste a shaped lawn actually needs.

Formula and sources checked 16 August 2026 · How we check

Lawn length 50 ft, Lawn width 30 ft, Roll size Roll 2 × 5 ft — 10 sq ft, Waste for shaping 5

1,575 sq ft

Sod to order for the example below. Editing a field recomputes the calculator below; this figure holds the answer the page was loaded with.

It is written into the HTML rather than drawn by a script, so a search engine reading this page without running JavaScript still finds an answer.

Lawn lengthLawn widthRoll sizeWaste for shaping%5% for a rectangle, 10% or more for curves and island beds.Square feet per palletsq ftFarms vary: 400 to 700 sq ft is the usual range.

Sod to order

1,575 sq ft

Area to turf: 50 * 301,500 sq ft
Area to order: 1500 * (1 + 5 / 100)1,575 sq ft
Pieces of sod: ceil(1575 / 10)158 pieces
Pallets: ceil(1575 / 450)4 pallets
Weight to move: 1575 * 2.53,937.5 lb

Several at once

A job is rarely one of anything. Work out the first, add it, change the figures and add the next — the list keeps what each line was, and totals them.

Ask about this in the chat

Worked example

A 50 × 30 ft lawn is 1,500 sq ft, ordered as 1,575 once 5% is added for shaping. In 10 sq ft rolls that is 158 pieces and four pallets — and about 3,900 lb of wet turf, which is why it arrives on a truck with a forklift.

How to work it out yourself

1.Measure the lawn in feet and multiply for square feet. Break an odd shape into rectangles and add them.
2.Add 5% for a straight-edged lawn, 10% or more where the edges curve.
3.Divide by the coverage of one piece for the roll count, and by the pallet coverage for the number of pallets.
4.Order for delivery on the day you will lay it — sod on a pallet in summer starts to heat within about 24 hours.

What does it cost?

Typical price is $0.3–$0.9 per sq ft. Farm price, picked up. Delivery is a flat trip charge; installation adds labour and usually soil preparation.

Typical prices per sq ft, as of 2026
Item	Typical price
Sod, picked up at the farm	$0.3–$0.7 per sq ft
Sod, delivered	$0.4–$0.9 per sq ft
Sod installed	$1–$2.5 per sq ft
Pallet deposit	$15–$40 per pallet

Price ranges as of 2026. Materials pricing moves — treat these as a sanity check on a quote, not as a quote.

The formula

Area to turf50 * 30
Area to order1500 * (1 + 5 / 100)
Pieces of sodceil(1575 / 10)
Palletsceil(1575 / 450)
Weight to move1575 * 2.5

Source: Turfgrass Producers International, USDA NRCS — establishing turfgrass

Questions people actually ask

How many square feet is a pallet of sod?: Between 400 and 700, and the farm decides — there is no standard. 450 sq ft is common in the north, 500 in the south. Ask before ordering: the difference between 400 and 500 across four pallets is a whole extra pallet.
How much sod waste should I allow?: Five per cent on a rectangle. Ten to fifteen where the lawn curves around beds or a drive, because every curve is cut from a straight piece and the offcut is usually too narrow to use. Sod cannot be ordered late — the farm cuts to order and the next cut may be days away.
How heavy is sod?: About 2.5 lb per square foot when freshly cut and wet, so a 450 sq ft pallet weighs over half a ton. That is why it comes on a truck with a forklift, and why the pallet has to be dropped where you can reach it with a barrow.
How long can sod sit before it is laid?: A day in warm weather, two or three in cool. Stacked turf composts itself: the middle of a pallet heats, and the grass yellows and then dies from the inside. Order it for the morning you are laying, not the week before.

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