Lawn & Turf Installers
Turfing & Artificial Grass in Birmingham
Fresh cut natural turf and artificial grass installed throughout Birmingham and the West Midlands, over a base built to move water away rather than hold it at the surface.
The Grass Is The Last Thing To Go Down
Turf and artificial grass get sold as a one day job, and on the morning the rolls come off the pallet it can look like one. The work that decides whether the lawn is still worth having in three years happens before that: stripping the old surface out instead of laying over it, taking the levels down far enough that the finished grass sits where you want it, and building the ground back up in a form that lets water move. Skip that and the two surfaces fail in their own separate ways. Natural turf thins, goes to moss and holds water in the low spots. Artificial grass ripples, traps silt in the pile and starts to smell where nothing can drain through it.
The two products want different things underneath, so we treat them as different jobs. Natural turf goes onto cultivated, screened topsoil at a depth roots can actually work in, graded and firmed, with the rolls laid tight, staggered at the joints and rolled in. Artificial grass goes over compacted stone with a laying course, a geotextile between the two, a fixed perimeter to hold the edge and joints that are taped rather than left to open up. With over 20 years of experience in garden construction around Birmingham we have lifted enough failed lawns to know that nearly all of them were laid straight onto whatever happened to be there. We do the digging first and the grass last.
Base First, Grass Second
Natural Turf Laying
Screened topsoil cultivated and graded, with fresh cut rolls laid tight and rolled in on the day they are delivered.
Artificial Grass Fitting
Compacted stone base, laying course, geotextile and a fixed perimeter, with seams jointed and the pile brushed up.
Strip Out & Levels
Old turf, roots and spoil dug out and carted away so the new surface finishes at the level you want it.
Edging & Perimeters
Treated timber, sleepers or paved kerbs to hold the edge, so the grass cannot lift, creep or fray at the joints.
Free Draining Make-Up
A build up with voids in it, a fall to a defined low point, and land drainage where the ground will not take water.
Topsoil & Cultivation
Imported screened topsoil, rotavating and grading where the existing ground is too compacted or too thin for roots.
Artificial Grass Is Not A Zero Maintenance Lawn
It gets sold as fit and forget, and that is not honest. An artificial lawn still wants brushing so the pile stands back up, leaves and blossom clearing before they break down into the surface, and a rinse through where dogs use it. What it genuinely does away with is mowing, feeding and watering, and that is the real reason most people choose it. Say that plainly at quoting stage and the customer is happy three years in. Say nothing and they ring in October wondering why water is sitting on the surface, when the answer is a pile full of leaf mould over a base that used to drain perfectly well.
Worth Knowing Before You Order
Grass Still Has To Let The Water Through
Lawns sit at the soft end of landscaping, so people assume no rules touch them at all. Two things do, and both come back to water. Whether a run of artificial grass behaves as a hard surface depends entirely on how it is built up underneath, and natural turf has to be watered hard through its first few weeks, which is a water company matter rather than a council one. Both are far cheaper to plan around at the quoting stage than to unpick afterwards.
Which of these actually bites comes down to your ground, your levels and where in the plot the lawn is going, so read the four below as the things we work through on site rather than a ruling on your garden.
Does an artificial lawn count as a hard surface?
There is no blanket answer, and anyone telling you artificial grass is automatically exempt from everything is guessing. In drainage terms what matters is the build up, not the grass itself. A permeable stone base with a geotextile above it and a perforated backing lets rain pass into the ground much as the old lawn did. The same grass bonded down over a solid impermeable slab with no route out is behaving like a paved surface, and that water has to go somewhere. The distinction matters most in a front garden, where surfacing between the house and the road carries restrictions our patios and paving page sets out in full. In a back garden it is a performance question rather than a permission one.
What the base underneath actually has to do
A compacted stone sub-base with a grit or granite dust laying course drains because there are voids between the particles for water to pass through. Sand blinded straight onto dug over soil does not, and that is the make up under most of the artificial lawns we get called back to. Fall matters more here than it does on natural turf, because the fibres and the infill hold water right at the surface where soil would have taken it away, so a dead flat panel of grass stays wet long after a flat lawn has dried out. The other common fault is the perimeter: a timber edge or kerb set below the base traps water inside the build up and turns the lawn into a shallow tank. The grass gets blamed for both.
New turf, watering and temporary use bans
Fresh turf has to be watered heavily and often through its first weeks, until the roots knit down into the soil beneath it. Miss that and the rolls shrink, the joints open and the lawn browns off at the edges, which watering later does not fully repair. The point worth planning around is who controls the tap. A temporary use ban, the thing most people still call a hosepipe ban, is imposed by the water company for its supply area rather than by the council, and Severn Trent Water supplies most of Birmingham. If a ban happens to be in force when your turf is due, it is usually better to move the date than to lay turf you cannot water. Restrictions come and go with the weather, so we check before booking summer work.
Covers, roots and the level at the house
A lawn hides things you may still need to get at. Drainage runs, inspection chambers and manhole covers have to stay accessible, so we work the levels around a cover or set a recessed tray rather than turf or glue straight over the top of it. Tree roots and heavy shade are the two conditions natural turf will not tolerate for long, and no amount of feed changes that, so under a mature canopy the honest recommendation is artificial grass, a shade tolerant seed mix or a different surface entirely. Against a house wall, raising ground with imported topsoil or a stone base can push the finished level too close to the damp proof course, so we check what the existing level gives us before anything is brought in.
The above describes constraints that commonly apply in England, not a decision about your particular garden. Water restrictions in particular change with the season, so we confirm what is actually in force at the time your turf is booked in.
Why Our Lawns Are Still Level Later
Rolling grass out is the easy part of the day. What separates a lawn that holds up from one that ripples and puddles is the hours spent on the formation underneath it, the edge detail and the fall. We came into this from groundworks, so the unglamorous half of the job is the half we are actually interested in.
20+ Years On The Tools
Turf, artificial grass and the groundworks under both, laid across Birmingham gardens.
Dug Out, Not Laid Over
The old surface comes up and goes away, so the new lawn starts from a formation we have seen.
Edges That Hold
Timber, sleeper or paved perimeters fixed properly, so nothing lifts or frays at the boundary.
Aftercare In Writing
Watering, brushing and first cut guidance for the surface you have actually had laid, not a generic leaflet.
What Our Clients Say
What Else We Do
Our Services
Patios & PavingPorcelain, sandstone and block paving laid on a proper base with the falls worked out first.View service 
Garden Design & LandscapingFull garden makeovers that set levels, drainage and planting out as one plan rather than piecemeal.View service 
Garden Walls & BrickworkRetaining walls, sleeper terraces, steps and brick edging built to hold ground and shed water.View service 
Drainage & GroundworksChannel drains, soakaways, sub-bases and level changes: the part of the job nobody sees.View service 
Driveways & SurfacingBlock paving, tarmac, gravel and resin bound driveways installed across Birmingham.View service 
Fencing & DeckingClose board and panel fencing, gates and timber decking built to last a Birmingham winter.View service 
Ask About Your Lawn
Questions & Answers
How soon can I walk on newly laid turf?
Keep off it for the first week or so while the roots take hold, then use it lightly. The test is simple: lift a corner of a roll, and if it resists because roots have knitted into the soil below, it is anchored. In warm weather that can be around ten days, in cooler conditions three weeks or more. The first cut goes on once it has knitted, with the mower set high so you are taking the tips off rather than scalping it. Football, dogs and furniture are better left until after two or three cuts.
Should I choose real turf or artificial grass?
It depends on what the space has to put up with. Real turf is cheaper to lay, drains through the soil, stays cool underfoot and can be repaired in patches, but it needs mowing, feeding and light, and it will not survive deep shade or a dog run along a fence line. Artificial grass costs more to install, stays green through a wet Birmingham winter and takes constant traffic, but it needs a properly built stone base and it still wants brushing and clearing. If the garden gets a few hours of sun and you are happy to mow, turf is usually better value.
Can artificial grass go straight over the lawn that is already there?
It can be done, and it is the shortcut we get called back to most often. Grass laid over an existing lawn sits on soil that keeps moving, holds water and settles unevenly, so the surface ripples within a season or two and weeds push through from below. The proper method is to strip the turf and topsoil out, cart it away, then build a compacted stone base with a laying course and a geotextile before the grass goes anywhere near it. That is a day or two more work and it is the difference between a few years and well over a decade.
What happens if there is a hosepipe ban when my turf is due?
We would usually move the date. A temporary use ban is set by the water company across its supply area, and Severn Trent Water covers most of Birmingham, so it applies whatever anyone would prefer. Turf that cannot be watered properly in its first weeks shrinks at the joints and browns off, and it rarely comes back fully. If the work has to go ahead, the options are laying in the cooler months instead, watering from a stored or non mains source where that is permitted at the time, or putting artificial grass in the areas that will not sustain turf anyway.
Is artificial grass suitable for dogs?
Generally yes, and it is one of the main reasons people fit it. There is no mud, no worn strip along the fence and nothing to dig up. What it does need is a genuinely free draining base, because urine has to pass through the backing and out into the stone rather than sit in the make up, plus a rinse through now and again in warm weather. Choose a product with a perforated backing, keep solids picked up the same as you would on a lawn, and it stays perfectly usable.
When is the best time of year to lay turf?
Turf can go down nearly all year in the West Midlands provided the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. Autumn is the easiest window: the soil is still warm, rain does much of the watering for you, and the lawn establishes before anyone really uses it. Spring is the next best. Midsummer is the hardest, because the watering demand is at its highest exactly when restrictions are most likely to be in place. Artificial grass has no season to it at all, beyond needing conditions dry enough to work the base.
How long does artificial grass last?
A good quality grass over a base that was built properly commonly gives well over a decade of use, and the base normally outlasts the grass on top of it. What shortens it is almost never the fibres. It is a base that was never compacted, an edge that was not fixed so the perimeter frays and lifts, or years of leaf litter left to break down into the pile until water stops passing through. Brush it, clear it, and the wear you eventually get is honest footfall rather than failure.
Why has my lawn gone mossy and thin?
Usually compaction, shade or drainage, and often all three together. A lawn walked on all winter over heavy ground loses its air spaces, the roots stop working and moss takes the room the grass has given up. Under a tree or against a north facing fence there is simply not enough light for a fine sward. Scarifying, aerating and top dressing fixes a good deal of it. Where the ground stays wet from October to March the answer sits under the lawn rather than on it, and that becomes a groundworks job before it is a turfing one.
Does artificial grass get hot in the sun?
It does get warmer than real grass. The fibres and the infill absorb heat and there is no moisture evaporating off the surface, so on a hot still day a south facing artificial lawn can be uncomfortable in bare feet, or for a dog lying out on it. It cools quickly in shade and a hose over it drops the temperature straight away. If the space bakes all afternoon it is worth designing some shade into the layout, or keeping real grass where people actually sit.
What decides the price of a new lawn?
Less the square metre rate than what has to happen underneath. Stripping out and carting away the old lawn, how deep the dig goes, whether topsoil has to be imported, whether the ground needs draining first, the edge detail and the grade of grass all move the figure further than the area does. A flat, dry plot with side access is straightforward; a sloping garden where everything comes through the house is not. Send a photo and rough dimensions, or call 07837 577358 and we will come and measure up.
Book A Look At Your Lawn
Tell us the rough size of the space, whether you are leaning towards real turf or artificial grass, and how wet it gets over winter. We will come out, check the levels and what the ground is made of, and give you a written price covering the strip out, the base and the waste going away.