The short answer
Installed sod starts from about $1.20 per square foot when the grade is already firm, drained, and ready for turf. Commercial work is quoted by the thousand square feet with prep as its own line.
If the yard still holds water or the soil is hardpan, the sod price is the last line, not the first. Turf on a bad grade is a replacement waiting to happen.
What has to be true before the pallets land
The falls shed water. The surface is firm underfoot. Low spots are cut or filled. Irrigation is decided, because sod without water in a Louisiana summer does not root.
We will not lay turf over soft lifts or an active drainage problem. Fixing that is grading. It has its own price, starting from about $1,500 for a small re-slope.
- Square footage of the area, not the whole lot if we are patching.
- Grade already done, or grade in this quote.
- Soil amendments only if the ground actually needs them.
- Water plan for the first two weeks.
Season and the Coast
Heat and water decide the install more than the calendar. A cool week with a hose plan beats a rush job in a dry August. Coastal wind and sandy edges dry out faster than a clay yard in Baton Rouge.
Delivery timing matters. Pallets that sit kill the sod before it is rolled. We schedule the drop for the day we can lay it.
How the quote should read
Prep, sod, and roll should be visible even if one crew does all three. Edges at drives, beds, and heads are part of a clean job. A price per foot that skips the edges is how yards look patched.
If you are comparing bids, match the square footage and ask whether the grade is included. The cheap sod number is often turf only, on dirt someone else was supposed to fix.