Throughout my travels, teachings, and seminars, I have spoken to several contractors regarding their input on synthetic turf waste and where they place its financial burden. After being looked at like I had a third eye, I was amazed to find that the majority were unaware of “Waste Factor” and never figured it in as a profit, loss, or anything for that matter.

This month, ASK JW will talk about layout, waste, and the financial burdens synthetic turf waste causes and what to look for when estimating projects.

“To be a successful synthetic turf contractor, you must educate your entire workforce about Layout & Waste. It is a team effort. To make money you also have to save money. Preventing waste in synthetic turf is crucial in being profitable.

If you are wanting to make a career in synthetic turf installation, then you may want to pay very close attention to waste and the burden it may place upon your profits.

It all begins with estimating. If you and your sales team are new to the synthetic turf industry you may want to brush up on geometry. Geometry and synthetic turf go hand and hand. When sections of turf are cut in a square or rectangle then placed in an area that is rounded, or circular, there will be waste. When you cut the extended waste off you will witness the money that will be thrown in the trash. I recommend using a push cutter (loop and pile cutter), and cut large sections of waste and use them for smaller installations.

Now comes the time where your sales team measures the area to be installed… figures the waste, but doesn’t know how to absorb the cost. It’s easy. “Someone has to pay for it”.

I suggest having the client be a part of the decision making when it comes to waste. Have a diagram of the clients install and show where and how much waste will occur due to their size and geometrical shape. Synthetic turf waste does not require grading, compacting, or installation. It is merely cut off and never used. I recommend having the client pay for the waste.

If the waste is very minimal and your sales team is selling a good and fair price, then you may absorb the waste, just as long as is not dipping into your profits.

Putting greens are far from being square or rectangle. In fact, you will probably never see sharp edges on the exterior design of a putting green. Just like landscape turf, putting green materials come on rolls of 12 ft and 15 ft widths. Depending on radius and curves, putting greens can have an extensive amount of waste. I recommend having a drawing prior to installing and then marking the entire putting on the surface including the fringe.

When the putting fringe is marked out, take string line and layout where the pre-cut sections will be laid to cover these areas. Immediately you will witness the waste. In order to wrap the fringe material around the entire putting green, you will witness that you will need to purchase large enough sections so that you can minimize seams.

When estimating turf around trampolines, you will need to figure placing the turf over the trampoline and cut out the waste. This will give the area stability and minimize seams. If done correctly you will have two large pieces of waste from the middle of the trampoline that looks like the image above to the right.

When you are faced with placing synthetic turf in between ribbons or borders, you will definitely have waste. I never recommend placing small strips, pieces, or sections which creates seams. When placing synthetic turf ribbons (like the ones in the image above) I recommend placing large sections then cutting out the hardscape. This will prevent installing excessive seams and unify the entire installation for longevity. It requires a lot of waste and the cost must be explained to the client, or you will lose the project to someone that will hack it up.

According to USBF standards, the overall dimensions of a Bocce Court is 10-13 feet wide and 76 to 100 feet long. When estimating the surface material, you will need to order one large section to cover the entire bocce court without seams.

Many synthetic turf contractors are not aware that contouring the subgrade may throw off measurements. I hear stories of contractors having drawings, sketches, and plans for the area before it was installed and didn’t understand why they were coming up short.  It didn’t fit the area because their men placed massive mounds in the project which caused certain sections being short of the hardscape and they had to piece it in.

When you have turf that is high in face weight, the dreaded mohawk may show up. In this case, you will need to integrate the seam. When integrating seams you will need to cut into the edge to create whatever integration you are choosing. The Superseam tool creates only 5 inches of waste for the entire run. When estimating the project you will need to know where your seams are going to land and figure what is needed for overlapping. This means you will need to figure enough waste to run the sections past your exterior edge and enough for any seam integration that you may need.

I get asked a lot of how I became so fast at laying and placing synthetic turf. One important tip? Always have enough manpower to move around synthetic turf and understand the method of folding turf.

Working with synthetic turf is like working with napkins and towels. They can be folded into many shapes on how you want them to be. Even though synthetic turf is much harder to handle than napkins or towels, the folding methods and techniques are actually the same. When you arrive at a project, you must have in mind how you are going to wrap turf around trees, buildings, walls etc. With the understanding of the folding method and how easy it can be, it will make your installs much easier and faster.

“Synthetic Turf Craftmanship will always be achieved by having the proper amounts of turf on site without taking short cuts”

JW

Stay tuned for next month’s “Ask J.W.” Column!!!

For more information regarding layout, measurements, and waste, please contact J.W. askjw@sgwcorp.com or call 888.846.3598