Sod Calculator
Enter the lawn area and how your sod is cut. You get the rolls or slabs to order, the pallets, and a cost if you type your price.
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How to use the Sod Calculator
- Choose the shape of your lawn area: rectangle, circle, triangle, or a known total.
- Pick feet or meters, then enter your measurements. Blank, zero, negative or non-numeric values show an error message instead of a result.
- Check the area shown in square feet and square meters.
- Set “Extra for cuts and mistakes (%)”. It starts at 10. A warning appears below 5 % or above 30 %.
- Under “How your sod is cut”, choose “Large roll, 2 × 5 ft (10 ft²)”, “Mini roll, 18 × 40 in (5 ft²)”, “Slab, 16 × 24 in (2.67 ft²)” or “Other piece (type its area)”, then type “Area of one piece (ft²)”.
- Type “Square feet per pallet”, or leave it blank. A blank field uses the lowest value in the grower’s list for your cut: 400 ft² for slabs and mini rolls, 500 ft² for large rolls.
- Read “Rolls or slabs to order”, “Sod area with extra” and “Sod you will receive as pieces”, the area those whole pieces cover.
- Read “Pallets (exact)”, “Pallets (rounded up)” and “Pallet size used”. For a custom piece with no pallet size, no pallets appear and a warning says so.
- Optionally, set “Your price is per” (roll or slab, square foot of sod, or pallet), type “Your sod price ($)”, then add “Delivery, total ($)” and “Sales tax (%)” to get “Total at your price”. Leave the price blank to skip the cost.
Typing your grower’s pallet figure replaces the default, so use their number when you know it.
How is the area of a lawn turned into square feet?
The calculator works out the area from the shape you choose, then shows it in square feet and square meters. Area is length times width for a rectangle, half of base times height for a triangle, and pi times radius squared for a circle.
For a circle, the tool asks for the diameter and halves it to find the radius. A round area 20 ft across has a 10 ft radius, so its area is 3.14159 × 10 × 10, which is 314.2 ft².
Each piece also has a fixed area. A slab measures 16 × 24 in, which is exactly 2.667 ft². Some sources round this to 2.66, but the calculator uses 2.667. The difference is small, but it adds up over many slabs. For 1,032 slabs, the covered area is 1,032 × 2.667, which is about 2,752 ft².
How many pieces and pallets of sod do I need to order?
Pieces to order equal the area with extra, divided by the area of one piece, rounded up. Pallets equal the area with extra, divided by square feet per pallet. The extra percentage covers cuts, waste and mistakes, and it is applied before any division.
Take a 40 × 30 ft lawn, which is 1,200 ft². With 10 % extra, the area becomes 1,320 ft². Large rolls cover 10 ft² each, so you need 132 rolls. Divided by a 500 ft² pallet, that is 2.64 pallets, so you order 3.
Pallet sizes vary by grower. One grower’s list gives 500, 600 and 700 ft² for large-roll pallets, and another gives 640 ft², which means 64 rolls per pallet. The default of 500 ft² is the lowest figure in the list, so the calculator will not undercount pallets when you leave the field blank. Typing your grower’s figure gives a closer answer.
For a 2,500 ft² slab order with 10 % extra, the area is 2,750 ft². That is 1,032 slabs, covering 2,752 ft², and 6.875 pallets of 400 ft², so you order 7 pallets. For a 20 ft round area in mini rolls, the area with extra is 345.6 ft². That needs 70 rolls, covering 350 ft², and, with a typed pallet size of 450 ft², 0.768 of a pallet, so you order 1 pallet.
These results are calculated from your inputs. Check them against your grower’s own piece and pallet sizes before you order.
Sources (checked 15 October 2026): sodsolutions.com · gertens.com · sodsolutions.com
Worked examples
| Input | Result |
|---|---|
| 1,200 ft², Large roll, 2 × 5 ft (10 ft²), 10 % extra | 132 pieces, 3 pallets |
| 2,500 ft², Slab, 16 × 24 in (2.67 ft²), 10 % extra | 1032 pieces, 7 pallets |
| 314.2 ft², Mini roll, 18 × 40 in (5 ft²), 10 % extra | 70 pieces, 1 pallets |
| 861.1 ft², Large roll, 2 × 5 ft (10 ft²), 5 % extra | 91 pieces, 2 pallets |
| 3,000 ft², Other piece (type its area), 10 % extra | 275 pieces, 6 pallets |
Calculated by the tool above; open it with the same values to see each step.
Frequently asked questions
Does the sod calculator work in meters?
Yes. You can choose feet or meters for your measurements. The area is shown in both square feet and square meters, so you can check either unit.
How much extra sod should I order?
The default for “Extra for cuts and mistakes” is 10 %. A sod grower’s guide says to order about 10 percent more than you measure, and another page from the same grower says 5 to 10 %. The page warns you below 5 % or above 30 %.
Why are pallets shown as both exact and rounded up?
The exact figure shows how much of a pallet you are using. The rounded-up figure tells you how many whole pallets to order. Use the rounded-up number when you place your order.
What if I don’t know my pallet size?
Leave the pallet size blank. The calculator then uses the lowest figure for your piece, so it will not undercount pallets. If you use a custom piece with no pallet size, no pallets are shown and a warning explains why.
Can the sod calculator estimate the sod installation cost?
It gives a total for the sod itself, but only from prices you type in, so it is not a full sod installation cost: labour for laying the sod is not included, and you need to add a quote from your installer. You can enter a price per roll or slab, per square foot, or per pallet, with delivery and sales tax. The page holds no prices, and a price per pallet without a pallet size shows a warning instead of a cost.
Is the sod calculator free to use?
Yes. It runs in your browser, it is free, and there is no sign-up.
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