Turfing & New Lawns in Greater Manchester
New lawns and turf laying done properly. Full ground preparation, quality topsoil and fresh cultivated turf that roots in and stays green.
Turfing & New Lawns
Nine lawns out of ten fail because of what the builders left in the ground, not the turf on top. That’s why most of a turf laying job happens before a single roll goes down: stripping out the old lawn, rotavating and levelling the ground, breaking up heavy clay and adding screened topsoil where it’s needed, then firming and raking it to a fine, even bed. Get that right and the turf knits in within weeks. Skip it and you’re looking at a bumpy, patchy lawn by the following summer.
A lot of our turfing work is lawn replacement, mostly failed new-build lawns. Developers often lay a thin skim of topsoil straight over compacted subsoil and buried rubble. The lawn looks fine on moving-in day, then it drains badly all winter and burns off in the first dry spell. We dig out what the builders left behind, break up the compaction, bring in a proper depth of topsoil and lay a lawn that actually has something to root into.
Whether you’re levelling and returfing a bumpy, uneven lawn or having a garden turfed for the first time, we use fresh cultivated turf and lay it the day it arrives, staggered like brickwork with the joints butted tight, then trim the edges cleanly around beds, paths and patios. Before we leave, we’ll talk you through the watering and aftercare: when to water, how much, and when it’s safe to walk on and give it that first cut.
- Full ground preparation: old lawn stripped, ground rotavated and levelled
- Screened topsoil supplied and graded to the right depth
- Fresh cultivated lawn turf, laid the day it’s delivered
- Failed new-build lawns dug out and relaid properly
- Edges trimmed cleanly around beds, paths and patios
- Clear watering and aftercare advice so the lawn takes
How It Works
Free site visit
We come out, measure the lawn area and check the ground: levels, drainage and what’s actually under the surface.
Written quote
A clear, itemised price covering preparation, topsoil, turf and waste removal. Everything costed up front, nothing added later.
Prep and laying
Old lawn stripped out, ground levelled and topsoiled, then fresh turf laid tight and true the day it arrives.
Aftercare handover
A walk-round with you, plus straightforward watering and first-cut advice so the new lawn establishes properly.
Turfing FAQs
You’ll see turf quoted online at so much per square metre, but that’s just for the turf itself. The real price depends on the size of the lawn and how much ground work is needed. A simple returfing job over decent soil costs a lot less than digging out a failed lawn and importing topsoil. We quote per job after a free site visit, so you get an exact written price before anything starts.
Spring and autumn are ideal, because the ground is warm and there’s usually enough rain to help the turf root. That said, turf can be laid most of the year as long as the ground isn’t frozen. Summer laying is fine too. It just needs a strict watering routine while it establishes.
Daily for the first couple of weeks, and twice a day in hot, dry weather. Water enough to soak through the turf into the soil beneath, not just wet the surface. Once the turf has rooted you can ease off, and an established lawn rarely needs watering at all in a normal British summer.
Keep off it for around three weeks, until the roots have knitted into the soil. A gentle tug on a corner tells you. If it lifts, it needs longer. If it holds firm, it’s rooted. The first cut comes once it’s established, with the mower on a high setting.
Almost always, yes. New-build lawns usually fail because there’s compacted subsoil and buried rubble under a thin layer of topsoil, so the grass has nothing to root into and the ground either waterlogs or bakes. We dig out the old lawn and debris, break up the compaction, bring in a proper depth of topsoil and relay with fresh turf.
It can, as long as the turf suits the spot. For a lawn under trees or up against a north-facing fence we use a shade-tolerant turf with more fescue in it, which copes with less sun than a standard lawn. Bare, mossy patches in shade are often down to thin soil and poor drainage as much as the light, so we sort the ground while we are at it.
Turfing Near You
We provide turfing across Leigh and the surrounding towns. Pick your area for local details.