Artificial Turf Lawns, Pet Areas and Putting Greens Built to Florida's New Turf Rule

What an artificial turf project covers

This service covers four kinds of work, and most jobs mix at least two of them. A full front or back lawn replaces sod with a synthetic lawn panel, graded and based the same way across the yard. A pet area is usually a fenced run or a side strip built with a more open-backed turf and a steeper drainage slope, since it carries far more liquid than a lawn ever does. A backyard putting green is a different product, a short, dense nylon or polyethylene face with little or no infill, set on a flatter, more precisely screeded base than a lawn panel needs. Turf between pavers, a narrow accent strip inside a driveway, along a walkway edge or framing a fire pit, follows the same subgrade rule as the rest of the yard but ties into the paver field's existing edge restraint instead of standing on its own perimeter. Lawn, pet area, putting green or paver accent, all four now answer to the same state material and base standard.

The 2026 Florida turf standard: what DEP Rule 62-308.100 requires

Florida didn't regulate synthetic turf at the state level until recently. HB 683, passed in 2025, created F.S. 125.572 and directed the Department of Environmental Protection to write minimum standards for turf on single-family lots of one acre or less (HB 683, 2025; F.S. 125.572). DEP adopted Rule 62-308.100 to do that, and it took effect May 19, 2026 (FLRules 62-308.100). The rule doesn't create a new state permit; it sets the floor a compliant lawn has to clear, whichever city or county issues the local permit.

Rule 62-308.100, adopted text.

Two more requirements sit outside that table: turf can't go inside a swale, ditch, stormwater pond or a pond's littoral zone, and it can't block a septic tank's access lid, since pump-out crews still need to reach it with the lawn installed.

Who the law actually binds: local governments, not HOAs

The preemption in F.S. 125.572 reaches local governments only. Once DEP's rule took effect, a city or county can no longer ban compliant turf or write a stricter local standard (F.S. 125.572). Community development districts keep the right to enforce their own deed restrictions, a carve-out added in 2026, and the statute never mentions homeowners' associations at all. That distinction holds because an HOA is a private contract, not a unit of local government, and a different statute governs what it can and can't restrict.

F.S. 720.3045 is the statute homeowners usually mean when they ask whether an HOA can ban turf, and it protects less than most people assume. It bars an association from restricting items that aren't visible from the parcel's frontage, an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area or a community golf course, naming artificial turf specifically among those items (F.S. 720.3045). A backyard lawn hidden by a fence usually qualifies; a front lawn facing the street usually doesn't, since it's the one place turf is most visible. Florida law also stopped HOAs, as of 2026, from requiring a government permit to already be issued before the board will review an application, so the two approvals can move together instead of one waiting on the other (F.S. 720.3035). Our full read on Florida HOAs and the turf law and getting HOA approval for pavers or turf go further.

How a turf lawn is installed, step by step

The order rarely changes between a lawn, a pet area and a paver accent strip; what changes is the detail inside each step.

1. Remove the old lawn or bed. Sod, mulch and any irrigation heads inside the turf footprint come out down to bare soil.
2. Grade and compact the base. Washed crushed rock or crushed concrete goes down in thin lifts, graded for positive drainage and kept open enough to meet the rule's permeability standard.
3. Cap or redirect irrigation. Heads inside the turf zone are capped below grade or moved to serve beds and sod that still need them, since the rule bars watering turf with an in-ground system.
4. Roll out and seam the turf. Panels are trimmed to the footprint and joined at seams rather than overlapped, with extra care on any run that crosses a slope.
5. Add infill and brush the pile. Clean sand, rock or shell infill, never rubber outside a playground footprint, is worked into the pile with a power broom.
6. Anchor the perimeter. Edges and seams are nailed or spiked at tighter spacing than the open field, the anchoring the rule requires against wind and flooding.

The full walkthrough of how turf goes in covers the base work in more detail, including what changes on a sandy ridge lot versus a flatwoods yard.

Lawns, pet areas, putting greens and turf between pavers: how the build changes

All four uses start from the same rule, but the backing, infill and base thickness shift with how the surface gets used.

Planning a backyard putting green and turf for dogs: odor, drainage and infill go deeper on those two uses specifically.

What artificial turf costs in Florida

As of October 2026, installed turf runs $10–$25 per sq ft installed in Florida and national market data, typically $12–$18. Angi's Orlando-specific figures put the average project at $4,758, with a typical range of $2,811 to $6,950 for excavation, base and turf material together (Angi, Orlando). Tampa's figures run higher, averaging $7,246 (Angi, Tampa), a reminder that these ranges move with yard size, slope and how much of the old lawn has to come out, not with which Florida city the work is in. A backyard putting green costs more per square foot than a lawn panel, commonly $15 to $40 depending on size, since a small green carries more labor per square foot than an open lawn does (HomeGuide, putting greens; Angi, putting greens). These are market ranges compiled from published Florida and national cost-guide data, not a quote for your yard; a written price follows a site visit. The artificial turf cost guide breaks the numbers down further by size and use.

Water restrictions make turf worth a second look in 2026

Both water management districts covering our service areas are under tighter-than-normal rules as of October 2026, part of why turf keeps coming up as an option. In the Orlando unit's counties, the St. Johns River Water Management District's year-round schedule already limits lawn irrigation to set days, caps each zone at roughly an inch of water, and bars watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.; parts of Lake County and several neighboring counties currently sit under a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage order that cuts watering to one day a week (SJRWMD watering restrictions). On the Sarasota side, the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Modified Phase III Extreme Water Shortage order, in effect April 3, 2026 through March 31, 2027 across Sarasota, Manatee, Polk and several neighboring counties, limits watering to one day a week by the last digit of the street address, inside two narrow overnight or late-evening windows (SWFWMD district water restrictions). Manatee County confirms it's following that order through March 2027 (Manatee County, Modified Phase III), and the City of Sarasota reports the same extension (City of Sarasota, Modified Phase III). Turf built to Rule 62-308.100 never draws on an in-ground irrigation zone in the first place, which sidesteps that restriction schedule rather than working around it. How much water and money turf saves and turf vs. sod in Florida cover the trade-off in more depth.

Turf and Florida heat

Turf gets hotter underfoot in direct Florida sun than the grass it replaces, and darker fiber and infill both absorb more heat than light-colored stone or concrete nearby. We don't have a verified, Florida-specific measurement to publish for how much hotter a given product runs, since the figures in circulation vary by manufacturer and test method and we won't print a number we can't stand behind. What does help in practice: siting turf where afternoon shade reaches it, picking a lighter infill color where the product line offers one, and a quick hose rinse before bare feet or pets use it, which is allowed since a hose isn't the in-ground system the state rule restricts. Our full look at turf heat in Florida compares turf against pavers and concrete nearby.

Caring for artificial turf

A new lawn needs less upkeep than sod, but not none. Leaves, oak pollen and storm debris sit on top of the pile instead of breaking down into soil, so a regular pass with a blower or a stiff broom keeps the surface from matting. Infill migrates toward low spots and high-traffic paths over a few seasons and needs the occasional top-up with the same natural material the rule requires at installation, never a rubber substitute swept in to save a trip. A pet area benefits from a routine hose rinse rather than an occasional deep clean, since odor comes from liquid sitting on the infill, not from the turf fibers themselves. Our turf cleaning and maintenance guide covers the full routine, season by season.

How do you find the best artificial turf installer near you?

Searching for artificial turf installers near you turns up landscaping companies, pool contractors and general handymen alongside dedicated turf crews, and the state's new rule gives an easy first filter: ask whether the quote names the base material specifically.

• 'Compacted base' isn't enough on its own; Rule 62-308.100 requires washed crushed rock or crushed concrete with the fines removed, and a crew that doesn't know the difference is likely to cut that corner.
• Confirm the infill is on the state's approved list, natural sand, rock, shell or coated silica sand, rather than a generic 'infill' line item with no material named.
• Ask directly whether the project sits within 10 ft of a pond, canal or other waterbody, or inside a tree's drip line, since both trigger specific requirements the quote should already address.
• Get the irrigation plan in writing: which heads get capped, and where the lines get rerouted.
• If the work happens near a fenced pool, ask how the crew protects the water and the equipment pad during base work.

Our full turf installer checklist goes further.

Where we install artificial turf

We install artificial turf lawns, pet areas, putting greens and paver accent strips across Greater Orlando and Sarasota–Manatee. Related towns: artificial turf in Orlando, artificial turf in Kissimmee, artificial turf in Sarasota and artificial turf in Lakewood Ranch.