Most sod companies would rather not publish prices. A published range makes quotes easy to compare, and easy-to-compare quotes are hard to pad. We publish ours anyway, because a Tampa homeowner looking at a $6,000 number for a front and back yard deserves to know whether that figure is fair before anybody unloads a pallet in the driveway.
Everything below is based on fresh-cut sod from Central Florida farms, laid within a day of harvest, in Hillsborough County in 2026. The ranges are wide on purpose: the same grass can cost noticeably more on a fenced backyard behind a pool cage than on an open front lawn by the street.
Sod Cost in Tampa: The Short Answer
| Grass / item | Installed price | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Floratam St. Augustine | $0.75 – $1.15 / sq ft | Full-sun yards, most HOAs |
| CitraBlue / Palmetto St. Augustine | $0.95 – $1.40 / sq ft | Partial shade, finer texture |
| Empire Zoysia | $1.05 – $1.60 / sq ft | Dense premium lawn, kids & dogs |
| Argentine Bahia | $0.50 – $0.80 / sq ft | Big lots, low budget, no irrigation |
| Celebration Bermuda | $0.85 – $1.30 / sq ft | Full sun, sports-lawn look |
| Old sod removal & haul-off | $0.25 – $0.50 / sq ft | Added when the old lawn must come out |
| Full tear-out & Floratam replacement | $1.05 – $1.65 / sq ft | Chinch-bug or dead lawns |
| Spot repair minimum | $450 | Small patches, irrigation repairs |
If a quote comes in well under the bottom of those ranges, ask what is missing. The usual suspects are old lawn removal, any grading or fill sand, or sod that has been sitting on a pallet in a yard for several days before it reaches yours.
Pallet price vs. installed price
Sod is sold by the pallet at the farm and the supply yard. A St. Augustine pallet covers roughly 400 to 450 square feet and runs about $210 to $330 delivered, depending on variety — Floratam at the lower end, CitraBlue and Palmetto toward the top. A Bahia pallet covers a bit more ground, around 450 to 500 square feet, and runs roughly $150 to $240. Delivery-only orders usually carry a separate drop fee in the $75 to $150 range.
Installed pricing folds in everything that turns pallets into a lawn: the crew, final raking, laying in staggered rows with tight seams, cutting around beds and sprinkler heads, rolling for soil contact, the first soaking, and clean-up of the driveway and walks. On most Tampa jobs, installed sod lands about $0.25 to $0.45 a square foot above the raw material cost, which is why delivery-only is tempting on small, easy yards and rarely worth it on big ones.
The five things that actually move your price
1. Square footage
Delivery, a forklift drop and getting a crew on site are close to fixed costs, so price per foot falls as the job grows. A 400 square foot patch next to a driveway will hit the $450 repair minimum. A 6,000 square foot front-and-back job in a Brandon subdivision prices toward the low end of its range because the truck and crew are already there.
2. Grass type
Bahia is the cheapest sod grown in Florida and the cheapest to install. Floratam is the volume St. Augustine and stays reasonable. Shade-tolerant St. Augustine varieties like CitraBlue and Palmetto cost more at the farm. Empire Zoysia grows slowly and costs the most per pallet. Our guide to the best sod for Tampa lawns explains when the more expensive grasses are worth it and when they are not.
3. Access: side gates, pool cages and hand-carry
A forklift can set pallets right next to an open front yard. A backyard behind a 4-foot side gate, around a screened pool cage, or across a lanai means every roll gets carried by hand, sometimes 100 feet or more. That labor is real and shows up as a higher per-foot number for the backyard than the front, even with the same grass. Zero-lot-line homes in parts of New Tampa and Riverview, where the only route to the back is a narrow side yard, are the classic example.
4. Removing the old lawn
New sod laid on top of a dead lawn does not root well — the old thatch dries into a mat that keeps new roots from reaching the sand, and if chinch bugs killed it, some of them may still be there. The old turf has to be cut out with a sod cutter and hauled off, which typically adds $0.25 to $0.50 per square foot. Full tear-out and Floratam replacement is quoted as one number, usually $1.05 to $1.65 per square foot. See sod removal & lawn replacement for what that includes.
5. Grading and fill sand
Tampa lots are flat, and flat lots pond. If the yard holds water after an afternoon storm, or slopes back toward the slab, it needs grading before sod goes down. Fill sand to raise low spots runs about $45 to $65 per cubic yard spread, and full bed prep and leveling runs $0.30 to $0.75 per square foot depending on how much soil has to move. Details are on our bed prep & leveling page.
What typical Tampa projects cost
| Project | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Spot repair, 300–500 sq ft Floratam | $450 – $575 |
| Front yard, 2,000 sq ft Floratam installed | $1,500 – $2,300 |
| Shaded backyard, 1,500 sq ft CitraBlue installed | $1,425 – $2,100 |
| Whole yard, 5,000 sq ft tear-out & Floratam replacement | $5,250 – $8,250 |
| Front & back, 4,000 sq ft Empire Zoysia installed | $4,200 – $6,400 |
| Large lot, 15,000 sq ft Argentine Bahia installed | $7,500 – $12,000 |
These assume reasonable access and a yard that does not need major regrading. A hand-carry backyard, a lawn full of torpedograss that needs a weed-kill cycle first, or a low corner that needs several yards of fill sand all push toward the top of the range or slightly past it.
Delivery-only vs. full installation
Delivery-only makes sense for a handy homeowner with a small, already-prepped area, a free Saturday and a couple of helpers. Our sod delivery service drops fresh pallets where you want them. The catch in Tampa is heat. A stacked pallet heats up from the inside and the center rolls start yellowing quickly in summer, so plan to lay everything the day it arrives and get water on it right away.
- A full install includes: final raking and leveling, laying in staggered rows, cutting in around beds and heads, rolling, the first deep watering, a written watering plan, and clean-up.
- Usually priced separately: old lawn removal and haul-off, real grading or fill sand, sprinkler head raising or repairs, and any edging.
- Freshness matters more here than up north: sod cut the morning of your install holds moisture far better than rolls that have been sitting on a pallet in July sun.
Sod cost around Tampa Bay by neighborhood
The grass itself costs about the same everywhere in Hillsborough County. What changes is the yard. In South Tampa, older lots under mature live oaks often need a shade-tolerant St. Augustine rather than Floratam, and narrow side yards mean more hand-carry. Westchase and New Tampa communities usually have HOA rules that call for St. Augustine and quick replacement of dead patches, so we see a lot of partial replacements there. In Riverview and Brandon, newer subdivisions with builder-grade lawns tend to need full tear-outs after the first big chinch-bug summer. And in Lutz, bigger lots make Argentine Bahia a sensible way to cover a lot of ground for less.
When to buy sod in Tampa
Warm-season grasses grow here year-round, so sod can go in any month, but price is not the only thing that changes by season. The rainy season from June through September is the easiest time to establish a lawn because the sky does much of the watering. The dry spring, April and May especially, is the hardest — new sod needs the most irrigation then, and that is when watering restrictions bite. Our post on Hillsborough County watering rules for new sod covers the new-lawn establishment period.
What you’ll get on our estimate
We measure the yard, walk the access and drainage, look at sun and shade, and hand you one flat written price that spells out the grass variety, square footage, removal, prep and haul-off. If Floratam will do the job on a sunny yard, we will not try to sell you Zoysia. Full details are on our sod installation page, and estimates are free anywhere in our service area with no trip charge.