Artificial grass installation on the Costa del Sol
What you see is the fibre. What lasts is what’s underneath
And before we install it, we’ll tell you where we wouldn’t put it. Written quote within 24 hours.
- A prepared, compacted base, not grass laid on top of whatever was there
- Drainage sorted for when the rain comes all at once
- We’ll warn you if your area gets too much sun
Tell us the size and what’s there now
And if it gets sun all day, say so: it changes what we recommend.
What’s included
The roll is the cheapest part of the quote
It’s the first thing people look at and the thing that decides least. Two installations with the same grass can last ten years or three, and the difference is underneath.
Preparing the base
Clearing whatever is there, levelling, compacting and leaving the right fall. It’s half the job, and 90% of the problems that turn up later.
Dealing with the water
Where it goes when it all comes down at once. It doesn’t rain often here, but when it does it pours, and a badly drained bed turns into a pond with the grass floating on top.
Laying and joining
Rolls laid with the pile running the same way, glued seams and a final brush. A badly made seam doesn’t show on day one: it shows a year later, when it opens up.
Finishing the edges
The perimeter is what decides whether, three years on, it still looks like a lawn or like a rug laid on top. It’s also where most of the running metres of work are.
What the catalogue doesn’t tell you
In full sun, in August, it burns
We’re saying it here, on the page where we sell it to you, because it’s the number one reason people regret it and hardly anyone mentions it before it goes in.
The mechanism is simple. Living grass cools itself: it evaporates water all day, and that brings its temperature down. A dark synthetic fibre has no way of doing that, so it stores up the sun it gets. In a shaded patio you won’t notice. On a south-facing terrace in the middle of August, there are hours when you can’t walk on it barefoot.
You can soften it, with a lighter-coloured fibre, a quick spray with the hose before you use it or a shade sail, but you can’t get rid of it. And if the space is for children to play on or for lying out in the summer, it’s better to know beforehand, not afterwards.
That’s why the first thing we ask is how many hours of sun the area gets. If the answer is “all of them”, we’ll tell you, and the conversation may well end up somewhere else.
Where it really goes wrong
Two years on, you can see who prepared the base
A freshly laid installation always looks good, whoever did it. The differences take a couple of summers to show, and when they do, they can’t be fixed without lifting it.
What shows up is this: bumps and dips where the ground wasn’t compacted, seams that open and leave a line, edges lifting around the perimeter, and patches that stay soft after rain because the water found no way out.
The water part is very much a local problem. It doesn’t rain often, so it’s easy not to think about it, but when it rains, it all comes down at once. A bed with no fall and no outlet turns into a pond, and the problem isn’t the puddle: it’s that it stays damp underneath, and that’s where the smell starts.
Let’s talk about price
A square-metre figure doesn’t tell you what you’re being quoted for
It’s the service where people compare on the number the most, and where the number misleads the most. Two quotes for the same area can be describing completely different jobs.
- What’s underneath now. Bare soil isn’t the same as compacted sand, a concrete slab or a natural lawn that has to be lifted and taken away. That item alone can double the work.
- Where the water goes. If there’s a drain nearby, it’s a detail. If there isn’t, one has to be made, and that’s building work.
- How much edge there is. A hundred square metres in one rectangle and a hundred square metres spread over three areas with curves and flower beds don’t take the same time or the same finishing. The edge is where the fine work goes.
- What the access is like. The rolls are heavy and bulky. If they have to be carried up a staircase to a penthouse, that’s in the price, even though it doesn’t show in the result.
Send us photos of the area and its rough size and we’ll give you a written price, with what’s included and what isn’t. How to compare two quotes that don’t use the same unit is explained on our prices page.
Where we work
And where it makes most sense
On a penthouse terrace in Fuengirola it solves something a natural lawn can’t. On a large plot inland, it’s rarely worth it.
Before you decide
Worth reading before you buy
If artificial grass puddles, the problem isn’t the grass
It’s bought in spring and spends the summer seeing no water but the hose. The first autumn storm is its first real test, and what fails is almost never the grass.
Read itArtificial grass gets hot: where to put it and where not to
You laid it in May and by August you couldn’t walk on it. It isn’t the colour or the brand: a plant cools itself by evaporating water, and plastic has no water to evaporate.
Read itArtificial grass isn’t zero maintenance: it’s different maintenance
It’s sold as needing nothing doing to it. What actually happens is that the work changes shape: the watering and mowing go, and something else comes in that nobody mentions before you sign.
Read itArtificial grass for dogs: why it smells in summer and what to check before you buy
With a dog, artificial grass ends the mud and the yellow patches. What it brings instead is the August smell, and that’s decided before you buy, by what goes underneath.
Read itArtificial grass on a terrace: what’s underneath that you can’t see
You can, and on this coast it’s where a good share of it goes. But the waterproofing is underneath, it isn’t drilled, and on a penthouse the water, heat, wind and salt matter too.
Read it
Common questions
What people ask us most
Does it really get that hot?
Yes, and it’s worth knowing before you buy it. A dark synthetic surface in full sun gets much hotter than living grass, because grass cools itself by evaporating water and plastic has nothing to do that with. In a shady spot, or one you only use now and then, you won’t notice; on a south-facing terrace in August, you will. You can soften it with a lighter colour, a quick spray of water before you use it and some shade, but you can’t get rid of it.
Is it true it needs no work at all?
It needs less, not none. Leaves have to be swept up, the pile needs brushing so it doesn’t mat down where people walk, and it wants rinsing now and then, especially if you have pets. What you save is the mowing, the feeding and the watering; what you get instead is a different, lighter kind of upkeep.
Can it go straight on top of what’s there?
It can, and that’s what makes a quote cheap and an installation short-lived. On unprepared soil the grass copies every bump and every dip; on concrete with no drainage, the water stays underneath. Lifting what’s there and preparing the base costs more on day one, and it’s the difference between ten years and three.
How long does it last?
It depends on the quality of the fibre, how many hours of sun it gets and how much foot traffic it takes, so any specific figure you’re given without anyone seeing the site is a brochure number. What can be said is what shortens it: direct sun all day, a badly made base and dragging heavy furniture across it.
What if I have a dog?
It works well, and in fact it’s one of the most common reasons for putting it in, because it’s the end of the mud. Ask for drainage that really drains and for the area the dog uses to be rinsed regularly: with pets the problem is never the fibre, it’s what stays underneath if the water doesn’t get away.
Shall we tell you whether it’s worth it where you are?
Send us photos and the size, and we’ll give you a price and an opinion, even if the opinion is that you shouldn’t. You can call or WhatsApp us in English.