Updating the overall format of the site.
Synthetic Turf or Natural Grass? Which is Best?
Details behind each cost:
Sub base cost
FieldTurf says "Once your sub-base is installed, it does not ever have to be reinstalled, saving you $280,000 off the price of your replacement field."
Fact check: The sub-base, whether synthetic or natural, will need to be reparied or improved when the turf needs to be replaced. It is very unlikely that a turf installer will warranty the turf if the sub-base is not improved to their standards when the new syntheic or natural turf is installed.
FieldTurf cost
FieldTurf indicates that the cost of the synthetic turf for the replacement multi-use (football, soccer, lacrosse, band) field will be only $320,000.
Fact check: The current estimate for the track and synthetic turf field is $3.2 million. The portion of that cost for the synthetic turf is likely to be much more than the $320,000 cost indicated by FieldTurf.
Annual Maintenance Cost
FieldTurf indicates that it will cost $5000 per year to maintain either synthetic turf or natural turf. For natural grass turf in New England, that would primarily be lime, assuming that a mulching lawn mower is used to provide natural nitrogen fertilizer from the grass clippings. For synthetic turf, the maintenance costs would be grooming, disinfectant, and costs for adding the additional Nike Grind infill as needed.
Re-Sodding
FieldTurf indicates that the natural grass turf will need to be re-sodded every 8 to 10 years.
Fact check: Though synthetic turf may need to be replaced every 8 to 10 years, it is extremely unlikely that a natural grass turf field would need to be re-sodded that often. This deception works to shift the cost benefit in the favor of synthetic turf.
Annual Water (irrigation) Costs
A natural grass turf field will need water at times, especially in times of drought. The base for a properly built natural grass turf field will incorporate drainage and sand to help remove heavy rain water so that the playing surface will dry more quickly. The drainage, while helping to increase the available playing time on a natural grass turf field, also contributes to the need for irrigation. The $6000 cost estimate from FieldTurf for the irrigation for natural grass turf, may be accurate.
Fact check: The FieldTurf calculator estimates $600o per year for water for the State of Maine. When the calculator is set for Arizona, it estimates $8000 per year. Obviously, one of the estimates on water usage is wrong. The accuracy of the calculator is questionable. Synthetic turf will not need water for irrigation, but may need water to keep the turf cooler during hotter summer days. Some synthetic fields can become too hot to play on during the summer, if they are not cooled with water. An excessively hot field is less likely, but not unprobable, in New England. Synthetic turf manufacturers and installers would probably not point this fact out. Penn State University's Center for Sports Surface Research has documented the result of their research on turf temperatures in Surface Tempertaures of Synthetic Turf. I encourage you to check it out. If the link has changed, I can email or print the document for you.
Annual Paint Costs
FieldTurf indicates that the cost to paint the lines on natural grass turf will cost $12,500 every 8 to 10 years.
Fact check: $1250 per field, per year? I need to check with the school's field maintence folks to see if they spend that much each year (to include labor, materials and tools). Maybe it is right, but it seems really high. $1250 per field, per year?
Total over 8 Year Investment
FieldTurf's calculator indicates that on a per-hour of usage basis, that their synthetic turf will cost $27.57 per hour and that natural turf will cost $48.93 per hour.
Fact check: First, note that when entering the data for the calcuations, I entered that we planed to use the new field 20-29 hours per week. The FieldTurf calculator switched the number to 68 hours per week, to make their cost look much more favorable. This is certainly not a mistake, but is part of the deception to encourage the purchase of a synthetic turf product.
Let's recalulate.
Values for the calculations over an 8 year period of use:
-Total over 8 Year Investment: I'll use FieldTurf's numbers, even though it is very likely biased in FieldTurf's favor: $238,000 vs $660,000
-Total hours of available use (natural grass turf): Given that we live in Maine, and the field may be covered in snow or wet during the months of Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr. (20 weeks that the field will not be available, if the turf was natural grass turf). 32 weeks for natural turf is acceptable.
-Hours per week: 19 hours per week is about 3 hours per day Monday thru Saturday.
32 weeks x 19 hours/week x 8 years = 4864 hours/year
-Total hours of available use (synthetic turf): Even if the field was synthetic turf, the field may be covered in snow or wet from melting snow during the months of Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar. April is always a toss-up in Maine, but lets assume that the nature of synthetic turf lets us use the field in April. (16 weeks that the field will not be available, if the turf was synthetic turf). 36 weeks for synthetic turf, rather than 44 as indicated by the FieldTurf calculator.
-Hours per week: FieldTurf says that the synthetic field would be "available" for use 68 hours per week. That is over 11 hours per day, Monday thru Saturday. A closer, yet still high, estimate would be 6 hours per day of actual use, Monday thru Saturday. 36 hours per week is 6 hours per day Monday through Saturday.
36 weeks x 36 hours/week x 8 years = 10,368 hours/year
Using the "Total over 8 Year Investment" and the "Total hours of available use" numbers, we arrive at:
Natural Grass Turf: $238,000 / 4864 hours = $48.89 per hour of use.
Synthetic Turf: $660,000/ 10,368 hours/ year = $63.66 per hour of use.
Conclusion: Even by FieldTurf's biased numbers, natural grass turf is less expensive per hour than synthetic turf. If unbiased numbers were used, FieldTurf would be even more expensive per hour of use. For example, I estimated that the natural grass field would only be used a conservative 3 hours per day for 6 days a week. A natural grass turf field, constructed with a proper base and drainage that helped the grass and base dry more quickly, could easily be used twice as much (6 hours a day).
At a minimum, FieldTurf's synthetic turf is does not produce the promised Return on Investment.
If any of my calculations seem off, please let me know using the Contact Form, and I'll correct them. Click the button to see a relatively unbiased cost analysis tutorial.
References and More Information
How Taxpayers Get Fooled On The Cost Of An Artificial Turf Field
Buyers Remorse Surfacing Over Artificial Turf Fields
What the Synthetic Turf Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know
http://www.jlbruce.com/assets/what_the_artificial_turf_industry_doesn.pdf
A key to ensuring the maximum availability and playing time on the playing field, whether it is synthetic turf or natural grass turf, is proper drainage to remove excessive rainwater or melting snow. In the case of a natural grass turf field, there are many options. Field construction contractors will need to be vetted to ensure that they know how to properly design and install the field.
Basic drainage principles applied to sports field design
http://www.turfandrec.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2579
https://www.sportengland.org/media/30865/Natural-turf-for-sport.pdf