Tennis Court Construction Blog

Successful tennis court construction can be incredibly painless and stress free, but only if you learn the best way to keep away from  a few typical mistakes.

You will discover countless tips online and in books, some are aimed at those individuals who wish to perform the work by themselves, and some aimed at those who wish to find the most reliable specialist. In this posting I will be focusing on the latter.

Try to resist the temptation of getting quotations from builders at the beginning, it is a much better approach to begin by looking for a step-by-step process to follow. With this method you’re far more likely to be pleased with the end result.

The construction plan below is a tested methodology that absolutely should be adopted by anybody seeking to create a tennis court. Best of luck.

Step 1 – Determine your Goals

Many people don’t implement this step at the very beginning, but it actually is imperative to do this prior to choosing a builder. Put in writing with pen and paper just what you expect the finished construction to end up like. What number of courts are you interested in? Would you like a hard court, cushioned court, or soft court? Would you like to be utilising the court throughout the year or simply once the weather is nice? Every one of these questions really should be clarified in a single document you will reference all through the project.

Step 2 – Establish What Your Price Range is for the Project

I believe it is the toughest choice you are going to need to make. You cannot find any wrong or right way to decide as every tennis player will have different requirements. To avoid taking out something which is very important ın your case, I would advocate for you to spend the necessary time on the preceding step to get perfectly clear about your individual needs. As an example, choosing a hard court to help you cut expenses would certainly be a poor choice for someone who needs cushioned surfaces to relieve knee troubles.

Step 3 – Identify Whether or not You will Be Working with a Consultant

It is actually a typical misconception that employing a consultant is only feasible if you’ve money to burn, although in fact they normally help save money. The consultant can help to manage your project costs as a result of being familiar with the wants and needs of the client as a way to totally focus the money exactly where it will likely be most appreciated. A consultant may take the form of an architect, an experienced tennis court contractor, or even an engineer. In the event that you choose to work with a consultant, then make sure that they have many years worth of experience, and you ought to examine a selection of their preceding results to avoid any shocks down the road.

Step 4 – Select a suitable Site

Determining where the court is going to be built, the precise size of the court, and the orientation, should be done before you look at any in depth design. The direction in which the court faces turns into an important factor if it’ll often be played on in the wintertime. You won’t want to get this wrong should you be hoping to play throughout the cold months of winter: the low sunlight can be very irritating when it’s directly behind your opponents. The type of soil and and how it drains usually are important aspects that will need to be taken into consideration, as are any near trees, disapproving nearby neighbors, etc.

Step 5 – Select the type of Surface

What I call the most important decision in tennis court construction, surface selection, should always be handled with appropriate consideration of the requirements of the client. Issues such as the speed of a court, the maintenance costs, installation costs, and whether or not you are able to play while it is raining, all differ from one surface to the next.

The three primary types are as follows:-

A. Porous Type e.g. porous concrete, clay, grass, asphalt, artificial grass

B. Non-porous Type e.g. non-porous asphalt, post tensioned concrete

C. Cushioned Non-porous Type e.g. polymer systems, carpet, artificial grass

Step 6 – Decide on Tennis Court Accessories and Amenities to Add

At this point you’ll be ready to order some essentials for instance a net, some posts, fencing, etc. Aside from that, there are several additional factors that will really help the visual aesthetics of the court, for example a nice bench, a sunshade, the surrounding paving or horticulture, and so forth.

Step 7 – Appoint a Tennis Court Constructor To Get The Work Underway

Calling some sort of industry association for court construction should really be your first activity in choosing the best builder. This is the most beneficial first step. The next thing should be to find three prices or more, each with genuine recommendations from other satisfied clients for instance private owners, tennis clubs, as well as schools.

Check with previous clients to ascertain whether they would recommend their work as well as if the project ended up being completed on budget and on schedule. Try to get a feel for how happy they’re with the court, and how well it has lasted over time.

Then, ask the constructor the number of years they have been building courts for. It is important to choose someone with lots of years worth. Ask them to see if they have had customers with all your specific priorities previously. Inquire to get a list of satisfied clients, and give them a ring or even better visit all of them if you’re able to.

I hope this simple tennis court construction guide has been of interest to you.

Tennis Court Construction

When it comes to tennis court construction, there are a few tips that are fundamental to creating a court that not only looks nice, but also performs well and will not continually surprize the owners with repair bills. It is also possible to shave $1,000s off the final price with small design alterations.

Many people who build a tennis court are surprised at how expensive court maintenance can be, but there is a huge difference in the maintenance required from one surface type to the next. Being aware of the pros and cons of each type of surface can greatly reduced the on-going cost of ownership, as can knowing how to do your own simple maintenance. For example, asphalt is a very common surface type due to it’s relatively low cost, but it requires simple yet constant maintenance to reach the kind of life span offered by a post tension concrete surface.

Asphalt is prone to wearing because any debris that breaks of the court contributes to the wear of the court. It is very common to find loose pieces of asphalt gravel scattered across the surface of courts. As time goes on these small pieces break off other small pieces when they are trodden on. Private owners who are aware of this can reduce the effect by routinely removing all debris from the court. However, if the court is for club use or public use, then this will require a dedicated grounds man as the players are unlikely to be interested in maintaining the court in this way. Therefore, good surface selection should take into account the amount of regular maintenance and a realistic budget for repair work in years to come.

Another great cost cutting tip is to reduce the size of the side runs and back runs to shave a few thousand off the cost. Allthough the stipulated size of a tennis court is 120 feet by 60 feet, it turns out that 110 by 55 is perfectly fine for most people and can significantly reduce the amount of materials required. An added bonus is that it takes up slightly less space which is good news for those with limited space.

Before any tennis court construction work can start, planning permission has to be obtained from the local authorities. In many cases, its specifically the resurfacing of the land that needs permission, but there’s a little known way around this restriction. By creating a grass court, oftentimes this does not mean you are changing the land use, and therefore won’t need planning permission.

One of my favourite tips is this last one; to make the court less visually intrusive, the fencing on the sides of the court can just 3 feet high, or even removed. The fences around the back of the court are responsible for keeping most of the balls in the court, but near the fence near the net posts hardly ever is needed. It’s quite surprising how much difference this makes to the visual appeal of a court.

Good luck with your tennis court construction project.