USA Sod both delivers and installs. You can have sod delivered to your driveway and lay it yourself, or have it installed by a vetted local crew. The quoted installation rate covers light removal and standard site preparation, laying the sod, cutting it to fit, and the initial watering. Yards needing extensive grading, drainage work, root removal or difficult access are reviewed and quoted separately.
This is one of the most common questions we get on the phone, and it deserves a direct answer rather than a paragraph of marketing.
We do both. You can order sod delivered to your driveway and lay it yourself, or you can have it delivered and professionally installed. Both are real options, and plenty of customers choose each.
Here is what actually separates them.
What professional installation includes
When you order sod from us, you can request an installation quote. We connect you with a local crew we have worked with repeatedly, from a network of vetted independent landscapers across our service areas.
The quoted installation rate covers light removal and standard site preparation, laying the sod, cutting it to fit, and the initial watering.
That last item matters more than it sounds. New sod needs water immediately, and a surprising number of do-it-yourself installations fail because the first watering happened hours too late.
What falls outside the quoted rate
This is the part worth reading before you compare prices.
Yards that need extensive grading, heavy debris removal, root removal, drainage work, difficult access, or other significant site modifications are outside the standard installation rate. Those get reviewed and quoted separately, case by case.
We are explicit about this because the alternative is worse. A rate that quietly assumes an easy yard produces an unpleasant conversation on installation day. If your yard has a real slope, a drainage problem, old tree roots, or a gate a wheelbarrow will not fit through, we would rather price it honestly up front.
Doing it yourself: what you are signing up for
Laying sod is not complicated work, but it is physical and it is time-sensitive.
The old grass has to come out first. New sod needs direct contact with soil to root. Laying it over an existing lawn traps the old turf underneath and is one of the most reliable ways to lose a new lawn.
The surface has to be level. Every dip and hump under the sod will still be there afterwards, and you will feel them every time you mow.
It goes down the day it arrives. Sod is perishable. Heat builds inside a stacked pallet, a process called pallet heating, and it can damage the grass surprisingly fast. Your prep needs to be finished before the truck arrives, not after.
Then it needs consistent water for the first few weeks while it roots.
If you can prep the site in advance, have help for the lifting, and clear a day for the install, doing it yourself is entirely reasonable.
How to decide
Install it yourself if your yard is small to medium, reasonably flat, the old grass is easy to strip, and you have a free day plus a second pair of hands.
Hire it out if the yard is large, sloped, awkwardly shaped, hard to access, or if the timing has to be right the first time. Also consider it if you simply cannot commit to laying a full pallet the same day it lands, because that constraint is not flexible.
Not sure how much sod you need either way?
Ordering the wrong amount is the other common mistake, and it is easy to avoid.
Use the free Online Sod Calculator if your yard is a straightforward shape, and add five to ten percent for cuts around walkways, sprinklers and curves.
If the yard is awkward, with curved beds, slopes or islands that make the math unreliable, we can send someone to measure it where we offer it. In most markets an on-site measurement is $99, with a few markets priced from $75 to $199, and that fee is credited toward your sod order, so it effectively costs nothing if you go ahead.
The bottom line
We sell sod, we deliver it, and we install it. You choose which parts you want.
Enter your ZIP code to see what varieties are available in your area, or call 1-866-886-2763 and we will walk you through both options for your specific yard.