How much does it cost to build a pickleball court?

The cost of the pickleball court depends on what type of pickleball court you want. Is it an indoor or outdoor pickleball court? Are you converting an existing court to pickleball or building one from scratch? Building it fancy or simple? All of these factors alter how much does it cost to build a pickleball court.

Pickleball court can be built anywhere–from your backyard to your area’s most expensive sports society. The material, design, and construction also have a dramatic difference in prices, making it possible for everyone to build a pickleball, despite the budget. So here, we gonna break down your best options to construct the court and how much it’ll cost around, including the initial process of everything.

How much does it cost to build a pickleball court?

Building a pickleball court can be as affordable as $200 and as expensive as $40k to $50k, depending on the infrastructure and luxury you’re opting for. This is because of the flexibility of the game. While you gotta buy or rent a land of 30 by 60 for a pickleball court, you can easily turn your backyard into a pickleball court and even play it on grass. That’s how and why there are massive differences in the cost of pickleball courts. 

If you’re here for the quick part, then here’s the quotation:

  • Basic pickleball court: 
    • Average materials: $10k
    • Best materials: $22k
  • Decorated pickleball court for tournaments: $50k
  • Converting an exciting court: $5k
  • Resurfacing an old court: $3k-$5k

Tips for saving money:

  • Buy markers instead tape and paint. They marginally save 80% of the cost compared to the paint and are more flexible and long-lasting than the tapes.  
  • Portable nets are cheaper than permanent ones and stay longer. 
  • Asphalt surface costs half of the concrete and hardly has a quarter reduction in the lifespan. While you can spend the saved money on the coating, which will turn your court 1 start to 5 starts real quick.

Here’s the table of the price breakdown:

Surfaces:

Concrete:Asphalt:Court tiles:Wood:Snap together plastic:
$12 per sq feet ($21,600) $6 per sq feet (10,800) $4 per sq feet ($7,200) $3 per sq feet ($5,400)$100-$200

After you get the land, you’ll first decide the type of surface you want to play pickleball on. Well, pickleball is adaptable, as we said, and it can be played on grass or your driveway with a ball replacement.

Surfaces
Picture Credit: Sport Master

However, building a surface is necessary for a good game and a versatile place, for which you’ll have 4 options. We categorized them in their price order and performance. Also, the bracelets have a calculated price of one standalone court, which is 1800 square feet. Concrete is the best option for building a long-term court where you can also entertain tournaments. It can last for 5 years with no cracks and stay stable during heavy rains. However, it can increase your expenses to $30k or $40k. Next to it is the asphalt which can keep you within budget while the quality is unbeatable if you expect a court to last at least 2 years. And suppose you want to get it done and dusted within 10k. In that case, court tiles and wooden or snap-together flooring will work fine for you. 

Lines:

MarkersTapePaint
$30-$60 $30 $200-$300 
Lines in pickleball

After the surface comes the lines. Here too, you’ll have options to spend your money per your budget and preference. Personally, we like the markers, and our favorite one is from Franklin because of their versatility and flexibility compared to tape and paints. Tapes are the cheapest, yet they’ll be alive for 2 weeks, and then you’ll have to buy a new one. On the other hand, pain costs a lot and will require you to hire a contractor to paint the court.

Nets:

Average qualityBest quality
$30-$100$150-$400.
Nets in pickleball

Now that your place is ready, a net system is the last thing that will your court a final look. Again, the choice is yours. You can build a court with a cheaper net if you don’t play regularly. There are portable net options and permanent high-quality ones. Combined with concrete surfacing and markers, all of which will cost you just 22k and here you go–a fancy and versatile pickleball court.

 Cost of Extra’s

Pickleball gets done with the surface, nets, and lines. However, options for pickleball court never end and nor does our desires. Here are what is popular these days:

Coatings:

Along with surfacing, coating just adds a luxurious touch. Once you play on a coated surface, there’s no going back. However, with joy comes the price, and you have to pay good money to experience this ecstasy.

Picklemaster, Sportsmaster, and other contractors have great coating options, all of which will your court coated in just $4,000-$5,000.

Fencing:

Previously, fencing used to be optional, but since the number of pickleballers has increased, the courts have become increasingly crowded, for which fencing has become a need. Fencing gives a court a professional look; plus, fencing is cheaper, though, and for pickleball, even a 4 feet high fence will be enough. The maximum it costs is $200.

Lighting:

Lighting is a must if you’re playing indoors and an extra expense when you play pickleball at night. It’ll be 1000 or 2000 US dollars considering the poles, electrical working, and, of course, the lighting.

Extra decoration:

Extra decoration includes chairs and stands for the spectators and players. Additional decoration calls for the courts where tournaments take place. However, if you’ve a wide community playing pickleball, and you have a spare area with that, you can emplace whatever you want in your court–unless it’s not messing with the ball during gameplay.

A contractor:

If you’re building a court from scratch, most likely you’ll need a contractor, and yes, you can sense the extra bucks going out of your pocket. However, we’ve quite a different opinion on the expense of a contractor. While many people think a contractor adds to the expense, we had an otherwise experience. 

A contractor gives the most honest quotation of everything. He saves you from complex calculations, searching for the materials, and the hassle of building the court. In fact, if you build the court on your own, you’ll likely spend more money than you’d when you’ve hired a contractor.

Per our experience, one of the best contractors to hire for pickleball are;

  • sportsmaster.net
  • Sportcourt.com
  • novasports.com
  • sportsurfaces.com
  • Morsportsgroup.com

Building indoor vs outdoor pickleball court:

Building an indoor court vs outdoor court changes the entire quotations. This is because the environments of both courts are different. For indoors, lighting and air-conditioning are required which hikes the price rate. However, in a pre-air-conditioned room with lights, the cost will be half compared to the outdoor because indoor courts are smaller. For an outdoor, there’s no such fancy requirement. Just get the surface and lines done, install any old or portable net and you’re done.

Cost of converting a tennis court:

Well, it’s the safest and easiest option to have a pickleball court near you.

  • You just have to make 4 divisions: Free.
  • Making the boundaries with tape/markers: $50
  • Adjusting the net height to 34: Free.

Even if you’re permanently turning your tennis court to pickleball with paint and a permanent net system, still you’ll need just $500.

Pickleball court maintenance:

Pickleball maintenance depends on the indoor or outdoor court type. Comparatively, the indoor court isn’t hard to maintain. Once you build the court, you’ll only need to keep it clean. The nets, paints, and surface won’t ask for the upkeep.

Comparatively, on an outdoor court, constant maintenance is required. If you’ve installed markers, you’ll need to change them every once a week. The net will wear off quickly–even the most expensive one. Whilst, rain and other natural disasters have their own negative effects.

However, you can have a height clearance to save maintenance costs and your court from unforeseen damages.

Final Thoughts:

Combining all the costs, you’ll have many quotations for building a pickleball court. Whether you’ve $50 or $50k, you can have your own pickleball court. The answer to “how much does it cost to build a pickleball court” really comes down to you. You’ve got land and planning to make a private court to earn money? Keep aside at least 30k dollars. Turning a tennis or basketball court? Just need $500 dollars to make it a permanent spot. And for a backyard, the dice are yours to roll. Just remember, the better the material, the more expensive it’ll be, however, it is worth it all in the end. Assuming you’d have finalized your decision, let us know in the comments how you planned to build a court and how much it cost you. Till then, good luck!

HARRY ANDERSON
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