Sports like Pickleball have seen a never-ending incline in their active players all across the globe and there is no doubt every fan wants to build their court even if it’s in their backyard after all everyone has the liberty to do so, as long as they have the cash and the energy to commit with the preliminaries.
Obviously, it’s not like you are going to paint a couple of lines and start right away and ignore tons of amenities, cutting some corners along the way as it goes against Pickleball Court rules and official regulations.
To cut straight to the point on How much it costs to build a pickleball court, I would suggest that you roll up your sleeves and scroll right down below without wasting any further time because we have some work to do,
Building The Pickleball Court, Starting From Scratch
Let’s get down to the Brass Tacks on how much it would cost you to build a Pickleball Court right from scratch.
1. Fetching The Permits
You cannot just pick shovels and start digging wherever you deem fit, there are laws and other forms of governing regulations that prevent an individual from building on a place even if they are the rightful owner of the area.
Some of these prohibitions or restriction includes building an oriented field as it might breach noise compliance with the local community you are living in, henceforth, any individual that decides to build a private Pickleball court is required by the law to obtain a Permit from building department or municipality which usually costs around 100-300 dollars.
Note: This estimate is only based on urban regions where taxes vary by a large degree, rural areas may cost you considerably less than 300 dollars.
2. Leveling The Surface
Once you submitted all the prerequisites such as site plans, drainage plans as well and blueprints of your pickleball court, it’s time for you to roll up your sleeve and start working on your court, or at least in a metaphorical sense since you would be obviously hiring professional labor to dig up the area and fill it in with concrete or asphalt material and level it properly and check it for measurements.
The material alone would cost you a lump sum of 2000 Dollars, however, adding up the rent cost of a bulldozer and a professional to remove debris and vegetation from the area would rack up the cost to around 5000 Dollars.
And since Rome wasn’t built in a day, so will your pickleball court, so expect a couple of days for the concrete to completely dry out, while the professional evens out any leveling-related issues.
3. Implementing Drainage System
Not long after your court is built, you need to hire another set of professional laborers to design your drainage system by digging trenches across the edges of your court so that they can lay pipes that meet the inner sewage circuitry so that water droplets won’t deluge in the midst of the court and possibly ruin the foundation.
Pickleball courts, like any other sports field, can take devastating damage from water accumulation or poor sewage systems, so make sure you never cheap out on drainage budgets.
The average cost of building an elaborate and well-planned drainage system would be around 4000 dollars, keep in mind this doesn’t cost post-maintenance costs if your Pickleball sewage system is clogged up with debris or vegetation.
4. Painting The Court
Once every other bit has settled in, it is time to apply a thick layer of Acrylic paint, make sure you choose the brand that is resistant to water and UV rays, which unsurprisingly also costs you a whopping sum of 2000 dollars.
You can easily invest in bright contrast colors that follow the guidelines of the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) and paint the court by yourself if you have enough experience and knowledge of all the zones in a Pickleball zone, however, I would advise you to leave it to the professionals that have all the required tools and stencils to accurately paint multiple parts with high accuracy so that every bit of the court is painted out evenly.
Depending on the skillset of the labor, with the cost of the paint combined, the average estimation cost would be around 3500-4000 dollars.
5. Installing Amenities
Lastly, you cannot just skip on amenities that include installing benches, and fences across the pickleball court so that the ball doesn’t land outside the boundaries and wanders off.
Moreover, if you are planning to play outdoors, make sure your Court also has a thorough amount of floodlights or supporting illumination system, for which not only do you have to install posts but also have to hire an electrician to figure out the circulatory that connects to the main electrical line.
On the other hand, every Pickleball court, requires its own Net system, while it wouldn’t cost you an arm and limb, the material used for the permanent post that will let you hang the net will certainly add up to the initial cost of all the amenities combined, so in general, expect around 1500 dollars average cost for setting up all the necessities for your court.
So What’s The Average Estimation For My Pickleball Court?
It’s pretty much apparent that building a Pickleball court is no walk in the park, while the average estimation is around 15k dollars, I would highly advise you to have a flexible mindset on your budget because obviously there might be some discrepancies that will vary corresponding to the fees of permits, type of paint you may be buying, labor and equipment rental costs as well as the development of drainage and post-maintenance of the sewage system.
While some of these factors are highly crucial and it’s pretty transparent that you shouldn’t be cutting corners to get the job done, amenities like installing benches or designing the fences might be something you might turn a blind eye to and opt for cheaper materials, nevertheless, their overall cost would be near negligible enough for you.
How Fast Is My Permits Processed?
Paperwork, whether it relates to private or Public property corresponding to courts, usually takes weeks or even months to be processed depending on the type of region you may be living in.
Obviously, you will be required to submit your site plan, which has to be approved by authorized contractors or vendors as well as your drainage plan that meets all the implemented guidelines of your local community because you clearly don’t want to end up running the sewage system and making a mess for your Municipality.
Keep in mind that failure to comply with the law or using methods that bypass the legal system are prohibited and might result in heavy fines and penalization and you will be handed out a cease and desist order by the court, ruining your plans to build a Pickleball court altogether.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Pickleball Court? – Wrap Up
Figuring out the costs to build a pickleball court might be one of the easiest bits, however, getting the appropriate permits and ensuring your Court meets the zoning and safety regulations altogether can get challenging since it usually takes eons just to get your documents processed and finalized.
On the other hand, if you already have your yard or private area filled with concrete or asphalt material, you can easily cut down on your average cost by twofold and jump straight to the painting part, so make sure you find a place that is at least 20 feet wide by 44 feet long and requires minimal post maintenance.
Good Luck 🤞.
