You have a variety of options when it comes to building a pickleball court and it mostly depends on your budget, what you expect from a pickleball court, who is going to be playing on it and how often they are going to be playing, where it is, if it is part of a club, school or recreation centre, and whether you are playing for fun or professionally.
Below we look at the costs associated with building a pickleball court depending on what your situation is.
If you are part of a tennis club, then you can easily use your tennis courts as pickleball courts, and all you need are the markers and a net. This is going to be a relatively inexpensive option.
If you are a pickleball club, and you are building pickleball courts from new, for training, club use and socializing, or even for professional games and tournaments, you are starting from scratch and the cost of your pickleball courts is going to be fairly high.
If you are playing at home and converting your back yard into a pickleball court, the cost will depend on if you are building on grass, on ready made concrete, or if you are starting from scratch. It pretty much depends on your budget.
One thing is for sure. No matter where you build your pickleball court, or how you build it, you are going to have loads of fun and get a marvellous amount of play out of it, especially if you love the game.
Let’s take a look at costs involved, although you should note there are many variants and at the end of the day, you need to get exact quotes from a pickleball contractor, or check the prices of pickleball kits.
Table of Content
Choose a Contractor in Your Area
When building a pickleball court, choose a contractor who works in your area, and work with a contractor who is a qualified installer of sports courts.
The American Sports Builders Association brings out a manual with lists of the regulated contractors. They have lists of regulated builders, suppliers and designers and they also do the certification, which means anyone they recommend is certified to build your court.
ABSA is the American centralised source for information on sports facilities, indoor and outdoor courts, sports fields, running tracks and pretty much anything to do with building a sports facility.
One can become a member of ABSA, read their publications, and use their bidding facility, where you can ask for information on pickleball court construction, and more, in your area.
They will make recommendations to you. You can ask them to get the best quotes for making a pickleball court in your area.
ABSA also bring out a construction guide, just in case you are considering building your own pickleball court, and they have information on maintenance too.
Also Read:
Get Yourself a Few Pickleball Court Quotes
When you are building a pickleball court, or two, three or more, get a range of quotes from different suppliers.
While most of them should come in at the same or a similar price, they will assess your area and give you a quote. You might also get different ideas from different contractors.
One might suggest you use an existing concrete base that you already have, another may suggest brand new concreting. One might include lights or spectator seats, or give you ideas that you have not yet thought above. We would suggest you get two quotes minimum.
Approximate Costs Involved Making a New Pickleball Court
A pickleball contractor may give you an approximate quote telephonically, or online, if you tell them what you are looking for. It is hard to give you approximate quotes, but we can say a new pickleball court is in the range of USD 20,000 and upwards, depending on surfaces chosen, coating, markers, fencing chosen and lighting.
As per ABSA, there are three options for floor coatings. This is presuming you are starting from scratch. The prices change depending on the surface you choose.
- Liquid applied coatings with rubber granules.
- A base with single layer shocks.
- Indoor surfaces, with a poured-in-place surface.
- Cushioned surfaces.
Older players may prefer cushioned surfaces as these are easier on their knees and feet. A contractor should be able to give you approximate prices with choices in the surface.
Remember, the costs of indoor pickleball courts will be different to those of outdoor pickleball courts. USD 25,000 as a starting point is a good idea, but the costs could go up to USD 40,000 plus.
Converting a Tennis Court to a Pickleball Court
This is going to cost you a lot less money than building a pickleball court from scratch. You can read more on this in our article on playing pickleball on a tennis court here.
While you can fit four pickleball courts into one tennis court, ABSA suggests you only use two.
You already have the surface and the perimeter fencing, so you are saving a lot of money when it come to these costs, but you may still need to put in a new surface.
For this reason it is hard to quote as it can be really inexpensive to build pickleball courts on to tennis court (markers and a net and net posts only) or pretty much everything. A little over USD 15,000 has been suggested as an approximate costing.
Also Read:
Giving Out Requirements to Contractors
We’ve done a bit of research and contacted numerous contractors for approximations, although we are loathe to put up prices because of all the variants.
Of course if you build your own pickleball court in your backyard, you can do it really inexpensively (and here’s how you can do it too!)
If you are building on top of a tennis court or tennis courts, your costs are going to be lower. If you have concrete that you are building on top of, your costs are also going to be lower.
But if you are starting from scratch, you are looking at anywhere between USD 20,000 and USD 40,000.
Final Words on Costs Around Building a Pickleball Court
Is it worth making one’s own pickleball court?
If you have just started out and have regular access to a pickleball court as an individual, then you should look to get used to the sport by becoming a regular.
However, if you are a pro in regular need of pickleball practice, or someone who doesn’t have access to pickleball courts nearby, or you own a club looking to introduce pickleball to your members, it makes sense to build your own pickleball court(s).
Pickleball is one of the fastest growing racket and ball sports in the USA, it is already played by thousands of older players, it has a rapidly growing younger movement of players, there are pickleball clubs and recreational centres dotted around the USA and these are constantly evolving and growing, with new ones coming up all the time.
There are pickleball tournaments throughout the year and the sport is played by old and young, by all genders, and leisurely or professionally.