As you can imagine, a lot of the tennis court work I do is oriented around the sale of a home with a tennis court. People want to know, when either selling or buying a home with a tennis court, how much it will cost to resurface the tennis court. The following post is a quick recap of the common questions I get from realtors and sellers. If you have a specific question on your home or one of your listings, feel free to reach out to me on the form at the bottom of the page. I’m happy to help.
Also, if you’re unsure about some of the terminology, a good companion post is 10 Tennis Court Painting Questions.
Frequently asked Tennis Court Real Estate questions:
1. How much to resurface/repaint a court? It all depends upon the condition of the court and your service area. With this being said, you’re looking at between $5,000-$10,000 but, if there are a lot of issues, it could be as much as $15,000.
Factors to consider that alter price
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Location of the court from the street. How far will we have to travel to carry materials for each trip from the truck?
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How much power washing is needed?
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How deep and extensive is the crack repair?
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How many bird baths need to be repaired?
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What colors are you choosing? Are they custom?
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What time of year is it? Cooler months require longer curing times which increase the price.
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Is there any needed fence repair?
2. How much to replace a court? Without beating around the bush, it will between $80,000-$100,000+. Surely I can’t be serious. (Yes. I am. And stop calling me Shirley.) In most cases, the court is in a remote part of the property, which will need to be accessed. The landscaping to get to-and-from will probably be damaged and need to be repaired. The fence will likely need to be taken down and completely replaced. The asphalt will need to be removed from the site and repaved. The court will need to be repainted. On 7,200 sqft, this adds up to $100,000 very quickly.
3. How much to remove a court? I, honestly, really, truly can’t say as I have never been involved with a court removal. There are so many factors but I would guess somewhere in the $30,000-plus range. The big factors are much the same as item one. Keep in mind, 7,200 sqft X 3-5 inches of asphalt plus 4 inches of gravel are going to have to be broken up and hauled away. That and the fence will have to be removed too. (Just describing everything that goes into it is giving me anxiety.)
4. What color combinations do you recommend? If you’re selling a home, like bedrooms you may want to stick with a conservative color such as green or green on green. That appeals to more people. If the court has not been refinished but will be after or as a contingency with the sale, you can have more vibrant colors such as green and blue made popular from Flushing Meadows.
5. Should I go with a multi-sport court? This falls along the same lines as colors. If it has already been done, there’s no need to remove anything. However, if it hasn’t been done, I don’t recommend going through the expense as you want it as appealing to as many buyers as possible. You can, however, tell a buyer with kids that you have someone (nod, nod, wink, wink) that can convert it to a multi-sport court.
6. What about accessories? I would orient these question more towards the buyer and yours truly.
7. Size of a tennis court– The standard size of a tennis court is 120’ X 60’ = 7,200 sqft. I say this for no other reason than impervious coverage is an important piece of info when assessing residential real estate. There are other dimensions to a court such as service lines, net height etc… that you can find in other posts but the overall size is most important to realtors.
8. How long will a tennis court last? Residential asphalt driveways last 20-30 years on the East Coat and they don’t have heavy vehicles driving on them. If your court is well maintained, it should last much longer, especially if you live in the SouthWest. I’ve seen well-maintained residential courts that are 50 years old.
9. How often should it be ‘resurfaced’? The industry standard is every 3-5 years. Look at it like you’re changing the oil in your car. It’s every 3,000-5,000 miles for your car and it’s every 3-5 years for your court. And just like your car, you can get away with letting it go 5-7 but anything after that and you’re looking to run it into the ground.
10. What is the court made of? The majority of residential tennis courts are painted asphalt courts. You do see a great number of newer courts that are post-tensioned concrete. I’m a resurfacing guy so I won’t get into the nuts and bolts of each surface in this post but here are a couple links.
I hope this helps and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need help with one of your listings.
Sincerely,
Mike Westhead
