I’ve always liked the idea of having a dedicated beach volleyball court where I can practice & have fun with my family and friends. However, I was never really aware of how much does it cost or how the process looks like to make such a court …
So, I did my in-depth research and would love to share with you what I’ve learnt!
In this article, I breakdown in details the cost of building a quality sand volleyball court as well as how the process generally looks like if you’ve ever chosen to do so.
Beach volleyball cost – General Overview
A beach volleyball court can cost a lot if you want a private one …
In order to construct a beach volleyball court the average price is roughly 35.000$.
The expenses breakdown looks generally like this:
- Hiring a bobcat or front end loader to dig a pit
- Sanitizing drainage and water pipes
- Buying gravel and sand
- Buying poles and all different kinds of expenses that are sand court related.
- Volleyball Net (Check its price at Amazon)
The most expensive part of the investment is the sand itself, after that comes the poles and then the gravel. All other things are of lower cost than these 2 individually.
The price of sand can vary a lot, because it all depends of the region you are in. Sometimes the gravel can cost more than the sand.
What types of sand is used for beach volleyball?
The sand that is used for beach volleyball is a completely different and special type of sand that is carefully chosen for the sport. The sand goes through a lot of procedures to determine the quality and if the sand meets the required conditions.
The FIVB strictly regulates the sand for every major beach volleyball competition. The sand is required to be fine, of small grain and without any pebbles or shells that can cause possible injury.
When you get rid of the dust that sand contains, you will get perfect beach volleyball sand that does not stick to your body parts. There are special tools that help when extracting bigger sand particles and pebbles out of the finer sand.
The sand for beach volleyball has only 3-5% of dust in it, which makes it perfect for no sticking during gameplay. You can find beach volleyball sand on the market that is FIVB regulated.
What is the average cost of sand volleyball?
There is no specific price when it comes to sand. It all depends on the region you live in and if the region has plenty of sand or if the sand is imported.
(Average price in the US is 30$ per Ton, but please don’t quote me on that!)
Sometimes gravel can cost much more than the sand itself. If a region has an abundance of sand, then the price will be lower, and if a region has little to no sand, this means that it needs to import sand, making it significantly expensive.
How many tons of sand for volleyball court?
Depending on the size of your court and on the location where you live, or where the sand is being built, you will need different amounts of sand and you will get them at different prices.
There is a special formula on how you can calculate the amount of sand that you will need for your court. In fact there are two formulas, because some distributers sell the sand by yards and some by tones.
Length X Width X Depth in feet, divided by 27 and then multiplied by 1.6 (this formula is for the tonnage), while the formula for the yardage is L x W x D divided by 27, and that is it.
Example:
- Length: 59 feet
- Width: 30 feet
- Depth: 3 feet
Number of Tons: (59 x 30 x 3 x 1.6) / 27 = 315 Tons
If we pay about 30 bucks per Ton, then this would roughly cost: 9500$
Cost of Sand volleyball court maintenance …
The cost of maintenance for a beach volleyball court can vary drastically.
There is a big number of equipment that is intended for beach volleyball court maintenance. Hand tools are usually cheap and will usually cost around 100 or 200$.
Sand always attracts stuff like bottle caps, paper and even remains of cigarettes. That’s why you will always need to continually clean those things out.
Also, padding on poles need to be checked quite regularly and repaired in case it is needed.
For proper maintenance, I strongly invite you to check this guide to easily clean beach volleyball court! You’ll find it very useful …
How much time does it take to build sand volleyball court?
Building a beach volleyball court can take somewhere from 8 to 10 days depending on the surface you are dealing with …
How is a sand volleyball court built?
Day 1
There is the digging process. There are no people involved in digging the pit for the gravel and sand, this is rather done by machines.
The machine will dig out the pit in no time, it will take it half a day at worst. At best, the machine can dig the pit for a few hours.
Day 1-2
After the digging comes the sanitation of the pipelines and drainage, if there is any. The drainage and pipes need to be sanitized properly and with care. That can take more than half a day away, if not the entire day away.
Day 3-4
Next comes the poles and the gravel. If the investor has decided that he wants the poles to have a concrete bottom, in order to stand better and stronger, the hardening process of the concrete can take much time, depending on the weather, but it is usually a day or two.
Day 5-6
After the hardening the gravel is added, which is no big deal, since it will probably be poured in the pit. The straightening of the gravel is also an easy job.
After that there are only two more steps, adding the protection to the walls of the pit and the gravel, for the sand.
Day 7
This is also one of the more delicate jobs, because the screen-type protection needs to be laid out perfectly, to not allow the gravel and the dirt to find their way up into the sand.
Day 8
And the final step is the sand. It will also be poured into the pit, well, into the remaining empty space. After that it will be straightened perfectly and the games can begin.
The process of building a beach volleyball court is simple to understand, but it is not easy to build the pit itself, it is a hard job and it is best if you hire professionals.
You can learn more about the detailed steps to build a beach volleyball court …
How big should your backyard be for a volleyball court?
The dimensions of your yard will however, dictate how big the court should be. If you plan on building a smaller court that is fine, you will not play fully fledged games every day in your back yard.
If the regular beach volleyball court is 18m x 9m we can conclude that your back yard has to be at least one more court bigger …
In this case, this means that your yard would have to be 36m x 18m at least. If it is larger, that is even better since you will have plenty of room to move around.
If your yard is not that big, the solution is to build a smaller court that can support a two v two game.
Final Thoughts …
The goal of this article was to give you a clear idea on how much it would cost you to build a beach volleyball court. However, what I’ve shared is based on other people experiences, that’s why you shouldn’t prepare your budget based on what I’ve said …
Instead, I highly invite you to do your own research by checking for example with sand providers and other equipment providers to have more accurate quotations.
This will give you a clearer idea on how much you need to actually spend.
I’ve recently put together an article on how much do beach volleyball players make! I think you will find it very interesting …
