December 12, 2003

You don't water it. You don't fertilize it. You don't mow it.

AstroLawn® may be the bane of home improvement stores, but Ty Allen is betting beleaguered homeowners are willing to abandon sod for the low-maintenance artificial grass.

"Once it's installed, you're done," says Allen, who has acquired AstroLawn® dealership rights in Orlando and Daytona Beach. "It's always green. It doesn't turn brown in the winter time."

Four-month-old AstroLawn® Southeast is selling an evolved version of AstroTurf®, the hard nylon ground cover installed in the Houston Astrodome's baseball infield in 1965. The hard playing surface almost immediately generated complaints from ballplayers. That led to new, more consumer-friendly generations of the product; most recently, AstroPlay®, a softer green polyethylene fiber infilled with crumb rubber that provides more shock absorbency.

Two and a half years ago, Dalton, GA-based AstroTurf LLC. decided to enter the residential markets and launched a line of dealerships and distributorships.

"People can keep the look, feel and functionality of grass," says Dale Karmie, one of Allen's partners and owner of AstroLawn® Southwest in New Mexico. "I think that's the key to the acceptance."

Dale and Brian Karmie hold AstroLawn® dealership rights in New Mexico and Arizona. In those states, the 2 1/2-year-old product is especially popular given water conservation in the arid climates.

That's also a consideration in Florida. "As the water situation gets worse and our fresh supply of water decreases, we are going to see more and more people choosing alternative ground cover," predicts Teresa Watkins, multicounty coordinator for Florida Yards and Neighborhoods, a landscape education program of the University of Florida.

In addition to reduced water use, pesticides, cutting and trimming aren't needed. "We love it. We don't mow it. We don't water it. We don't weed it," touts Orlando resident Kenneth Sklar, an AstroLawn® customer. "We have a dog. He runs around in it, and he doesn't carry in (the house) dirt or mud."

At a cost of $5 to $6 per square foot, the synthetic turf is considerably pricier than the real thing, which costs about 14 cents to 24 cents a square foot. However, Allen points out that it does come with an eight-year manufacturer's warranty and a life expectancy of 10 years to 15 years. Further, he estimates that with the absence of maintenance costs, AstroLawn® pays for itself at a residence within four years and at a business in two years or less. "Some commercial projects we've done cost analysis on, the savings are immediate," he says.

Still, synthetic grass isn't for everyone. "Either you like it or you don't," says the University of Florida's Watkins.

Those who do are driving sales: The company's 70 dealers will sell more than I million square feet of AstroLawn® this year.