Resource Central

The Lawn Removal service allows you to hire our crews to remove your lawn at a discounted rate. The DIY Program means you want to do the removal and use your discount from the city towards waterwise garden kits. 

No, this is not a rebate program. Resource Central partners with water providers to offer discounts on our services. You will not receive money back on your water bill through our programs.

The Lawn Replacement application typically opens by the end of January into February.

Applications are accepted throughout the season typically February-September. Lawn removal operations begin in May and run through the end of summer, weather dependent. 

Most Front Range residents are eligible!

If your water provider partners with Resource Central, you will select their name from the dropdown on our Program Page and apply for either Lawn Removal services or Do-It-Yourself removal.

If your water provider is not currently a partner, but you live along the Front Range, you can apply under “Other” and may still be eligible for a discount.

When applying to the program, Resource Central requires photos of your lawn to verify the quality of your grass and size of the project. If snow is interfering, we can hold your place in line until you can get us those photos. 

If you know you want to participate in our program this summer, please consider taking your photos when you have a window to do so.

For our two different programs: Lawn Removal and Do-It-Yourself, the discount applies differently.

Please click into the appropriate sections below to see how the discount will work for your project. 

We are not a landscaping company and therefore do not have the resources to execute landscaping projects beyond removing grass. Well maintained grass receives supplemental water throughout the growing season. When grass is not watered and maintained, weeds can take over and soil dries out, making sod cutting inefficient and difficult for our team.

Weeds, native grass variants, and other intrusive plants have deeper root systems that our sod cutter is not equipped to handle.

For example, this area is not considered “maintained.”

No, but we have a 200 square foot minimum and 2000 square foot maximum for all projects.

Any area of lawn is acceptable so long as we can safely get our equipment to the project site.

Through the Lawn Replacement Program, only Do-It-Yourself participants are eligible for Garden In A Box kits.

However, if you would like to purchase a garden, anyone can do so through our Garden Store

The start of our season is weather dependent. It generally starts at the end of May and we will have multiple crews running throughout the summer.

Appointments are only available Monday through Friday during normal business hours.

The square footage of your project determines how much of the discount you will use.

The regular cost of our lawn removal service is $2.65 per square foot. Water providers will pay $1.65 per square foot while you are responsible for $1.00 per square foot. This rate applies until the water provider has paid the maximum discount amount of $750. Beyond that the removal cost to you goes back to $2.65 per square foot. 

This means that you can get up to 454 square feet removed for $1.00 per square foot.

Different lawns have different needs so we begin our projects by cutting a test strip to test your root depth. We will adjust the blade accordingly and check many times and recheck depth throughout the process to stay beneath the root system.

We do not take excess topsoil and we do not adjust the blade to accommodate heavily weeded areas or areas with native grasses. We are exclusively a lawn removal service. 

The sod cutter is a heavy machine that has the potential to damage roots. If we can see the roots, or you can point out specific roots to us, we can flag them and work around them.

Roots just below the surface can often be worked around with hand tools, within reason. If your project area is extremely densely rooted, or if you are concerned about the root systems, we strongly encourage you to consider another area of lawn for removal.

Lawns that are property maintained, compatible with the sod cutter, and landscaped soon after our services should see minimal to no regrowth. Lawns that were poorly maintained, not sod cutter friendly, or that had native grasses/weeds are more likely to see grass and/or weed regrowth.

A key factor in avoiding any regrowth at your project is to landscape immediately and not leave raw dirt for a prolonged period of time. If you are unable to landscape right away, we recommend covering the bare ground with a layer of cardboard, then adding a few inches of mulch on top within a week.

We recommend trying to get some landscaping done as quickly as possible after we remove the lawn. If you leave the dirt exposed to sun, water and seeds, nature can take hold.

If you are not able to finish your project within a week or so, you should consider putting a layer of cardboard down as a placeholder and weed prevention measure. Cardboard can be a great temporary cover for your project.

Cardboard is also a sustainable alternative to a fabric weed barrier and you can pile a few inches of mulch on top. The mulch helps retain moisture, shade the soil, and block sunlight.

Please remember that in order to qualify for our program you must commit to replacing your grass with at least 50% plant material. While grass lawns are water intensive, plants are vital to our ecosystems, maintaining soil health and water tables. Your landscaping will require modifying your irrigation plan as well; watering your new landscaping will still be necessary to make sure it thrives.

Bare ground! We’ll leave you with nothing but dirt so you can start transforming your landscape right away. The service includes hauling and disposal of the removed sod. 

Here is an “after” photo of our Lawn Removal Service projects.

Please follow these simple steps before your appointment date:

• Remove any sticks, rocks, pet waste, toys, and other objects.
• Clearly be able to identify or have marked all in ground obstacles such as sprinklers, down spout extensions, drains, significant root systems, etc.
• Leave your 811 markers in place. If you have to move them or mow the lawn, be sure to take photos so that our crews can confirm utility lines.
• Stop watering your lawn 2 days before your project date. Freshly watered lawns become extremely muddy, can leave a mess at your house and make our crews’ work more difficult.

Resource Central offers a great Lawn Removal service where we send a crew out to do the removal for you.

If you want to do it yourself, the options we most recommend would be:

1. Renting a sod cutter
2. Sheet Mulching
3. Solarizing

For more details, check out our Resource Library!

We don’t recommend using chemicals or herbicides as they are likely to negatively impact soil quality and insect health. 

This season, Do-It-Yourself participants who qualify can receive a maximum of 400 square feet of waterwise gardens.

This season’s sun garden is the “Sunlit Fiesta” and the shade garden is the “Native Shadows”. Substitutions are rare, but possible. Check out the Garden Store for specifics.

If you are approved for the program, you will select a garden pick up date and time that works for you. Our Garden In A Box team will help load your gardens and irrigation conversion kit for those who selected one.

Plants will be organized into 2 ft by 1 ft trays, and will be hardened off and ready to plant when you pick them up. For every 100 square feet, you will get 2 trays of plants.

If you can’t make it to your designated pickup, you can send someone as proxy to pick up the plants for you.

While we don’t recommend landscaping companies specifically, if you are looking for professional help, the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado website is a great place to start.

For more help, check out our website, Waterwiseyards.org, to find tons of resources, tips, and encouragement from Coloradans who made the switch from grass to garden.

You can also sign up for our Waterwise Yard Seminar Series to learn techniques and tips from local pros. Our Garden In A Box program also makes designing your garden simple. Do-It-Yourself participants will receive plant-by-numbers maps when they pick up their gardens. 

These programs are designed to help you kickstart your conservation goals. If you are looking for additional help, we recommend browsing the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado for more resources. 

An irrigation zone is the set of sprinkler heads that all turn on at the same time. Yards typically have at least a few different zones. Your sprinkler control box has settings to control each of the different zones. To find your zones, activate each one on your control clock for a few minutes, then walk around your property to locate which heads have turned on. Be sure to check for drip zones as well by listening for gurgling water.

When you complete your sprinkler conversion, grass and xeriscape should not be in the same zone because they have different watering requirements. When modifying a single zone, this could mean converting some heads while capping others. 

There are many ways to convert you irrigation system, including the RainBird 1800 spray-to-drip retrofit kit. Conversion kits like this allow you to convert a sprinkler head without overhauling your existing system. Each head requires a kit, and you can convert as many as you want. 

While we appreciate your enthusiasm, unfortunately lawn removal projects that were started before receiving written approval from Resource Central are not eligible.

If you still want to participate, you can always apply for a different area of lawn.