Pouring a new slab for your court
The slab spec to hand your concreter — thickness, mesh, level tolerance, fall, cure time and sizing — plus the questions worth agreeing on before the pour.
A new slab is the gold-standard base: dead flat, draining, and sized to your court down to the millimetre. You don't need to know concrete — you just need to hand your concreter the right numbers. Here they are.
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Thickness | ~100 mm |
| Reinforcement | Steel mesh |
| Level tolerance | Within 3–5 mm |
| Fall | A gentle 0.5–1% for drainage |
| Finish | Standard finish is fine — the tiles are the playing surface, not the slab |
| Cure before tiles | At least 72 hours |
| Size | Your court's design dimensions plus 5–10 mm all round |
Size it off your spec sheet
Every design generates a spec sheet PDF with the exact overall dimensions — including the edging. That document is written to be handed straight to your concreter, so neither of you is converting tile counts on the back of an envelope.
Worth agreeing before the pour
- ✓Fall direction — away from the house and towards existing drainage
- ✓Hoop footing — if a pole-mounted hoop is in the plan, pour its footing the same day, positioned behind the baseline so the backboard overhangs the court (the hoop's manual specifies the footing size)
- ✓Edges and joins — let your concreter detail expansion joints and tie-ins to existing paths; that's their craft
What does a slab cost?
It varies genuinely — by region, access, site prep and size — so any number we print would be wrong for half the people reading it. Get two local quotes with the spec sheet in hand; the spec above is standard residential work for any concreter.
Design your court — see the live price
Pick your sport, size, colours and lines — the exact price updates as you build, from $49/m².
Design your court →Prefer it on paper? Download the brochure (PDF)