Padel Court Guide: Dimensions, Construction, Costs

17 Jun.,2024

 

Padel Court Guide: Dimensions, Construction, Costs

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Whether you&#;re looking to up your game by practicing at home, or create your own padel club to share your love of the sport, building high quality courts is a must. Both privately owned and publicly accessible courts should meet certain requirements, but also be of a particular standard to facilitate enjoyable and competitive play.

To the untrained eye, padel courts are quite similar to those used for playing tennis. However, there are several key differences to note.

In this article, we&#;ll guide you through the essential factors to keep in mind when building a court, such as the padel court dimensions, features, aspects of construction, and costs.

What Is a Padel Court?

A padel court is the playing ground for the sport of padel. Much like tennis, padel courts are rectangular and have a net in the middle. However, courts made for padel are surrounded by walls &#; often made of tempered glass and metal &#; and they are a fourth to a third smaller than a tennis court.

You can go through all the important aspects of padel courts in detail below, which you can then apply when building your own.

Padel Court Dimensions

A padel court measures 10 m in width and 20 m in length. It should have a clearance of at least 0.5 m on each side, making its total minimum dimensions 11 x 21 m, or 231 m2.

In terms of height, indoors courts or those covered with a shelter should have a ceiling height at least 6 m tall. However, heights of at least 8 m are more desirable, allowing for advanced game play and heightened lobs. The walls that surround each individual court are 4 m at their highest point &#; 3 m from the floor, with a 1 m metal fence on the top, which is not meant for rebounds. The walls can be stepped down in meter increments to a height of 2 m towards the center of the court.

The length of this court is divided into half by a net. There are service lines present at 6.95 m from the net, that run parallel to it. The net itself should be 10 m long, at a maximum height of 92 cm on the sides and 88 cm in the center.

It is also important to avoid obstructions on and around the court to ensure a smooth game.

These dimensions are set and recommended by the International Padel Federation, and must be upheld should you want to make your courts available to the public &#; particularly for competitions.

Features

When building a padel court, the following features are essential:

  • Walls and framework: Padel courts are surrounded by walls that are usually made of tempered or toughened glass that is typically 10-12 mm thick. However, any material that doesn&#;t affect the way a padel ball bounces works as well. Above the glass, and toward the center of the court, steel or aluminium mesh fencing complete the surroundings.
  • Net: The net is present exactly at the half-line on the court and is hung tightly on both sides, in a way that it touches the base of the court.
  • Floor: The floor, typically a concrete foundation, should be at an equal level and not contain any divots or holes.
  • Ground cover: The ground covering must be a porous and synthetic material that is designed to sustain heavy wear and tear. Typically some type of artificial turf is used &#; be it fibrillated or monofilament artificial grass, or textured artificial grass as used in the World Padel Tour. Silica sand is added to the turf to reduce friction and help with the player&#;s movement.
  • Lines: All the lines must be done accurately and be clearly visible on the court.
  • Lighting: For indoor courts or nighttime playing, there should be sufficient lighting.

Padel Court Construction

Like any good construction, padel courts are built from the ground up. Having solid foundations on which to build your court is a must.

It is equally important to find the right company. Be sure to hire reliable professionals who will stick to budget, deliver the court as detailed within their plans, and build it according to official requirements set by the IPF.

Once you&#;ve decided on which company to work with, all that&#;s left for you to do is make the decisions regarding configurations, materials and colors. Ultimately, these come down to personal preference and your budget.

Indoor vs. Outdoor Courts

The first key decision when building a padel court is determining whether the court will be indoors or out. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and can save you money in some ways, while being more expensive in others.

Since they aren&#;t exposed to the weather, indoor courts tend to require less maintenance. Not being outdoors provides the additional benefits of using some cheaper materials &#; such as thinner glass, as heat retention is not an issue &#; and attracting players year round, regardless of the weather. However, indoor courts can require a more expensive upfront cost when building and kitting out an entire facility.

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On the other hand, outdoor courts can be more basic in their features, yet they typically require more sand to be filled and raked into the artificial turf on a more regular basis. While the initial outlay may not be as much, the costs involved in maintaining the court could be higher.

Other Considerations When Building a Padel Court

In addition to whether you want an indoor or outdoor court, building a padel tennis court involves many considerations. Depending on the kind of court and your intended use, you might also want to consider the following:

  • The lighting and acoustics should be beneficial to the players, as well as the audiences, without being overbearing.
  • Building seating around the court for spectators can also add to the value of the court.
  • If you&#;re building a club, providing other services like change rooms, a gym, lockers and food stands can help attract more people.
  • Keep aspects such as usage, pricing, occupants, regulations and maintenance in mind.
  • If you&#;re not using glass, determine suitably neutral colors for the walls so that they do not cause interruptions in the sport. Grey is usually a good choice since it does not alter the players&#; depth perception.

Padel Court Costs

Building a court isn&#;t cheap. There are many expenses involved in installing, owning, and maintaining a padel court. Even the cost of construction itself isn&#;t straight forward, because there are many factors that will impact the price.

While we&#;ve seen entry-level installations advertised from &#;25,000 ($27,500 USD), there&#;s no way to give an exact figure on how much a court is going to cost. The price of a Padel court is normally depending on how many you are planning to acquire and install. 

However, some of the factors that will impact the cost of building a padel court include:

  • Location: The price of labor in the city in which you want to build, and the availability of both companies who specialize in building padel courts and the materials needed will all impact your budget.
  • Preexisting infrastructure: Groundworks can be a huge cost, depending on the type of ground and whether any unforeseen issues arise. A pre-laid slab will typically cut costs.
  • Indoor vs outdoor: Indoor courts require high ceilings and good lighting, but usually require less maintenance.
  • Building materials: Some building materials might more than others, such as thicker glass and higher-quality textured artificial turf.
  • Permits: Different locations have different regulations. Make sure you have a permit in place so that you can go about the process of owning and operating the court.
  • Maintenance: Building a court isn&#;t a one and done affair. Maintaining the court is also important to ensure its quality and durability. The weather means that indoor courts are usually less expensive to maintain than outdoor ones, however other factors such as surface materials, and frequency and level of usage will also impact how often it needs to be maintained.

Start Playing!

Through this guide, we&#;ve taken you through everything you need to know about a padel court, including its dimensions, features, costs, and construction, as well as things to consider when building a court. All that&#;s left is to start building, or find a court and start playing!

Are you trying to find the best courts to play on in your area? Are you building your own?
Let us know more about your project contact us at [ protected]. We are happy to make you an individual offer.

What to consider when building a padel court

If you are thinking about building new padel courts or maybe even a padel club, it is important to make relevant considerations about the project before you start. In this article, we will guide you step by step through what you should consider if you are planning to build one or more padel courts.

First, we'll look at how much it costs to build a padel court and we'll go through the most important aspects to consider when setting a budget for your construction project. Next, we emphasize the importance of building permits, and we look at essential aspects of padel courts such as space requirements, ceiling height and court lighting. Finally, we discuss the maintenance of paddle tennis courts, as well as an underestimated but nonetheless extremely important area: considerations on the best booking software for your padel courts.

What does it cost to build a padel court?

The price of a padel court varies a lot, but an estimate is around &#;20-25,000. The cost of building new padel courts depends on whether you're building from scratch, whether it's indoors or outdoors, and whether you have special requirements for facilities around the court. You can dive deeper into the prices of the individual components of a padel court in this post, where we look at the costs of a padel court.

1) Budget for the construction of a padel court

From the very beginning, it's responsible to draw up a budget for your padel courts so that you have a financial framework for the project. A budget helps to give you an overview of the construction costs, so you avoid unpleasant surprises in the later stages of the project.

When creating a budget for building padel courts, you can consider the following questions, among others:

  • What capital do I have available?
  • What are the costs of the individual parts of the project, including the foundations, the components of the court, skilled labor and equipment rental for the necessary equipment?
  • Is there room for contingencies? And what pitfalls could these pose?
  • Financing: when does the investment need to be recouped?

The budget can be included as part of an overall business plan.

2) Building permits 

If you haven't obtained the necessary building permits, this can be a show-stopper for the project. The construction of the padel courts can be delayed or completely rejected if the permits and any changes to the area's local plan are not in order. In other words, taking care of the above is an essential part of the preparation before you start building the padel tennis courts.

In addition to having the building permits and licences in place, you should also consider the distance to the neighbors when building padel courts. A good relationship with the neighbors is clearly desirable so that you, the users of the court and the neighbors do not experience inconveniences such as noise from the courts.

How much space do you need for a padel court?

A standard padel court is 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. There should be at least half a meter more on all sides and preferably even more to improve the playing experience.

If you are building singles courts for padel, you can make do with a court that is 20 meters long and 6 meters wide plus the additional half meter on all sides.

Choosing the right location of the court

When building outdoor padel courts, it is advisable to consider where the wind comes from and how the sun's rays fall during the day. It makes a difference whether the court is positioned south/north (recommended) or east/west. Wind and weather greatly affect outdoor padel, so if you are able to locate the court sheltered from the wind, this is a great advantage.

Avoid water on the court with a good drainage

Implementing an effective drain in the court is also worth considering. After a heavy rainfall, water can be left on the surface of the court surface and if the water is not drained away, the artificial grass turf is unplayable.

Finally, surrounding trees can also be taken into account when choosing the best location to build a padel court. Avoid building the court right next to trees, where fallen leaves and branches risk making the court slippery.

Installing padel courts in multi-purpose venues

If you are building padel courts in an existing center, which may already house other sports, you should also consider how the padel courts interact with the venus's other activities.

And of course, it is also worth looking at whether it is easy to get a parking space and get to and from the courts by public transport.

3) Installing padel courts

When building padel courts, it's always a good idea to work with specialists who have done it before. In addition to the players on your local market, there are specialized teams in e.g. Spain that do nothing else but build padel courts. Regardless of who is in charge of installing your padel courts, you should be planning tasks such as renting a scaffolding and a lift with the suppliers in advance so that no time is wasted waiting for one of these items when the work team is ready.

How high should a padel court ceiling be?

If you're building indoors or with a cover, it's important to build to the right height - otherwise you risk players preferring other padel tennis centers with sufficiently high ceilings. It is simply essential that the padel court has the right ceiling height so that players can make a proper lob.

The ceiling of a padel court should be at least 6 meters high, but building higher is recommended. A height of 9-12 meters is preferable as it significantly improves the playing experience. If there are two courts next to each other and one has 6 meters to the ceiling and the other 12 meters to the ceiling, you will always choose the court with 12 meters to the ceiling because you can use the lob much more efficiently.

Beware of the acoustics on your courts

If you are building a covered padel court, we recommend that you consider possible noise and echoes on the courts. If the court is fully covered and the sounds from players and equipment cannot escape, it can resound in the hall and the acoustics can become problematic.

Padel court lighting

The right lighting conditions on and around the padel court are of great importance. Players should not feel that they have floodlights shining on their eyes and are blinded when looking upwards. On the other hand, it should also not be so dark that the ball disappears from your view. 

4) Facilities around the courts

In addition to the padel courts themselves, there are various options to enhance the overall experience for the players. If you want to attract the best players, or are thinking of organizing padel tournaments, factors such as audience seating and sufficient space for players to run outside the court to return a smash are key considerations to take into account.

Likewise, the environment around the padel courts is important. A café or lounge area by the courts where people can buy food and drinks can help to create an atmosphere and encourage people to stay longer in the center.

For players, changing and shower facilities are also always nice to have. If you get straight into your car with sweaty clothes after your padel match and drive home, you risk getting cold. Here, good changing rooms and bathing facilities are an essential service for your users, as they contribute to both the sanitation and the social aspect of the paddle sport.

5) Maintenance of padel courts

Once your courts are completed, you should expect regular maintenance work to be carried out on them. This is partly to maintain a good playing experience for users and partly to optimize the lifespan of the courts.

Wiping glass walls and cleaning artificial turfs

Important maintenance tasks for a padel court include regular wiping of the glass walls and sweeping of the artificial turf of the court surface. If the glass is greasy, it is not inviting to players, and the bounce of the ball can also change if the surface is not uniform.

Both the glass walls and the court surface should also be given an annual health check to prevent major damage.

It is of great importance for the performance of the surface that the sand is properly and evenly distributed. Otherwise, you run the risk of the ball bouncing unevenly on the artificial turf. In addition, you should also periodically check that there are no sharp objects such as screws or bolts protruding from glass walls or the surface.

The height of the padel court net

The net of a standard padel court is 10 meters long, and 0.88 meters high in the middle and 0.92 meters at the sides. When maintaining your padel tennis courts, you should also make sure that the nets on your courts are always the correct height and that they have the optimal tension.

6) Court booking software for padel clubs

This is a point that can be easily underestimated but is of vital importance. To choose the best booking system for your padel courts. When your new, state-of-the-art courts are ready and waiting to be put into use, it's crucial that it's easy and user-friendly for people to book them. Whether the courts are intended for use in a commercial padel center or in a padel club, managing bookings and users is an absolute key point. Choosing the best system for managing padel courts can generate increased revenue, less administration and, most importantly, satisfied users.

Today, there are a number of digital booking systems for padel, each with different strengths and weaknesses. In the following, we have recommended our considerations when choosing a digital membership system for your padel center.

What should a padel club management software include?

The best online booking systems support the operations and revenue from your courts. It should be easy to book courts, and the user should immediately after a booking receive a booking confirmation with a password to the center and info about the conditions for cancellation. Learn more about what it costs to book a padel court in this article.

Besides court booking, there are other important areas in the administration and management of your paddle courts. Below we have compiled a brief overview of the most important considerations when choosing a booking platform for padel:

Website for your padel center

Your padel center's website is in many cases the user's first impression of your club. The website should be appealing and visitors should be able to quickly find the information they are looking for.

Signing up for coaching lessons

If you offer practice sessions to your users, it should be possible to see an overview of the available training classes and what level they are aimed at. If the user can sign up and pay at the same time directly on the website, it will reduce the administration considerably. Similarly, it will be a huge advantage for the club's coaches if they can see who has signed up for the individual classes, so they can plan the lessons well in advance.

Drop Ins and social activities

Organizing come-and-play activities such as Drop In and Americano is also worth choosing a management system that can handle. Although these types of events are typically free in padel clubs, it's nice for the organizers to keep track of registrations so that the number of participants matches the number of courts. A platform developed specifically for padel might even have a waiting list feature, where the next person on the waiting list automatically takes over the spot in case someone who has already signed up cancels.

Memberships and subscriptions

If you offer memberships or subscriptions for your padel club, it is important that the chosen management software supports the types of memberships you want. Here it is important to consider, among other things, whether the system supports:

  • Types of memberships: Senior, junior, passive, families and guests
  • Automatic renewal of memberships and payments
  • Duration: Annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly
  • Booking rights: Number of active bookings, booking ahead, refund in case of cancellation, etc.

Joining and leaving members

In this area, a lot of time can be saved on administration if members can sign up and leave the club themselves, without you having to do it for them. Therefore, it can make sense to go for a membership management software where the user creates a profile and buys a subscription (or just books their court if it is purely pay'n'play). Similarly, it will reduce time spent on membership management if the person can cancel his or her membership and stop the membership fee payment without having to correspond with the padel club. This kind of self-service among users fits in well with the current trend of efficient workflows and quick execution.

Communication with members and guests

In today's fragmented media landscape, people are used to seeking information on different channels. The same is most likely true for your padel center; Some users look for information on your club's website, some read your newsletters via , others visit your Facebook page or other social media, while still others seek personal contact with staff and volunteers at the padel courts. Having a club management system that supports smooth communications with both members and guests will save you a lot of time, so consider in advance how the communication around your padel courts should take place. It's an investment that will be well worth it. 

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