We considered this for our new build too, but if you have pets or kids it's worth noting that the grass can get a fair bit hotter in the sun. You can get a system under it to help reduce this. You also need to consider a system for drainage.

Completely agreed on it looking good though, more so the stuff you can buy now than in the past.

Definitely keen on hearing recommendations from people using this.

I'm interested in how you would keep it clean, i.e what if a lot of leafs fall in that area?

What sq m area? How is it held in place?  If it gets ripped? Does it wear out? It gets dirty?

sqishy:

 

I'm interested in how you would keep it clean, i.e what if a lot of leafs fall in that area?

 

Put away the Masport and bring out the Electrolux?  :-)

There is no doubt it will look stonking once its laid, but when it gets worn, ripped, dirty, it might look not so great then and hard to bring it back to new. At least grass can easily be kept great looking. Even in high Summer, mow it up a bit, water a bit, the odd weedspray, and it keeps looking good 

Most people who have artificial grass mostly just put it in then forget about it until years later it slowly become very dirty and full of dust then they decide how to clean it become brand new again.

If you have pets that have excessive shedding then you can have lots of furs just stuck in there. 

A friend of mine got it last winter because of his dog killing the real grass. BIG problem he is having is that when birds poop from on high and that poop lands in the artificial grass, that poop has all sorts of seeds in them and they start to sprout. So if you are not careful you may end up with a real green something. So he is brushing regularly with a very stiff yard broom and apparently you are meant to spray 2 or 3 times year with the deadliest plant killer you can find, legally.

Very happy with our Tiger Turf. We had 46lm that we self-installed last year. If I were to do it again, I would likely pay someone to do it. Was a bit of a pain to DIY if I'm honest. 

So far, zero issues and looks great year-round.

Why not just get a robot mower, and make the grassed area flat and square shaped, so it will mow it well. I am considering this option myself, between grass or fake grass.

FineWine:

 

A friend of mine got it last winter because of his dog killing the real grass. BIG problem he is having is that when birds poop from on high and that poop lands in the artificial grass, that poop has all sorts of seeds in them and they start to sprout. So if you are not careful you may end up with a real green something. So he is brushing regularly with a very stiff yard broom and apparently you are meant to spray 2 or 3 times year with the deadliest plant killer you can find, legally.

 

Friends of ours put down some artificial grass - and yep - it fills up with broad leaf weeds etc pretty fast.  They live next to a reserve near a beach, so as well as bird poo there's sand blowing on it.

We also had a dog who'd destroy a patch of grass every day.  There was a theory going around that if you put a bit of milk in their water, then that would raise the pH of the pee and solve the problem.  Tried - but did not seem to work at all.  A solution may be to put down artificial grass, train the dog to pee in a weed sprayer, then use that to nuke weeds in the turf instead of deadly chemical weed killer.  Never got to try it, the dog died, we buried her in a hole in the back yard, grass grew beautifully over that hole for the next few years.

I've read good things about these guys but have no personal experience with them. https://urbanturfsolutions.co.nz/

Also have personally used Tiger Turf (on a playing surface) and find it to be excellent, but as others have said, it's key to note that you need to make sure you don't accidentally end up with a blended lawn of artificial and seeded from birds. 

mattwnz:

 

Why not just get a robot mower, and make the grassed area flat and square shaped, so it will mow it well. I am considering this option myself, between grass or fake grass.

 

What mowers are you looking at - I was unaware there were any reasonable options in NZ?

We put in some good quality artificial grass for a small outdoor area. I'm really particular and could notice the join, and it was made worse because they used rolls from different batches. In the end they replaced it and ran it in a different direction which meant we didn't require a join (I think they should have done that in the first place).

It now looks really good, and is quite low maintenance.

After my experience I personally wouldn't install it in an area large enough that it would require a join, unless they use a "Superseam" joining method like below. I'd be surprised if any NZ residential installers do it this way though.

I liked the squiggly line look, disappointed to read it was only temporary.